Enryaku

Enryaku (Japanese: 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 782 through 806. The reigning emperor was Kammu-tennō (桓武天皇).^[1]

Change of Era

• Enryaku gannen (延暦元年; 782): 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.^[2]

Events of the Enryaku Era

• Enryaku 1, in the 6th month (782): 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.^[3]
• Enryaku 3, in the 3rd month (783): The udaijin Tamaro died at the age of 62 years.^[4]
• Enryaku 3, in the 7th month (783): Fujiwara no Korekimi became the new udaijin to replace the late Fujiwara no Tamaro.^[5]
• Enryaku 12 (793): Under the leadership of Dengyō, construction is begun on the Enryaku Temple.^[6]
• Enryaku 13, on the 21st day of the 10th month (794): The Emperor moves by carriage iun a grand procession from Nara to Heian-kyō.^[6]
• Enryaku 15 (796): Additional copper coins were put into circulation, each bearing the legend Ren-hei Ei-hō.^[7]

Emperor Kammu's reign lasted for 25 years. He died at the age of 70.^[8]

References

• Appert, Georges and Hiroji Kinoshita. (1888). Ancien japon. Tokyo: Kokubunsha.
• Brown, Delmer and Ichiro Ishida, eds. (1979). [ Jien, 1221], Gukanshō; "The Future and the Past: a translation and study of the 'Gukanshō,' an interpretive history of Japan written in 1219" translated from the Japanese and edited by Delmer M. Brown & Ichirō Ishida. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03460-0
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō (1652)]. Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon, tr. par M. Isaac Titsingh avec l'aide de plusieurs interprètes attachés au comptoir hollandais de Nangasaki; ouvrage re., complété et cor. sur l'original japonais-chinois, accompagné de notes et précédé d'un Aperçu d'histoire mythologique du Japon, par M. J. Klaproth. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.--Two digitized examples of this rare book have now been made available online: (1) from the library of the University of Michigan, digitized January 30, 2007; and (2) from the library of Stanford University, digitized June 23, 2006. Click here to read the original text in French.
• Varley, H. Paul , ed. (1980). [ Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359], Jinnō Shōtōki ("A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa" translated by H. Paul Varley). New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-321-04940-4

External links

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

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