Tenpyō-shōhō
Tenpyō-shōhō (天平勝宝) was a Japanese era name (年号,, nengō,, lit. "year name") after Tenpyō-kanpō and before Tenpyō-hōji. This period spanned the years from July 749 through August 757.[1] The reigning emperor was Kōken-tennō (孝謙天皇).[2]
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Change of era
- 749 Tenpyō-shōhō gannen (天平勝宝元年): The new era name of Tenpyō-shōhō (meaning "Heavenly Peace and Victorious Treasure")[3] was created to mark the accession of Empress Kōken. Shortly after Tenpyō-kanpō was initially proclaimed, Shōmu renounced the throne, thus becoming the first emperor to take the tonsure as a Buddhist monk.[4] Shōmu's reign and the Tenpyō-kanpō era ended simultaneously as he began a new phase of his life. The previous era ended after a mere four months, and the new one commenced in Tenpyō-kanpō 1, on the 2nd day of the 7th month of 749.[5]
Events of the Tenpyō-shōhō era
- 749 : Empress Koken ascends the throne
- 750 : - Kamo Shrine was revered by the Imperial Court with an approximately 2.5 acre field being donated by the Emperor in 750.
- 750 : Emperor Koken visited Todai-ji Temple.
- 750 : - Japanese mission to Tang China - In 750, Kiyokawa was appointed envoy to Tang China,[1] with Ōtomo no Komaro and Kibi no Makibi as vice-envoys. Before his departure, the Emperor gave him a symbolic sword (節刀, settō) as a sign of his command, and he was granted the rank of shō shi-i no ge (正四位下).
- 751 : - Kaifuso is compilled (Florilegium of Cherished Airs) - earliest extant poetry anthology of literary Sinitic (kanshi) written by Japanese poets.
- 751 : Empress bestowed a ranked title of 'Mahito' on about thirty princes - Emperor bestowed a ranked title of 'Mahito' on about thirty princes
- 752 : - After a long and hard construction, the casting of the Great Buddha was completed and in 752 the Kaigan-e (ceremony of "kaigan," to enshrine a newly built Buddhist image and to put in a spirit to open eyes to Buddhism) was conducted with the priest from India Bodai Senna as the ceremony leader.
- 753 : TACHIBANA no Moroe the Sadaijin and others gathered to select Manyoshu poems in the era of the Empress of Koya' and that this description was included in the book-end notes of Genryaku Kohon (Genryaku Collated Text) and in the postscript of a certain old manuscript.
- 753 : Kiyokawa and the party of Kento-shi were coming back to Japan together with ABE no Nakamaro, who had stayed in Tang for 35 years as a senior official. The party of Ganjin (Jianzhen), who wanted a missionary to travel to Japan, wished to board, but Tang prohibited Ganjin from leaving the country, so Kiyokawa rejected his boarding. However, OTOMO no Komaro, vice-commander, boarded Ganjin on his ship at his own decision.
- 754 : - Tang priest named Ganjin (aka Janzen) was welcomed to Naniwa
- 754 : - Otomo no Yakamochi becomes Shonagon (lesser councilor of state) and returning to Kyoto, he became Hyobushoyu (deputy minister of military arm)
- 754 : Ganjin established an ordination platform at Daibutsu-den Hall (the Great Buddha hall) in the Todai-ji Temple, and conferred Bosatsu-kai (Bodhisattva Precepts) on 400 people, including from the retired emperor to priests and nuns. This was the beginning of todan-jukai (handing down the precepts).
- 755 : - Fujiwara no Nakamaro slandered Moroe for using profane language at a drinking party, concerning the sickness of the Retired Emperor Shomu
- 756 : Empress Komyo dedicated approximately 650 items associated with her late husband, Emperor Shomu, along with approximately 60 kinds of medicines, to Rushanabutsu (Great Buddha) on the forty-ninth day after the Emperor's death.
- 756 : ex-Emperor Shōmu died, and based on his will Prince Funado [ja] was made crown prince.
- 756 : - Empress Koken informed that Sadaijin Moroe is contemplating revolt, but she refuses to credit the rumor; nevertheless, Moroe resigns.
- 756 : Omi no Mifune was put into prison with OTOMO no Koshibi for defaming the Imperial Court by the Imperial Guards.
- 757 : - Empress Koken enacts Yoro Code
- 757 : Opposition led by Tachibana no Naramaro and others was put down in 757.
- 757 : - Prince Oi became Crown Prince with the support of Namararo
- 757 : Kamitsumichi no Hitatsu informed that he was asked to join the betrayal of Naramaro by Ono no Azumahito. Azumahito and others were arrested and questioned. Azumahito was tortured with a stick and confessed everything. The plan was as follows; Naramaro and others would rise an army to kill Nakamaro and relieve the Crown Prince of his position, then deprive ekirei (a bell needed for the exercise of imperial power) and Imperial Seal, enact the decree under udaijin (minister of the right) FUJIWARA no Toyonari, relieve the Emperor of his position and enthrone a new emperor among Prince Shioyaki, Prince Funado, Prince Asukabe and Prince Kibumi. - Although the punishment for the conspirators would normally have been death, Empress Kōken decreed that they should be spared this highest punishment and exiled instead.
Notes
- Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Tenpyō-shōhō" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 957, p. 957, at Google Books; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File Archived 2012-05-24 at archive.today.
- Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, pp. 73-75; Varley, Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki, pp. 143-144.
- Bowman, John. (2000). Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture, p. 127.
- Varley, p. 143.
- Brown, p. 274.
References
- Bowman, John Stewart. (2000). Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231110051; ISBN 9780231110044; OCLC 42429361
- Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). Gukanshō: The Future and the Past. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0; OCLC 251325323
- 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
External links
- National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar" -- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection
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