Kempo (era)

Kenpo (建保) was a Japanese era name (年号, nengō, lit. year name) after Kenryaku and before Jōkyū. This period spanned the years from December 1213 through April 1219.[1] The reigning emperor was Juntoku-tennō (順徳天皇).[2]

Change of era

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  • 1213 Kempo gannen (建保元年): The new era name was created because the previous era ended and a new one commenced in Kenryaku 3, on the 6th day of the 12th month of 1213.[3]

Events of the Kempo era

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  • 1213 (Kempo 1, 1st day of the 1st month): There was an earthquake at Kamakura.[4]
  • 1213 (Kempo 1, 11th month): Fujiwara no Teika, also known as Fujiwara no Sadeie offered a collection of 8th century poems to Shōgun Sanetomo. These poems were collectively known as the Man'yōshū.[5]
  • 1214 (Kempo 2, 2nd month): Shōgun Sanetomo, having drunk too much sake, was feeling somewhat uncomfortable; and the Buddhist priest Eisai, who was the grand priest of the Jufuku-ji temple-complex, presented the shōgun with an excellent tea, which restored his good health.[5]
  • 1214 (Kempo 2, 3rd month): The emperor went to Kasuga.[5]
  • 1214 (Kempo 2, 4th month): A group of militant priests living on Mt. Hiei set fire to the central temple structure at Enryaku-ji. The damage was repaired at the expense of Shōgun Sanetomo.[5]
  • 1215 (Kempo 3, 1st month): Hōjō Tokimasa died at age 78 in the mountains of Izu province.[5]
  • 1215 (Kempo 3, 6th month): The well-known priest Eisai died at age 75; his remains were interred at the temple of Kennin-ji which he had founded in Kyoto.[5]
  • 1215 (Kempo 3, 8th-9th months): There were many, serial earthquakes in the Kamakura area.[5]
  • 1217 (Kempo 5, 8th-9th months): The emperor visited the Shrines at Hirano and at Ōharano near Kyoto.[6]

Notes

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  1. ^ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Kempo" in Japan encyclopedia, p. 507; 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. 230-238; Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, pp. 341-343; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki. pp. 221-223.
  3. ^ Brown, p. 341.
  4. ^ Titsingh, p. 231.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Titsingh, p. 233.
  6. ^ Titsingh, p. 254.

References

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  • 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 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
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Preceded by Era or nengō
Kempo

1213–1219
Succeeded by