was a after

Jōkyō was a after ''Tenna'' and before ''Genroku.'' This period spanned the years from February 1684 through September 1688. The reigning emperors were and .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du japon'' p. 415./ref> Change of era * ...

and before

Hōei was a after Genroku and before Shōtoku''.'' This period spanned the years from March 1704 through April 1711. The reigning emperors were and . Etymology ''Hōei'' comes from the Old Book of Tang (). Change of era * 1704 : In reaction to t ...

. The Genroku period spanned the years from September 1688 to March 1704. The reigning emperor was .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du japon'', p. 415. The period was known for its peace and prosperity, as the previous hundred years of peace and seclusion in Japan had created relative economic stability. The arts and architecture flourished. There were unanticipated consequences when the

shogunate , 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 ...

debased the quality of coins as a strategy for financing the appearance of continuing Genroku affluence. This strategic miscalculation caused abrupt

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...

. Then, in an effort to solve the ensuing crisis, the introduced what were called the Kyōhō Reforms.

Change of era

The was 1688. The new era name was created to mark the beginning of the reign of Higashiyama. The previous era ended and the new one commenced in Jōkyō 5, on the 30th day of the 9th month. A sense of optimism is suggested in the era name choice of ''Genroku'' (meaning "original happiness").

Events of the Genroku era

* 1688 (''Genroku 1, 1st month''):

Ihara Saikaku was a Japanese poet and creator of the " floating world" genre of Japanese prose (''ukiyo-zōshi''). His born name may have been Hirayama Tōgo (平山藤五), the son of a wealthy merchant in Osaka, and he first studied haikai poetry under a ...

publishes ''Japan's Eternal Treasury''. * 1688 (''Genroku 1, 11th month''): Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu assumes the office of * 1688 (''Genroku 1''): The

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

revised the code of conduct for funerals (), which incorporated a code of conduct for mourning as well. * 1689 (''Genroku 2, 4th month''): Foreign settlements in

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

become possible. * September 16, 1689 (''Genroku 2, 3rd day of the 7th month''): German

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

Engelbert Kaempfer Engelbert Kaempfer (16 September 16512 November 1716) was a German natural history, naturalist, physician, exploration, explorer, and writer known for his tour of Russia, Iran, Persia, India, Southeast Asia, and Japan between 1683 and 1693. He ...

arrives at

Dejima or Deshima, in the 17th century also called , was an artificial island off Nagasaki, Japan, that served as a trading post for the Portuguese (1570–1639) and subsequently the Dutch (1641–1858). For 220 years, it was the central con ...

. * 1690 (''Genroku 3, 10th month''): The Abandoned Child Ban was officially proclaimed. * 1692 (''Genroku 5''): Building of temples 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 ...

banned. * 1693 (''Genroku 6, 12th month''):

Arai Hakuseki was a Confucianist, scholar-bureaucrat, academic, administrator, writer and politician in Japan during the middle of the Edo period, who advised the ''shōgun'' Tokugawa Ienobu. His personal name was Kinmi or Kimiyoshi (君美). Hakuseki (白� ...

becomes tutor to the of

Kōfu is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 187,985 in 90,924 households, and a population density of 880 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Overview Toponymy Kōfu ...

-, the future

Tokugawa Ienobu (11 June 1662 – 12 November 1712) was the sixth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Tsunashige, thus making him the nephew of Tokugawa Ietsuna and Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the grandson of Tokugawa Iem ...

. * 1693 (''Genroku 6''): The code of conduct for funerals is revised again. * 1695 (''Genroku 8, 2nd month''): Land survey performed of territory under the direct control of the in Kantō. * 1695 (''Genroku 8, 8th month''): Minting begun of Genroku coinage. The shogunate placed the Japanese character on the obverse of copper coins, the same character used today in China for the . There is no connection between those uses, however. * 1695 (''Genroku 8, 11th month''): First kennel is established for stray dogs in

. In this context,

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was the fifth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the younger brother of Tokugawa Ietsuna, as well as the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.Nussbaum, Louis- ...

comes to be nicknamed "the Dog ". * 1697 (''Genroku 10''): The fourth official map of Japan () was made in this year, but it was considered to be inferior to the previous one—which had been ordered in

Shōhō was a after '' Kan'ei'' and before '' Keian''. This period spanned the years from December 1644 through February 1648. The reigning emperor was .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834) ''Annales des empereurs du japon'', p. 412./ref> Change of era * 1644 : T ...

1 (1605) and completed in Kan'ei 16 (1639). This map was corrected in

Kyōhō , also pronounced Kyōho, was a after '' Shōtoku'' and before ''Genbun.'' This period spanned the years from July 1716 through April 1736. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * 1716 : The era name of ''Kyōhō'' (meaning "Undergo ...

