was a after '' Kaei'' and before ''

Man'en was a after '' Ansei'' and before ''Bunkyū''. This period spanned the years from March 1860 through February 1861. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * March 18, 1860 (): The new era name was created to mark the destruction caused by a ...

''. This period spanned the years from November 1854 through March 1860. The reigning emperor was .

Change of era

* November 27, 1854 (): The new era name of ''Ansei'' (meaning "tranquil government") was created to herald the beginning of a peaceful period. The impetus and explanation for this change of era names was said to have been the burning of the Palace in Kyoto in the preceding summer.Satow, Ernest Mason. (1905)
''Japan 1853–1864, Or, Genji Yume Monogatari'', p. 11.
/ref> The new era name was derived from an hortatory aphorism: "Rule peacefully over the masses, then the ruler will remain in his place" (庶民安政、然後君子安位矣). Although the notion seems appealing, the arrival of the

Black Ships The Black Ships (in , Edo period term) were the names given to both Portuguese merchant ships and American warships arriving in Japan in the 16th and 19th centuries respectively. In 1543, Portuguese initiated the first contacts, establishing a ...

and Commodore

Matthew C. Perry Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was a United States Navy officer who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War. He led the Perry Expedition that Bakumatsu, ended Japan' ...

is not specifically recognized as a factor in the change of era names.

Events of the ''Ansei'' era

* 1854 (''Ansei 1''): The Ansei-Tōkai Quake (安政東海地震, ''Ansei Tōkai Jishin'') was an 8.4 magnitude earthquake which struck on December 23, 1854. The

epicenter The epicenter (), epicentre, or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Determination The primary purpose of a ...

ranged from Suruga Bay to the deep ocean, and struck primarily in the

Tōkai region The is a subregion of the Chūbu region and Kansai region in Japan that runs along the Pacific Ocean. The name comes from the Tōkaidō, one of the Edo Five Routes. Because Tōkai is a sub-region and is not officially classified, there is ...

, but destroyed houses as far away as in

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

. The accompanying

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

caused damage along the entire coast from the Bōsō Peninsula in modern-day

Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama ...

Tosa Province was a province of Japan in the area of southern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Tosa bordered on Awa to the northeast, and Iyo to the northwest. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō syst ...

(modern-day

Kōchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kōchi Prefecture has a population of 669,516 (1 April 2023) and has a geographic area of 7,103 km2 (2,742 sq mi). Kōchi Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the northwest and Tok ...

)_____. (2007). in , p. 253. * 1854 (''Ansei 1''): The Ansei-Nankai Quake (安政南海地震, ''Ansei Nankai Jishin'') was an 8.4 magnitude earthquake which struck on December 24, 1854. Over 10,000 people from the Tōkai region down to Kyushu were killed. * 1855 (''Ansei 2''): Work was begun on re-constructing the Imperial Palace after the devastating fire of '' Kaei'' 7, and the project was completed in nine months.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1956). ''Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794–1869.'' p. 324. * 1855 (''Ansei 2, 21st day of the 11th month''): The emperor moved into the reconstructed palace, having previously lived in the Shōgo-in and then

Katsura-no-miya :''See also Prince Katsura, the second son of Prince Mikasa.'' The was one of the four ''shinnōke'', branches of the Imperial Household of Japan, Imperial Family of Japan which were eligible to succeed to the Chrysanthemum Throne in the event t ...

. The people were permitted to view the grand Imperial progress. * November 11, 1855 (''Ansei 2''): 1855 Edo earthquake, one of the Ansei great earthquakes, with resulting fire damage and loss of life. Epicenter – (Latitude: 36.000/Longitude: 140.000), 6.9 magnitude on the

Richter Scale The Richter scale (), also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale, is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Richter in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg, and pr ...

. * November 15, 1857 (''Ansei 4''): Nagasaki Medical School is opened. Dr. Pompe van Meerdevoort gave the first formal public lecture on medical and surgical sciences at the new school, which became as well the first such lecture to be delivered in any Japanese venue. * 1858–1860 (''Ansei 5-Ansei 7''):

Cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

outbreak is believed to have killed between 100,000 and 200,000 people in

alone. * April 9, 1858 (''Ansei 5''): The 1858 Hietsu earthquake kills hundreds. * 1858 (''Ansei 5''): The initial establishment of

Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...

, seven years before the beginning of the ''Keio'' era; nevertheless, the university was named after the later era. This is the oldest existing institution of higher learning in Japan. * July 29, 1859 (''Ansei 5''): Tairō Ii Naosuke signs Japanese-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce (also known as the "Harris Treaty"), which was a follow-up to the 1854 Treaty of Kanagawa. * 1858 (''Ansei 5''): Beginning of Ansei Purge at the order of Ii Naosuke on behalf of the

bakufu , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...

. * 1860 (''Ansei 7''): Fire at

Edo Castle is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan in Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. In modern times it is part of the Tokyo Imperial Palace in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is therefore also known as . Tokugawa Ieyasu established th ...

* March 24, 1860 (''Man'en 1''): Ii Naosuke was assassinated, also known as the " Sakurada-mon Incident"Kusunoki, pp. 52–66; Cullen, p. 184.

Notes

References

* Cullen, Louis M. (2003). ''A History of Japan, 1582–1941: Internal and External Worlds.'' Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

. ;
OCLC 50694793
* Kusunoki Sei'ichirō (1991). ''Nihon shi omoshiro suiri: Nazo no satsujin jiken wo oe''. Tokyo: Futami bunko. * Ozaki, Yukio. (2001). ''The Autobiography of Ozaki Yukio: The Struggle for Constitutional Government in Japan.'' ranslated by Fujiko Hara Princeton:

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

.
OCLC 45363447
* 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
* Ponsonby-Fane, Richard A. B. (1956). ''Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794–1869.'' Kyoto: The Ponsonby Memorial Society
OCLC 559477127
* Satow, Ernest Mason. (1905). ''Japan 1853–1864, Or, Genji Yume Monogatari.'' Tokyo: Naigwai Shuppan Kyokwai
OCLC 643621953
*

External links

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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansei Japanese eras 1850s in Japan 1860s in Japan 1854 introductions 1854 establishments in Japan 1860s disestablishments in Japan 1850s neologisms