, also romanized as Ō-an, was a

Japanese era name The or , is the first of the two elements that identify years in the Japanese era calendar scheme. The second element is a number which indicates the year number within the era (with the first year being "", meaning "origin, basis"), followed b ...

(年号, ''nengō'', lit. year name) of the

Northern Court The , also known as the Ashikaga Pretenders or Northern Pretenders, were a set of six pretenders to the throne of Japan during the Nanboku-chō period from 1336 through 1392. Even though the present Imperial House of Japan is descended from the ...

during the Era of Northern and Southern Courts after '' Jōji'' and before '' Eiwa.'' This period spanned the years from February 1368 through February 1375. The emperors in Kyoto were and Titsingh, Isaac. (1834)
''Annales des empereurs du japon'', pp. 310-312.
/ref> The

Southern Court The were a set of four emperors ( Emperor Go-Daigo and his line) whose claims to sovereignty during the Nanboku-chō period spanning from 1336 through 1392 were usurped by the Northern Court. This period ended with the Southern Court definitivel ...

rival in Yoshino during this time-frame was .

Nanboku-chō overview

During the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, an Imperial decree dated March 3, 1911 established that the legitimate reigning monarchs of this period were the direct descendants of Emperor Go-Daigo through Emperor Go-Murakami, whose had been established in exile in Yoshino, near Nara.Thomas, Julia Adeney. (2001)
''Reconfiguring modernity: concepts of nature in Japanese political ideology'', p. 199 n57
citing Mehl, Margaret. (1997). ''History and the State in Nineteenth-Century Japan.'' p. 140-147. Until the end of the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, the militarily superior pretender-Emperors supported by the Ashikaga shogunate had been mistakenly incorporated in Imperial chronologies despite the undisputed fact that the

Imperial Regalia The Imperial Regalia, also called Imperial Insignia (in German ''Reichskleinodien'', ''Reichsinsignien'' or ''Reichsschatz''), are regalia of the Holy Roman Emperor. The most important parts are the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, C ...

were not in their possession. This illegitimate had been established in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

Ashikaga Takauji also known as Minamoto no Takauji was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''Encyclopædia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. ...

Change of era

* 1368, also called : The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. The previous era ended and the new one commenced in ''Jōji'' 7. In this time frame, Shōhei (1346–1370), Kentoku (1370–1372) and Bunchū (1372–1375) were Southern Court equivalent ''nengō.''

Events of the Ōan era

* 1368 (''Ōan 1''): The Southern Court proclaims

Emperor Chōkei was the 98th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He reigned from 1368 through 1383. His personal name was Yutanari (寛成) and his regal name roughly translates to "Long Celebration". Genealogy His father was ...

's succession to the vacancy created by the death of Emperor Go-Murakami.Ackroyd, Joyce. (1982) ''Lessons from History: The "Tokushi Yoron"'', p. 329. * 1369 (''Ōan 2''): Kusunoki Masanori defects to Ashikaga. * 1370 (''Ōan 3''): Imagawa Sadayo sent to subdue Kyūshū. * 1371 (''Ōan 4''): Attempts to arrange truce. * 1373-1406 (''Ōan 6'' – ''Ōei 13''): Embassies between China and Japan. * 1374 (''Ōan 7''): En'yū ascends northern throne.

Notes

References

* Ackroyd, Joyce. (1982) ''Lessons from History: The Tokushi Yoron.'' Brisbane:

University of Queensland Press University of Queensland Press (UQP) is an Australian publishing house based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in 1948 as a traditional university press, UQP now publishes books for general readers across fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children's ...

. * Mehl, Margaret. (1997). ''History and the State in Nineteenth-Century Japan.'' New York: St Martin's Press.
OCLC 419870136
* Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). ''Japan Encyclopedia.'' Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

.
OCLC 48943301
* Thomas, Julia Adeney. (2001). ''Reconfiguring Modernity: Concepts of Nature in Japanese Political Ideology.'' Berkeley:

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

. ; * Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''

Nihon Odai Ichiran Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in t ...

''; ou
''Annales des empereurs du Japon.''
Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland
OCLC 5850691

External links

* National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar
-- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oan Japanese eras 1360s in Japan 1370s in Japan 14th-century neologisms