Genroku

Periods

Paleolithic	before 14,000 BC
Jōmon	14,000 – 300 BCE
Yayoi	300 BCE – 250 CE
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

Genroku (元禄) was a Japanese era name (年号,, nengō,, literally "year name") after Jōkyō and before Hōei. This period spanned the years from ninth month of 1688 through third month of 1704.^[1] The reigning emperor was Higashiyama-tennō (東山天皇).^[2]

The years of Genroku are generally considered to be the Golden Age of the Edo period. The previous hundred years of peace and seclusion in Japan had created relative economic stability. The arts and architecture flourished. There were unanticipated consequences when the shogunate debased the quality of coins as a strategy for financing the appearance of continuing Genroku affluence. This strategic miscalculation caused abrupt inflation. Then, in an effort to solve the ensuing crisis, the bakufu introduced what were called the Kyōhō Reforms.

Change of era

Genroku gannen (元禄元年); 1688: The new era name was created to mark the beginning of the reign of Higashiyama. The previous era ended and the new one commenced in Jōkyō 5, on the 30th day of the 9th month.

A sense of optimism is suggested in the era name choice of Genroku (meaning "Original happiness").

Events of the Genroku era

A turtle-based stele of Ikeda Mitsunaka, a Tottori Domain ruler, dated Genroku 6

1688 (Genroku 1, 1st month): Ihara Saikaku publishes Japan's Eternal Treasury.
1688 (Genroku 1, 11th month): Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu assumes the office of Soba Yōnin.
1688 (Genroku 1): The Tokugawa shogunate revised the code of conduct for funerals (Fuku-kiju-ryō), which incorporated a code of conduct for mourning as well.^[3]
1689 (Genroku 2, 4th month): Foreign settlements in Nagasaki become possible.
September 16, 1689 (Genroku 2, 3rd day of the 7th month): German physician Engelbert Kaempfer arrives at Dejima.^[4]
1690 (Genroku 3, 10th month): The Abandoned Child Ban was officially proclaimed.
1692 (Genroku 5): Building of temples in Edo banned.
1693 (Genroku 6, 12th month): Arai Hakuseki becomes tutor to the daimyō of Kōfu-han, the future Shōgun Tokugawa Ienobu.
1693 (Genroku 6): The code of conduct for funerals is revised again.^[5]
1695 (Genroku 8, 2nd month): Land survey performed of territory under the direct control of the bakufu in Kantō.
1695 (Genroku 8, 8th month): Minting begun of Genroku coinage. The shogunate placed the Japanese character gen (元) on the obverse of copper coins, the same character used today in China for the yuan. There is no connection between those uses, however.^[2]
1695 (Genroku 8, 11th month): First kennel is established for stray dogs in Edo. In this context, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi comes to be nicknamed "the Dog Shogun"

Map of Kyoto and immediate vicinity, circa 1696. Like most early Japanese maps, this map does not have a firm directional orientation, rather all text radiates out from the center.

1697 (Genroku 10): The fourth official map of Japan (Genroku kuniezu) was made in this year, but it was considered to be inferior to the previous one—which had been ordered in Shōhō 1 (1605) and completed in Kan'ei 16 (1639). This Genroku map was corrected in Kyōhō 4 (1719) by the mathematician Tatebe Katahiro (1644–1739), using high mountain peaks as points of reference, and was drawn to a scale of 1:21,600.^[6]
1697 (Genroku 10): Great fire in Edo.^[2] Five-storied Pagoda
1698 (Genroku 11): Another great fire in Edo. A new hall is constructed inside the enclosure of the Edo temple of Kan'ei-ji (which is also known as Tōeizan Kan’ei-ji or "Hiei-san of the east" after the temple of Enryaku-ji at Mount Hiei near to Heian-kyo).^[2]
1700 (Genroku 13, 11th month): Exchange rate of silver coins established.
1703 (Genroku 15, 12th month): Akō Domain incident involving the 47 Ronin.
1703 (Genroku 16, 3rd month): Ōishi Yoshio commits seppuku.
1703 (Genroku 16, 5th month): First performance of Chikamatsu Monzaemon's play The Love Suicides at Sonezaki.
December 31, 1703 (Genroku 16, 23rd day of the 11th month): The Great Genroku earthquake shook Edo^[7] and parts of the shogun's castle collapsed.^[8] The following day, a vast fire spread throughout the city.^[2] Parts of Honshū's coast were battered by tsunami, and 200,000 people were either killed or injured.^[8]

