Tenpō

Tenpō (天保) was a Japanese era name (年号,, nengō,, lit. "year name"), also known as Tempō, after Bunsei and before Kōka. The period spanned the years from December 1830 through December 1844. The reigning emperor was Ninko-tennō (仁孝天皇).

Change of era

• December 10, 1830 (Tenpō gannen (天保元年)) : In the 13th year of Bunsei, the new era name of Tenpō (meaning "Heavenly Imperial Protection") was created to mark the disasters of a great fire in Edo and an earthquake at Kyoto. The new era name was created from an hortatory aphorism: "Respect and worship the Ways of heaven. Eternally keep the Mandate of Heaven" (欽崇天道、永保天命).

Events of the Tenpō era

• 1834 (Tenpō 5): Kondō Isami born in Tama.
• July 20, 1835 (Tenpō 6, 7th day of the 6th month): Earthquake in Sanriku (Latitude: 37.900/Longitude: 141.900), 7.6 magnitude on the Richter Scale.
  • Hijikata Toshizō born, May 5.
• 1836 (Tenpō 7): Matsudaira Katamori born in Edo.
• 1837 (Tenpō 7): Tokugawa Ieyoshi becomes the 12th shogun of the bakufu government.
• 1837 (Tenpō 8): Uprisings, including rebellions led by Ōshio Heihachirō and Ikuta Yorozu
• 1837 (Tenpō 8): Morrison Incident — American ship repelled by cannon fire from Japanese shores; also, Tokugawa Yoshinobu born.
• April 25, 1843 (Tenpō 14, 25th day of the 3rd month): Earthquake in Yezo, Kushiro, Nemuro (Latitude: 41.800/Longitude: 144.800), 8.4 magnitude on the Richter Scale.
• 1844 (Tenpō 15): Disasters, including the Great Tenpō Famine, the Tenpō Insurrection in Chōshū and the Tenpō Fire in Edo Castle; also, Saitō Hajime born in Edo.

Calendar revision

During the Tenpō era, Koide Shuki translated portions of Jérôme Lalande's work on astronomy. Koide presented this work to the Astronomy Board as evidence of the superiority of the European calendar, but the effort produced no identifiable effect. However, Koide's work and translations of other Western writers did indirectly affect the Tenpo calendar revision in 1842-1844. A great many errors had been found in the lunar calendar; and a revised system was publicly adopted in 1844. The new calendar was called the Tenpō-Jinin calendar. It was in use in Japan until 1872 when the Gregorian calendar was adopted.

Gallery

• 
  Branched ("Edasen" 枝銭) Mon coins of the Tenpō period.
• 
  Japanese drawing of the Morrison, anchored in front of Uraga in 1837.

See also

• Tenpo Reform

References

• Hall, John Whitney and Marius Jansen. (1991). Early Modern Japan: The Cambridge History of Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10-ISBN 0-521-22355-5; 13-ISBN 978-0-521-22355-3; OCLC 62064695
• 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 48943301
• Smith, David E. and Yoshio Mikami. (1914). A History of Japanese Mathematics. Chicago: Open Court Publishing. OCLC 1515528 – note alternate online, full-text copy at archive.org
• Wiskundig Genootschap (Mathematical Society). (1907). Nieuw archief voor wiskunde (New Archive of Mathematics). Amsterdam, Swets & Zeitlinger. OCLC 5814818

External links

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

Tenpō	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th
Gregorian	1830	1831	1832	1833	1834	1835	1836	1837	1838	1839	1840	1841	1842	1843	1844

Preceded by: Bunsei

Era or nengō: Tenpō

Succeeded by: Kōka