Genji (era)

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Glossary Timeline

Genji (元治) was a Japanese era name (年号,, nengō,, lit. "year name") after Bunkyū and before Keiō. This period spanned only slightly more than a single year from February 1864 through April 1865.^[1] The reigning emperor was Kōmei-tennō (孝明天皇).

Change of era

• February 8, 1864 Genji gannen (元治元年): The new era name of Genji (meaning "original rule") was created to mark the beginning of a new 60-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac.^[2] The old era ended and a new one commenced in Bunkyū 4. It ended to mark the "Jubilant Answer" (Keiō-era) to the rebellion at Hamaguri Gate.

The new era name was derived from the I Ching.

Events of the Genji era

• July 8, 1864 (Genji 1, 5th day of the 6th month): The Ikedaya Jiken, also known as the Ikedaya Affair or Ikedaya Incident, developed at the Ikedaya ryokan in Kyoto.
• August 12, 1864 (Genji 1, 11th day of the 7th month): Sakuma Shōzan is assassinated at age 53.^[3] He had traveled from Edo to Kyoto on orders of the shogunate. He was in favor of steps which would lead to an opening of the country, but his voice was stilled by death at the hands of a sonno joi supporter.^[4]
• September 5–6, 1864 (Genji 1, 5th-6th day of the 8th month): Bombardment of Shimonoseki

See also

• Genji Kaku
• Genji clan
• Genji Monogatari
• Genji Tsuushin Agedama
• Genji Monogatari Sennenki

Notes

References

• Armstrong, Robert Cornell. (1914). Light from the East Or Studies in Japanese Confucianism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. OCLC 220491442
• Griffis, William E. (1915). The Mikado: Institution and Person. Princeton: Princeton University Press. OCLC 413118
• Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 10-ISBN 0-674-01753-6; 13-ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 48943301

External links

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