Prominent figures of the Genroku era

Chikamatsu Monzaemon—jōruri playwright
Ichikawa Danjūrō I, Sakata Tōjūrō I, Yoshizawa Ayame I—kabuki actors
Ihara Saikaku—novelist
Arai Hakuseki—Confucian scholar and shogunal advisor
The Forty-seven Ronin
Ogata Korin and Ogata Kenzan—Rinpa school artists
Torii Kiyonobu, Hishikawa Moronobu, Miyagawa Chōshun—ukiyo-e artists

Notes

↑ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Genroku" Japan Encyclopedia, p. 239, p. 239, at Google Books; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File.
1 2 3 4 5 Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 415.
↑ Smith, Robert et al. (2004). Japanese Culture: Its Development And Characteristics, p. 28.
↑ Screech, T. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779-1822, p. 73.
↑ Smith, p. 28.
↑ Traganeou, Jilly. (2004). The Tokaido Road: Traveling and Representation in Edo and Meiji Japan, p. 230.
↑ Japanese Wikipedia: ja:元禄大地震
1 2 Hammer, Joshua. (2006). Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire that Helped Forge the Path to World War II, p. 63.

References

Hammer, Joshua. (2006). Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire that Helped Forge the Path to World War II. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780743264655; OCLC 67774380
Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 48943301
Screech, Timon. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779-1822. London: RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 978-0-203-09985-8; OCLC 65177072
Smith, Robert John and Richard K. Beardsley. (2004). Japanese Culture: Its Development And Characteristics. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-33039-4
Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Odai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691.
Traganeou, Jilly. (2004). The Metaphorical Road of the Tōkaid: Traveling and Representation in Edo and Meiji Japan. London: RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 9780415310918; OCLC 52347509

External links

Preceded by Jōkyō	Era or nengō Genroku 1688–1704	Succeeded by Hōei

Japanese era names (nengō) by period

538 – 1264

Asuka

Heian

Heian (cont'd)

Kamakura (cont'd)

Nara
645–650	Taika
650–654	Hakuchi
686–686	Shuchō
701–704	Taihō
704–708	Keiun
708–715	Wadō

715–717	Reiki
717–724	Yōrō
724–729	Jinki
729–749	Tenpyō
749	Tenpyō-kanpō
749–757	Tenpyō-shōhō
757–765	Tenpyō-hōji
765–767	Tenpyō-jingo
767–770	Jingo-keiun
770–781	Hōki
781–782	Ten'ō
782–806	Enryaku

806–810	Daidō
810–824	Kōnin
824–834	Tenchō
834–848	Jōwa
848–851	Kajō
851–854	Ninju
854–857	Saikō
857–859	Ten'an
859–877	Jōgan
877–885	Gangyō
885–889	Ninna
889–898	Kanpyō
898–901	Shōtai
901–923	Engi
923–931	Enchō
931–938	Jōhei
938–947	Tengyō
947–957	Tenryaku
957–961	Tentoku
961–964	Ōwa

964–968	Kōhō
968–970	Anna
970–973	Tenroku
973–976	Ten'en
976–978	Jōgen
978–983	Tengen
983–985	Eikan
985–987	Kanna
987–988	Eien
988–990	Eiso
990–995	Shōryaku
995–999	Chōtoku
999–1004	Chōhō
1004–1012	Kankō
1012–1017	Chōwa
1017–1021	Kannin
1021–1024	Jian
1024–1028	Manju
1028–1037	Chōgen
1037–1040	Chōryaku

1040–1044	Chōkyū
1044–1046	Kantoku
1046–1053	Eishō
1053–1058	Tengi
1058–1065	Kōhei
1065–1069	Jiryaku
1069–1074	Enkyū
1074–1077	Jōhō
1077–1081	Jōryaku
1081–1084	Eihō
1084–1087	Ōtoku
1087–1094	Kanji
1094–1096	Kahō
1096–1097	Eichō
1097–1099	Jōtoku
1099–1104	Kōwa
1104–1106	Chōji
1106–1108	Kajō
1108–1110	Tennin
1110–1113	Ten'ei

1113–1118	Eikyū
1118–1120	Gen'ei
1120–1124	Hōan
1124–1126	Tenji
1126–1131	Daiji
1131–1132	Tenshō
1132–1135	Chōshō
1135–1141	Hōen
1141–1142	Eiji
1142–1144	Kōji
1144–1145	Ten'yō
1145–1151	Kyūan
1151–1154	Ninpei
1154–1156	Kyūju
1156–1159	Hōgen
1159–1160	Heiji
1160–1161	Eiryaku
1161–1163	Ōhō
1163–1165	Chōkan
1165–1166	Eiman

Kamakura
1166–1169	Nin'an
1169–1171	Kaō
1171–1175	Jōan
1175–1177	Angen
1177–1181	Jishō
1181–1182	Yōwa
1182–1184	Juei
1184–1185	Genryaku