4 (1719) by the mathematician Tatebe Katahiro (1644–1739), using high mountain peaks as points of reference, and was drawn to a scale of 1:21,600.Traganeou, Jilly. (2004). ''The Tokaido Road: Traveling and Representation in Edo and Meiji Japan'' * 1697 (''Genroku 10''): Great fire in Edo. * 1698 (''Genroku 11''): Another great fire in Edo. A new hall is constructed inside the enclosure of the Edo temple of

Kan'ei-ji (also spelled Kan'eiji or Kaneiji) is a Tendai Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Japan, founded in 1625 during the Kan'ei era by Tenkai, in an attempt to emulate the powerful religious center Enryaku-ji, in Kyoto. The main object of worship is .Nihon ...

(which is also known as Tōeizan Kan'ei-ji or "Hiei-san of the east" after the temple of

Enryaku-ji is a Tendai monastery located on Mount Hiei in Ōtsu, overlooking Kyoto. It was first founded in 788 during the early Heian period (794–1185) by Saichō (767–822), also known as Dengyō Daishi, who introduced the Tendai sect of Mahayana ...

Mount Hiei is a mountain to the northeast of Kyoto, lying on the border between the Kyoto and Shiga Prefectures, Japan. The temple of Enryaku-ji, the first outpost of the Japanese Tendai (Chin. Tiantai) sect of Buddhism, was founded atop Mount Hiei by ...

near to

Heian-kyō Heian-kyō was one of several former names for the city now known as Kyoto. It was the official capital of Japan for over one thousand years, from 794 to 1868 with an interruption in 1180. Emperor Kanmu established it as the capital in 794, mo ...

). * 1700 (''Genroku 13, 11th month''): Exchange rate of

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

coin A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

s established. * 1703 (''Genroku 15, 12th month''): Akō Domain incident involving the 47 . * 1703 (''Genroku 16, 3rd month''):

Ōishi Yoshio 24 April 1659 – 20 March 1703 was the chamberlain ('' karō'') of the Akō Domain in Harima Province (now Hyōgo Prefecture), Japan (1679 - 1701). He is known as the leader of the Forty-seven Rōnin in their 1703 vendetta and thus the he ...

commits ritual suicide. * 1703 (''Genroku 16, 5th month''): First performance of

Chikamatsu Monzaemon , real name , was a Japanese dramatist of jōruri, the form of puppet theater that later came to be known as bunraku, and the live-actor drama, kabuki. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' has written that he is "widely regarded as the greatest Jap ...

's play ''

The Love Suicides at Sonezaki ''The Love Suicides at Sonezaki'' (曾根崎心中, ''Sonezaki Shinjū'') is a jōruri play by the Japanese playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon. The double suicides that occurred on May 22, 1703, inspired Chikamatsu to write this play and thus ''Th ...

''. * December 31, 1703 (''Genroku 16, 23rd day of the 11th month''): The Great Genroku earthquake shook Edo and parts of the shogun's castle collapsed.Hammer, Joshua. (2006)
''Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire that Helped Forge the Path to World War II'', p. 63.
/ref> The following day, a vast fire spread throughout the city. Parts of Honshū's coast were battered by tsunami, and up to 200,000 people were either killed or injured.

Prominent figures of the Genroku era

— playwright * Ichikawa Danjūrō I,

Sakata Tōjūrō I (1647 – 1 November 1709) was an early kabuki actor of the Genroku period in Japan. He was a pioneer of the ''wagoto'' style, and of Kamigata kabuki more generally. His influence persists in the lineage of actors who have taken up his arti ...

, Yoshizawa Ayame I—kabuki actors *

—novelist *

—Confucian scholar and shogunal advisor * The Forty-seven * Ogata Kōrin and Ogata Kenzan— Rinpa school artists * Torii Kiyonobu,

Hishikawa Moronobu Hishikawa Moronobu (; 1618 – 25 July 1694) was a Japanese artist known for popularizing the ukiyo-e genre of woodblock prints and paintings in the late 17th century. He consolidated the works of scattered Japanese art styles and forged ...

Miyagawa Chōshun Miyagawa Chōshun (; 1683 – 18 December 1753) was a Japanese painter in the ukiyo-e style. Founder of the Miyagawa school, he and his pupils are among the few ukiyo-e artists to have never created woodblock prints. He was born in Miy ...

—

ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock printing, woodblock prints and Nikuhitsu-ga, paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes ...

artists *

Matsuo Bashō ; born , later known as was the most famous Japanese poet of the Edo period. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative '' haikai no renga'' form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as th ...

—

Haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 Mora (linguistics), morae (called ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' in Japanese) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a ''kire ...

poet

Notes

References

* Hammer, Joshua. (2006). ''Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire that Helped Forge the Path to World War II''. New York:

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

.
OCLC 67774380
* 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
* Screech, Timon. (2006)
''Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822''.
London:

RoutledgeCurzon Routledge ( ) is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, a ...

.
OCLC 65177072
* Smith, Robert John and Richard K. Beardsley. (2004). ''Japanese Culture: Its Development And Characteristics''. London:

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

. * 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
* Traganeou, Jilly. (2004). ''The Metaphorical Road of the Tōkaid: Traveling and Representation in Edo and Meiji Japan''. London:

.
OCLC 52347509

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 ...