Man'en

History of Japan
Shōsōin
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Glossary Timeline

Man'en (万延) was a Japanese era name (年号,, nengō,, lit. "year name") after Ansei and before Bunkyū. This period spanned the years from March 1860 through February 1861.^[1] The reigning emperor was Kōmei-tennō (孝明天皇).

Change of era

• March 18, 1860 (Man'en 1 (万延元年)): The new era name was created to mark the destruction caused by a fire at Edo Castle and the assassination of Ii Naosuke (also known as "the disturbance" or "the incident" at the Sakurada-mon).^[2] The previous era ended and a new one commenced in Ansei 7.

The new era name is derived from an hortatory aphorism to be found in The Book of the Later Han: "With 100,000,000,000 descendants, your name will forever be recorded" (豊千億之子孫、歴万載而永延).

Events of the Man'en era

• 1860 (Man'en 1): First Western professional photographer to establish residence in Japan, Orrin Freeman began living in Yokohama^[3]
• 1860 (Man'en 1): First foreign mission to the United States.^[4]

Gallery

• 

  Edo Castle's Sakurada Gate (Sakurada-mon): The assassination of Ii Naosuke occurred nearby.

See also

• Sesquicentennial of Japanese Embassy to the United States

Notes

References

• Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 48943301
• Satow, Ernest Mason and Baba Bunyei. (1905). Japan 1853-1864, Or, Genji Yume Monogatari. Tokyo: Naigai suppan kyokai (内外出版協會). OCLC 1384148

External links

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