Enryaku

Enryaku (延暦) was a Japanese era name (年号, nengō,, lit. "year name") after Ten'ō and before Daidō. This period spanned the years from August 782 through May 806.^[1] The reigning emperor was Kammu-tennō (桓武天皇).^[2]

Change of era

• November 12, 782 Enryaku gannen (延暦元年): The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. The previous era ended and the new one commenced in Ten'ō 2, on the 19th day of the 8th month of 782.^[3]

Events of the Enryaku era

• 782 (Enryaku 1, 6th month): The sadaijin Fujiwara no Uona was removed from his office and exiled to Kyushi. Some time later, the emperor did permit him to return to the capital where he died. In the same general time frame, Fujiwara no Tamaro was named udaijin. During these days in which the offices of sadaijin and udaijin were vacant, the major counselors (the dainagon) and the emperor assumed responsibilities and powers which would have been otherwise delegated.^[4]
• 783 (Enryaku 3, in the 3rd month): The udaijin Tamaro died at the age of 62 years.^[4]
• 783 (Enryaku 3, in the 7th month): Fujiwara no Korekimi became the new udaijin to replace the late Fujiwara no Tamaro.^[4]
• 793 (Enryaku 12): Under the leadership of the Buddhist priest Dengyō, construction is begun on the Enryaku Temple.^[5]
• December 17, 794 (Enryaku 13, 21st day of the 10th month): The Emperor moves by carriage in a grand procession from Nara to Heian-kyō.^[5]
• 796 (Enryaku 15): Additional copper coins were put into circulation, each bearing the legend Ren-hei Ei-hō.^[6]
• 806 (Enryaku 25): Emperor Kammu's reign lasted for 25 years. He died at the age of 70.^[7] He was buried to the south of Heian-kyō, in the neighborhood of Momoyama; but the actual location became uncertain. In 1894, another tomb was created when the Heian Shrine was rebuilt. His spirit is said to rest in peace next to the tomb of Emperor Meiji at this shrine.^[8]

Notes

1. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Enryaku" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 181, p. 181, at Google Books; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File.
2. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, pp. 86-95; Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, pp. 277-279; Varley, H. Paul. Jinnō Shōtōki, pp. 148-150.
3. Brown, p. 278.
4. Titsingh, p.86.
5. Brown, p. 279.
6. Appert, Georges et al. (1888). Ancien japon, p. 30.
7. Varley, p. 150.
8. Lowe, John. (2000). Old Kyoto: A Short Social History, pp.10-11.

References

• Appert, Georges and Hiroshi Kinoshita. (1888). Ancien japon. Tokyo: Kokubunsha. OCLC 458497085
• Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). Gukanshō: The Future and the Past. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0; OCLC 251325323
• 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 Odai 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