Reiki (era)

Reiki (霊亀) was a Japanese era name (年号, nengō,, lit. "year name") after Wadō and before Yōrō. This period spanned the years from September 715 through November 717.^[1] The reigning empress was Genshō-tennō (元正天皇).^[2]

Change of era

• 715 Reiki gannen (霊亀元年); 715: The new era name was created to mark the beginning of the reign of Empress Genshō. The previous era ended and the new one commenced in Wadō 8, on the 3rd day of the 9th month of 715.^[3]

Events of the Reiki era

• 715 (Reiki 1): Empress Gemmei abdicates; and her daughter receives the succession (senso). Shortly thereafter, Empress Genshō formally accedes to the throne (sokui). Emperor Mommu, Genshō's father, had died in 707, but his son (her brother) was deemed too young to receive the succession (senso); and instead, the mother of the male heir formally acceded to the throne (sokui) as Empress Gemmei until her son would grow mature enough to accept senso and sokui. The future Emperor Shōmu's sister undertook a similar responsibility as Empress Genshō.^[4]

Notes

1. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Reiki" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 785, p. 785, 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. 65-67; Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, pp. 271-272; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki. pp. 140-141.
3. Brown, p. 272.
4. Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki, 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.

References

• 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