Tenpyō

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Tenpyō (天平, Tenpyō^?) was a Japanese era name (年号,, nengō,^?, lit. "year name") after Jinki and before Tenpyō-kanpō. This period spanned the years from 729 through 749. The reigning emperor was Shōmu-tennō (聖武天皇, Shōmu-tennō^?).^[1]

1 Change of era
2 Events of the Tenpyō era
3 References
- 3.1 External links

[edit] Change of era

Tenpyō gannen (天平元年, Tenpyō gannen^?); 729: The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. The previous era ended and the new one commenced in Jinki 6, on the 5th day of the 8th month of 729.^[2].

[edit] Events of the Tenpyō era

Tenpyō 12 (740): The capital is moved to Kuni-kyō.^[3]
Tenpyō 13 (741): The Emperor calls for nationwide establishment of provincial temples. Provincial temples ("kokubunji") and provincial nunneries ("kokubunniji") were established throughout the country. ^[4] The more formal name for these "kokubunji" was "konkomyo-shitenno-gokoku no tera" (meaning "temples for the protection of the cournty by the four guardian deities of the golden light"). The more formal name for these "bokubunniji" was "hokke-metuzai no tera" (meaing "nunneries for eliminating sin by means of the Lotus Sutra").^[4]
Tenpyō 15 (743): The Emperor issues a rescript to build the Daibutsu (Great Buddha), later to be completed and placed in Tōdai-ji, Nara.^[5]
Tenpyō 15 (743): The law of Perpetual Ownership of Cultivated Lands (墾田永代私財法) issued
Tenpyō 16 (744): Naniwa-kyō announced as capital.^[6]

Ground-plan of Heijō-kyō (Nara)

Tenpyō 17 (745): The capital returns to Heijō-kyō (Nara), construction of the Great Buddha resumes.^[7]
Tenpyō 20 (749): After a 25-year reign, Emperor Shōmu abdicates in favor of his daughter, Takano-hime, who will become Empress Kōken. After his abdication, Shomu took the tonsure, thus becoming the first retired emperor to become a Buddhist priest. Empress Komyo, following her husband’s example, also took holy vows in becoming a Buddhist nun.^[8]

[edit] References

^ Titsingh, Issac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, p. 66-73; Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, pp. 272-273; Varley, H. Paul. Jinnō Shōtōki, pp. 141-143.
^ Brown, p. 273.
^ 恭仁宮跡の発掘調査 (Excavations on the Kuni Palace site, Kyoto Prefectural Board of Education) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-03-14.
^ ^a ^b Varley, pp. 141-142.
^ Varley, p. 141; Brown, p. 273.
^ Titsingh, p. 71.
^ Titsingh, p. 72.
^ Varley, p. 143.

Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). [ Jien, c. 1220], Gukanshō (The Future and the Past, a translation and study of the Gukanshō, an interpretative history of Japan written in 1219). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03460-0
Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652], Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon, tr. par M. Isaac Titsingh avec l'aide de plusieurs interprètes attachés au comptoir hollandais de Nangasaki; ouvrage re., complété et cor. sur l'original japonais-chinois, accompagné de notes et précédé d'un Aperçu d'histoire mythologique du Japon, par M. J. Klaproth. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.... Click link for digitized, full-text copy of this book (in French)
Varley, H. Paul , ed. (1980). [ Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359], Jinnō Shōtōki ("A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa" translated by H. Paul Varley). New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-04940-4

[edit] External links

National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar" -- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection

Tenpyō	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13rd	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st
Gregorian	729	730	731	732	733	734	735	736	737	738	739	740	741	742	743	744	745	746	747	748	749