was a
Japanese era name of the
Northern Court during the
Era of Northern and Southern Courts after ''
Shōkei'' and before ''
Ryakuō.'' Although Kemmu is understood by the Southern Court as having begun at the same time, the era was construed to have begun after ''
Genkō'' and before ''
Engen.''
This period spanned the years from January 1334 through August 1338 in the
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography.
Etymology
T ...
, and until only February 1336 in the Southern Court. The reigning Emperors were
Emperor Go-Daigo in the south and
Emperor Kōmyō in the north.
Nanboku-chō overview

During the
Meiji period, 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
Southern Court 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 were not in their possession.
This illegitimate
Northern Court 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 ...
by
Ashikaga Takauji.
Change of era
* 1333, 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 ''Shōkei'' 1 as time was reckoned in the Northern Court in Kyoto; and the era began in ''Genkō '' 4, as time was ordered in the Southern Court in Yoshino.
Events of the Kenmu era
* 1333–1336 (''Kenmu''): The
Kenmu Restoration was an attempt by Emperor Go-Daigo to restore Imperial authority after the fall of the
Kamakura shogunate. The short-lived restoration was thwarted by Ashikaga Takauji who established a new
bakufu which came to be known as the
Ashikaga shogunate or the
Muromachi shogunate. The failure of the restoration resulted in the creation of two rival Imperial courts which struggled for supremacy until 1392.
* 1334 (''Kenmu 1''): Emperor Go-Daigo caused ''Kenmu nenchū gyōji'' to be written. This was a book which described the ceremonies of the court; and its purpose was to aid the process of reviving ancient court etiquette.
* October 25, 1334 (''Kenmu 1, 27th day of the 9th month''): Emperor Go-Daigo made an Imperial progress to
Kamo-jinja.
[Ponsonby-Fane, p. 325.] No other emperor would visit Kamo's shrines until April 29, 1863 (''
Bunkyū
was a after ''Man'en'' and before ''Genji (era), Genji''. This period spanned the years from March 1861 through March 1864. The reigning Emperor of Japan, emperor was .
Change of era
* March 29, 1861 (''Man'en 2/Bunkyū 1, 19th day of the 2nd ...
3, 11th day of the 3rd month''), when
Emperor Kōmei made an Imperial progress to Kamo-jinja accompanied by the shōgun, all the principal officials and many feudal lords. This was the first Imperial progress since Go-Mizunoo visited Nijō Castle more than 230 years before.
* 1336 (''Kenmu 3''): An anonymous author published ''Kenmu nenkan ki,'' which was a chronicle of the Kemmu era. The text is a source of information about laws, government, bureaucrats, and arable lands and estates given by the emperor to the nobility or to religious institutions (''
shōen
A was a field or Manorialism, manor in Japan. The Japanese language, Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese language, Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4'').
Shōen, from about the 8th to th ...
'').
* 1336 (''Kenmu 3''): Ashikaga Takauji promulgated the ''Kenmu-shikimoku,'' which was a legal code with 17 articles addressing the behavior of the nobles.
[Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kemmu-shikimoku''" i]
''Japan encyclopedia,'' p. 507.
/ref>
Notes
References
* 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.
OCLC 48943301
* Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1956). ''Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794-1869.''] Kyoto: The Ponsonby Memorial Society.
* 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''; 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
{{Japanese era name
Japanese eras
1330s in Japan
14th-century neologisms