Kempo (era)

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Kempo (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. The reigning emperor was Juntoku-tennō (順徳天皇).

Change of era

• 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.

Events of the Kempo era

• 1213 (Kempo 1, 1st day of the 1st month): There was an earthquake at Kamakura.
• 1213 (Kempo 1, 11th month): Fujiwara no Teika, also known as Fujiwara no Sadeie offered a collection of 8th century poems to Shogun Sanetomo. These poems were collectively known as the Man'yōshū.
• 1214 (Kempo 2, 2nd month): Shogun 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 shogun with an excellent tea, which restored his good health.
• 1214 (Kempo 2, 3rd month): The emperor went to Kasuga.
• 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 Shogun Sanetomo.
• 1215 (Kempo 3, 1st month): Hōjō Tokimasa died at age 78 in the mountains of Izu province.
• 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.
• 1215 (Kempo 3, 8th-9th months): There were many, serial earthquakes in the Kamakura area.
• 1217 (Kempo 5, 8th-9th months): The emperor visited the Shrines at Hirano and at Ōharano near Kyoto.

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. 10-ISBN 0520034600; 13-ISBN 9780520034600; OCLC 5145872
• Kitagawa, Hiroshi and Bruce T. Tsuchida, eds. (1975). The Tale of the Heike. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. 10-ISBN 4130870246/13-ISBN 9784130870245; 10-ISBN 4130870238/13-ISBN 9784130870238; 10-ISBN 0860081885/13-ISBN 9780860081883; 10-ISBN 0860081893/13-ISBN 9780860081890; OCLC 193064639
• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 10-ISBN 0-674-01753-6; 13-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. 10-ISBN 0231049404/13-ISBN 9780231049405; OCLC 6042764

External links

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

Kempo	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th
Gregorian	1213	1214	1215	1216	1217	1218	1219

Preceded by: Kenryaku

Era or nengō: Kempo

Succeeded by: Jōkyū