Genroku

Genroku (Japanese:元禄) was a Japanese era name (年号, nengō, lit. year name) after Jōkyō and before Hōei. This period spanned the years from 1688 through 1704. The reigning emperor was Higashiyama-tennō (東山天皇).

The years of Genroku are generally considered to be the Golden Age of the Edo Period. The previous hundred years of peace and seclusion in Japan had created relative economic stability. The arts and architecture flourished. There were unanticipated consequences when the shogunate debased the quality of coins as a strategy for financing the appearance of continuing Genroku affluence. This strategic miscalculation caused abrupt inflation. Then, in an effort to solve the ensuing crisis, the bakufu introduced what were called the Kyoho Reforms.

Change of Era

• Genroku gannen (元禄元年) or Genroku 1 (1688): The new era name was created to mark the beginning of the reign of Higashiyama. The previous era ended and the new one commenced in Jōkyō 5, on the 30th day of the 9th month.

Source of Era Name

A sense of optimism is suggested in the era name choice of Genroku (meaning "Original happiness").

Events of the Genroku Era

• Genroku gannen or Genroku 1 (1688):
  • G1, 1st month: Ihara Saikaku publishes Japan's Eternal Treasury.
  • G1, 11th month: Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu assumes the office of Soba Yōnin.
  • Opening up of new territory on Dōjima in Ōsaka becomes possible.
• Genroku 2 (1689):
  • G2, 4th month: Foreign settlements in Nagasaki become possible.
  • G2 (September 16, 1689): German physician Engelbert Kaempfer arrives at Dejima for the first time. Bakufu policy in this era was designed to marginalize the influence of foreigners in Genroku Japan; and Kaempfer had to present himself as "Dutch" in dealings with the Japanese. Regardless of this minor subterfuge, an unintended and opposite consequence of sakoku was to enhance the value and significance of a very small number of thoughtful observers like Kaempfer, whose writings document what he learned or discovered first-hand. Kaempfer's published accounts and unpublished writings provided a unique and useful perspective for Orientalists and Japanologists in the 19th century; and his work continues to be rigorously examined by modern researchers today.
• Genroku 3 (1690):
  • G3, 10th month: The Abandoned Child Ban was officially proclaimed.
• Genroku 5 (1692):
  • Building of temples in Edo banned.
• Genroku 6 (1693):
  • G6, 12th month: Arai Hakuseki becomes tutor to the daimyō of Kōfu-han, the future Shōgun Tokugawa Ienobu.
• Genroku 8 (1695):
  • G8, 2nd month: Land survey performed of territory under the direct control of the bakufu in Kantō.
  • G8, 8th month: Minting begun of Genroku coinage.
  • G8, 11th month: First kennel is established for stray dogs in Edo. In this context, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi comes to be nicknamed "the Dog Shogun" (いぬくぼう 犬公方, "Inu-kubō').
• Genroku 13 (1700):
  • G13, 11th month: Exchange rate of silver coins established.
• Genroku 16 (1703):
  • G16, 3rd month: Ōishi Yoshio commits seppuku.
  • G16, 5th month: First performance of Chikamatsu Monzaemon's play Double Suicide of Sonezaki.
  • G16, 11th month (1703): Great Genroku Earthquake.

Prominent Figures in the Genroku Era

• Chikamatsu Monzaemon - jōruri playwright
• Ichikawa Danjūrō I, Sakata Tōjūrō I, Yoshizawa Ayame I - kabuki actors
• Ihara Saikaku - novelist
• Arai Hakuseki - Confucian scholar and shogunal advisor
• The Forty-seven Ronin
• Ogata Korin and Ogata Kenzan - Rinpa school artists
• Torii Kiyonobu, Hishikawa Moronobu, Miyagawa Chōshun - ukiyo-e artists

References

Further reading

• Screech, Timon. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779-1822. London: RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 0-700-71720-X
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1822). Illustrations of Japan; consisting of Private Memoirs and Anecdotes of the reigning dynasty of The Djogouns, or Sovereigns of Japan; a description of the Feasts and Ceremonies observed throughout the year at their Court; and of the Ceremonies customary at Marriages and Funerals: to which are subjoined, observations on the legal suicide of the Japanese, remarks on their their poetry, an explanation of their mode of reckoning time, particulars respecting the Dosia powder, the preface of a work by Confoutzee on filial piety, &c. &c. by M. Titsingh formerly Chief Agent to the Dutch East India Company at Nangasaki. Translated from the French, by Frederic Shoberl with coloured plates, faithfully copied from Japanese original designs. London: Ackerman.
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Supplément aux annales des daïri, appended to [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.

See also

• An'ei -- Carl Peter Thunberg, Isaac Titsingh
• Bunsei -- Philipp Franz von Siebold

External links

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

Genroku	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th
Gregorian	1688	1689	1690	1691	1692	1693	1694	1695	1696	1697	1698	1699	1700	1701	1702	1703	1704

Preceded by: Jōkyō

Era or nengō: Genroku

Succeeded by: Hōei