Kenkyū

Kenkyū (建久) was a Japanese era name (年号, nengō, "year name") after Bunji and before Shōji. This period spanned the years from April 1190 through April 1199.[1] The reigning emperor was Go-Toba-tennō (後鳥羽天皇).[2]

Change of era

• 1190 Kenkyū gannen (建久元年): The new era name was created to mark an event or a number of events. The previous era ended and a new one commenced in Bunji 6, on the 14th day of the 8th month of 1185.[3]

Events of the Kenkyū era

• 1192 (Kenkyū 3, 13th day of the 3rd month): The former-Emperor Go-Shirakawa died at the age of 66.[3] He had been father or grandfather to five emperors -- Emperor Nijō, the 78th emperor; Emperor Rokujō, the 79th emperor; Emperor Takakura, the 80th emperor; Emperor Antoku, the 81st emperor; and Go-Toba, the 82nd emperor.[4]
• 1192 (Kenkyū 3, 12th day of the 7th month): Minamoto no Yoritomo is named commander-in-chief of the forces to fight the barbarians.[5]
• 1195 (Kenkyū 6, 4th day of the 3rd month): Shōgun Yoritomo revisits the capital.[5]
• 1198 (Kenkyū 9, 11th day of the 1st month): In the 15th year of Go-Toba-tennō 's reign (後鳥天皇15年), the emperor abdicated; and the succession (senso) was received by his eldest son.[6]
• 1198 (Kenkyū 9, 3rd month): Emperor Tsuchimikado is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).[7]
• 1199 (Kenkyū 10, 13th day of the 1st month): Shōgun Yoritomo dies at age 53 in Kamakura.[5]

See also

• Mumyōzōshi, a text on literary criticism also known as Kenkyū Monogatari

Notes

1. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Kenkyū" in Japan encyclopedia, p. 509; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File Archived 2012-05-24 at Archive.today.
2. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, pp. 207–221; Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, pp. 334–339; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki. pp. 215–220.
3. Brown, p. 337.
4. Varley, p. 208; Kitagawa et al. (1975). The Tale of the Heike, p. 788.
5. Kitagawa p. 788.
6. Brown, p.339; Varley, p. 44; a distinct act of senso is unrecognized prior to Emperor Tenji; and all sovereigns except Jitō, Yōzei, Go-Toba, and Fushimi have senso and sokui in the same year until the reign of Emperor Go-Murakami.
7. Titsingh, p.221; Varley, p. 44.

References

• Brown, Delmer and Ichiro Ishida. (1979). 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 978-0-520-03460-0; OCLC 5145872
• Kitagawa, Hiroshi and Bruce T. Tsuchida, eds. (1975). The Tale of the Heike. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. ISBN 9784130870245; ISBN 9784130870238; ISBN 9780860081883; ISBN 9780860081890; OCLC 193064639
• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Ōdai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691
• Varley, H. Paul. (1980). A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231049405; OCLC 6042764

External links

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

Preceded by Bunji	Era or nengō Kenkyū 1190–1199	Succeeded by Shōji