1185–1190	Bunji
1190–1199	Kenkyū
1199–1201	Shōji
1201–1204	Kennin
1204–1206	Genkyū
1206–1207	Ken'ei
1207–1211	Jōgen
1211–1213	Kenryaku
1213–1219	Kempo
1219–1222	Jōkyū

1222–1224	Jōō
1224–1225	Gennin
1225–1227	Karoku
1227–1229	Antei
1229–1232	Kangi
1232–1233	Jōei
1233–1234	Tenpuku
1234–1235	Bunryaku
1235–1238	Katei
1238–1239	Ryakunin
1239–1240	En'ō
1240–1243	Ninji
1243–1247	Kangen
1247–1249	Hōji
1249–1256	Kenchō
1256–1257	Kōgen
1257–1259	Shōka
1259–1260	Shōgen
1260–1261	Bun'ō
1261–1264	Kōchō

1264 – present

Kamakura (cont'd)

Nanboku-chō

Muromachi (cont'd)

Momoyama

Edo (cont'd)

Modern Japan

1264–1275	Bun'ei
1275–1278	Kenji
1278–1288	Kōan
1288–1293	Shōō
1293–1299	Einin
1299–1302	Shōan
1302–1303	Kengen
1303–1306	Kagen
1306–1308	Tokuji
1308–1311	Enkyō
1311–1312	Ōchō
1312–1317	Shōwa
1317–1319	Bunpō
1319–1321	Gen'ō
1321–1324	Genkō
1324–1326	Shōchū
1326–1329	Karyaku
1329–1331	Gentoku
1331–1334	Genkō^a
1332–1333	Shōkyō^b

Northern Court
1334–1338	Kemmu
1338–1342	Ryakuō
1342–1345	Kōei
1345–1350	Jōwa
1350–1352	Kannō
1352–1356	Bunna
1356–1361	Enbun
1361–1362	Kōan
1362–1368	Jōji
1368–1375	Ōan
1375–1379	Eiwa
1379–1381	Kōryaku
1381–1384	Eitoku
1384–1387	Shitoku
1387–1389	Kakei
1389–1390	Kōō
1390–1394	Meitoku^c

Southern Court
1334–1336	Kemmu
1336–1340	Engen
1340–1346	Kōkoku
1346–1370	Shōhei
1370–1372	Kentoku
1372–1375	Bunchū
1375–1381	Tenju
1381–1384	Kōwa
1384–1392	Genchū^c

Muromachi
1394–1428	Ōei
1428–1429	Shōchō
1429–1441	Eikyō
1441–1444	Kakitsu
1444–1449	Bun'an
1449–1452	Hōtoku

1452–1455	Kyōtoku
1455–1457	Kōshō
1457–1460	Chōroku
1460–1466	Kanshō
1466–1467	Bunshō
1467–1469	Ōnin
1469–1487	Bunmei
1487–1489	Chōkyō
1489–1492	Entoku
1492–1501	Meiō
1501–1521	Bunki
1504–1521	Eishō
1521–1528	Daiei
1528–1532	Kyōroku
1532–1555	Tenbun
1555–1558	Kōji
1558–1570	Eiroku
1570–1573	Genki

Edo
1573–1592	Tenshō
1592–1596	Bunroku
1596–1615	Keichō

1615–1624	Genna
1624–1644	Kan'ei
1644–1648	Shōhō
1648–1652	Keian
1652–1655	Jōō
1655–1658	Meireki
1658–1661	Manji
1661–1673	Kanbun
1673–1681	Enpō
1681–1684	Tenna
1684–1688	Jōkyō
1688–1704	Genroku
1704–1711	Hōei
1711–1716	Shōtoku
1716–1736	Kyōhō

1736–1741	Genbun
1741–1744	Kanpō
1744–1748	Enkyō
1748–1751	Kan'en
1751–1764	Hōreki
1764–1772	Meiwa
1772–1781	An'ei
1781–1789	Tenmei
1789–1801	Kansei
1801–1804	Kyōwa
1804–1818	Bunka
1818–1830	Bunsei
1830–1844	Tenpō
1844–1848	Kōka
1848–1854	Kaei
1854–1860	Ansei
1860–1861	Man'en
1861–1864	Bunkyū
1864–1865	Genji
1865–1868	Keiō

1868–1912	Meiji
1912–1926	Taishō
1926–1989	Shōwa
1989–present	Heisei

^a Not recognized by the Northern Court, which retained Gentoku until 1332.
^b Not recognized by the Southern Court.
^c Genchū discontinued upon reunification of the Northern and Southern Courts in 1392 and Meitoku retained until 1394.

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