Kansei

History of Japan
Shōsōin
Periods Paleolithic before 14,000 BC Jōmon 14,000–300 BC Yayoi 300 BC – 250 AD Kofun 250–538 Asuka 538–710 Nara 710–794 Heian 794–1185 Kamakura 1185–1333 Kenmu Restoration 1333–1336 Muromachi (Ashikaga) Nanboku-chō Sengoku 1336–1573 Azuchi–Momoyama Nanban trade 1568–1603 Edo (Tokugawa) Bakumatsu 1603–1868 Meiji Restoration 1868–1912 Taishō World War I 1912–1926 Shōwa Financial crisis Militarism Pacific War Occupation Post-occupation 1926–1989 Heisei Lost Decade 1989–present
Topics Currency Earthquakes Economy Education Empire Historiography Military Naval Postwar
Glossary Timeline

Kansei (寛政) was a Japanese era name (年号,, nengō,, lit. "year name") after Tenmei and before Kyōwa. This period spanned the years from January 1789 through February 1801.^[1] The reigning emperor was Kōkaku-tennō (光格天皇).

Change of era

• 1789 Kansei gannen (寛政元年): The new era name of Kansei (meaning "Tolerant Government" or "Broad-minded Government") was created to mark a number of calamities including a devastating fire at the Imperial Palace. The previous era ended and a new one commenced in Tenmei 9, on the 25th day of the 1st month.

Events of the Kansei era

The broad panoply of changes and new initiatives of the Tokugawa shogunate during this era became known as the Kansei Reforms.

Matsudaira Sadanobu (1759–1829) was named the shogun's chief councilor (rōjū) in the summer of 1787; and early in the next year, he became the regent for the 11th shogun, Tokugawa Ienari.^[2] As the chief administrative decision-maker in the bakufu hierarchy, he was in a position to effect radical change; and his initial actions represented an aggressive break with the recent past. Sadanobu's efforts were focused on strengthening the government by reversing many of the policies and practices which had become commonplace under the regime of the previous shogun, Tokugawa Ieharu. These reform policies could be interpreted as a reactionary response to the excesses of his rōjū predecessor, Tanuma Okitsugu (1719–1788);^[3] and the result was that the Tanuma-initiated, liberalizing reforms within the bakufu and the relaxation of sakoku (Japan's "closed-door" policy of strict control of foreign merchants) were reversed or blocked.^[4]

• 1790 (Kansei 2): Sadanobu and the shogunate promulgate an edict addressed to Hayashi Kinpō, the rector of the Edo Confucian Academy -- "The Kansei Prohibition of Heterodox Studies" (kansei igaku no kin).^[5] The decree banned certain publications and enjoined strict observance of Neo-Confucian doctrine, especially with regard to the curriculum of the official Hayashi school.^[6]
• 1798 (Kansei 10): Kansei Calendar Revision

Notes

References

• Bodart-Bailey, Beatrice. (1997). "Confucianism in Japan" in Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy (Brian Carr and Indira Mahalingam, eds). London: Routledge. 10-ISBN 041503535X/13-ISBN 9780415035354; OCLC 35049601
• Hall, John Whitney. (1955). Tanuma Okitsugu, 1719-1788: Forerunner of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. OCLC 445621
• Nosco, Peter. (1984). Confucianism and Tokugawa Culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 10-ISBN 0691072868/13-ISBN 9780691072869; OCLC 252082779
• 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
• Screech, Timon. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779-1822. London: RoutledgeCurzon. 10-ISBN 0-203-09985-0, 13-ISBN 978-0-203-09985-8; OCLC 65177072
• Totman, Conrad. (1967). Politics in the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1600-1843. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. OCLC 279623

External links

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