Meiwa

Meiwa (Japanese:明和) was a Japanese era name (年号, nengō, lit. year name) after Hōreki and before An'ei. This period spanned the years from 1764 through 1772. The reigning emperess and emperor were Go-Sakuramachi-tennō (後桜町天皇) and Go-Momozono-tennō (後桃園天皇).

Change of era

• Meiwa gannen (明和元年) or Meiwa 1 (June 2, 1764): The era name became Meiwa (meaning "Bright Harmony") because of the enthronement of Empress Go-Sakuramachi.

Events of the Meiwa Era

• Meiwa 2 (September 1765): Five-momme coin issued.
• Meiwa 3 (1766): A planned insurrection to displace the Shogun was thwarted.
• Meiwa 5 (1768): Five-momme usage halted.
• Meiwa 7 (1770): A typhoon flattened the newly built Imperial Palace in Kyoto.
• Meiwa 7 (1770): A great comet (Lexell's comet) with a very long tale lit up the night skies throughout the summer and autumn.
• Meiwa 7 (1770): Although no one could have known it at the time, this was the first of 15 consecutive years of drought in Japan.
• Meiwa 9 (February 29, 1772): "The Great Meiwa Fire" -- one of the three Great Edo Fires. Unofficial reports describe a swath of ashes and cinders nearly five miles wide and 15 miles long -- destroying 178 temples and shrines, 127 daimyo residences, 878 nonofficial residences, 8705 houses of Bannermen, and 628 blocks of merchant dwellings, with estimates of over 6,000 casualties. All this devastation subsequently engendered the staggering costs of reconstruction.
• Meiwa 9 (August 2, 1772): A terrible tempest hit the Kantō bringing floods and ruining crops.
• Meiwa 9 (August 17, 1772): Another storm with more flooding and winds no less intense blew down an estimated 4000 houses in Edo alone.
• Meiwa 9 (1772): At the time, it was said that "Meiwa 9 is Year of Trouble" because it was marked by an extraordinary succession of natural calamities. The pun was made linking the words "Meiwa" + "ku" (meaning "Meiwa 9") and the sound-alike word "meiwaku" (meaning "misfortune" or "annoyance").
• Meiwa 9 in the eleventh month (1772): The nengō was changed to Anei (meaning "eternal tranquillity"), but this symbolic act was proved futile.

References

Further reading

• Hall, John Whitney. (1955). Tanuma Okitsugu, 1719-1788: Forerunner of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
• 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, 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.

External links

• Lexell's comet -- Comet ("D/1770 L1") is named after Lexell.

Meiwa	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
Gregorian	1764	1765	1766	1767	1768	1769	1770	1771	1772

Preceded by: Hōreki

Era or nengō: Meiwa

Succeeded by: An'ei