was a after '' Eihō'' and before ''

Kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

''. This period spanned the years from February 1084 through April 1087. The reigning emperor was .

Change of Era

* February 9, 1084 : The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. The previous era ended and the new one commenced in ''Eihō'' 4, on the 7th day of the 2nd month.Brown, p. 316.

Events of the ''Ōtoku'' Era

* 1084 (''Ōtoku 1, 9th month''): The empress Kenshi, the emperor's principal consort, died. Shirakawa was afflicted with great grief, and for a time, he turned over the administration of the government to his ministers.Titsingh
p. 171.
/ref> * 1086 (''Ōtoku 3, 9th month''): Shirakawa announced his intention to abdicate in favor of his son. * January 3, 1087 (''Ōtoku 3, 26th day of the 11th month''): Shirakawa formally abdicated, and he took the title '' Daijō-tennō.'' Shirakawa had personally occupied the throne for 14 years; and for the next 43 years, he would exercise broad powers in what will come to be known as

cloistered rule was a form of government in Japan during the Heian period. In this bifurcated system, an emperor abdicated, but retained power and influence. Those retired emperors who withdrew to live in monasteries (''in'') continued to act in ways intended to ...

.Varley, p. 202

Notes

References

* Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979)
''Gukanshō: The Future and the Past''.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
OCLC 251325323
* 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 58053128
* Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''

Nihon Ōdai Ichiran , ', is a 17th-century chronicle of the serial reigns of Japanese emperors with brief notes about some of the noteworthy events or other happenings. According to the 1871 edition of the ''American Cyclopaedia'', the 1834 French translation of ...

''; 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 Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's la ...

.
OCLC 6042764

External links

National Diet Library The is the national library of Japan and among the largest libraries in the world. It was established in 1948 for the purpose of assisting members of the in researching matters of public policy. The library is similar in purpose and scope to ...

, "The Japanese Calendar
-- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Otoku 1080s in Japan Japanese eras 11th-century neologisms