Japanese calendar

Term · calendar

How Japanese sources date a year: by the era name (nengō) and a count of years within it — 1831 is Tenpō 2 —, since 1868 one era per reign. The era names from Taika (645) to Reiwa are filed under this term. Japanese dates name the era (nengō) and the year within it: 天保2年, “Tenpō 2”, is 1831. The count begins anew with every era; until 1868 an era could change at any time — for a good omen, a disaster, the fixed years of the sexagenary cycle — and since the decree of one reign, one era it changes only with the emperor. From 1336 to 1392 the Southern Court kept its own era names beside the Northern Court’s; both lines are here. Every era name has its own entry under this term, with its years and, where one is known, the entry of the emperor; an entry page gives a date in the era of its time (“Tenpō 2”) beside the Western year. The dates follow Wikidata.