or Medieval Showa was a after ''

Ōchō was a after ''Enkyō (Kamakura period), Enkyō'' and before ''Shōwa (first), Shōwa.'' This period spanned 11 months from April 1311 through February 1312. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1311 : The new era name was created to mar ...

'' and before '' Bunpō.'' This period spanned the years from March 1312 through February 1317. The reigning emperor was .

Etymology

The era name is derived from the ''

Old Book of Tang The ''Old Book of Tang'', or simply the ''Book of Tang'', is the first classic historical work about the Tang dynasty, comprising 200 chapters, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories. Originally compiled during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

'', a

Classical Chinese Classical Chinese is the language in which the classics of Chinese literature were written, from . For millennia thereafter, the written Chinese used in these works was imitated and iterated upon by scholars in a form now called Literary ...

work composed in AD 941–945. The first character is ''shō'' (正), meaning "proper, straight, true", while 和 (''wa'') means "peace," and may also

pun A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...

on ''Wa'' (倭), an ancient name for

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, 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 ...

. The era name is pronounced like the Shōwa era of 1926–1989, but that era name is written with the character 昭 ("illustrious") for ''shō''.

Change of era

* 1311 : The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. The previous era ended and the new one commenced in ''Ōchō'' 2.

Events of the ''Shōwa'' era

Initially, former- Emperor Fushimi administered the court up through the time he took the tonsure as a Buddhist monk. * 1313 (''Shōwa 2, 10th month''): Retired Emperor Fushimi shaved his head and became a Buddhist monk; and the power to administer the court of reigning Emperor Hanazono shifted to his adopted son, former- Emperor Go-Fushimi.Titsingh, p. 279. * 1314 (''Shōwa 3, 11th month''): Hōjō Sadaaki ended his role at

Rokuhara Tandai was the post of the chiefs of the Kamakura shogunate in imperial capital Kyoto whose agency, the , kept responsibility for security in Kinai and judicial affairs on western Japan, and negotiated with the Imperial Court in Kyoto, imperial court. ...

in Kyoto; and he returned to Kamakura.Titsingh, p. 280. * 1315 (''Shōwa 4, 7th month''): Hōjō Hirotoki dies in Kamakura; and initially, Hōjō Sadaaki and Hōjō Mototoki share power. * 1315 (''Shōwa 4, 10th month''): Hōjō Tokiatsu assumes the role of Rokuhara Tandai in the capital city. * 1316 (''Shōwa 5, 7th month''): Hōjō Tokiatsu, who is the son of Hōjō Sadaaki, takes on the role of

Shikken The was a senior government post held by members of the Hōjō clan, officially a regent of the shogunate. From 1199 to 1333, during the Kamakura period, the ''shikken'' served as the head of the ''bakufu'' (shogun's government). This era was ref ...

; and Hōjō Mototoki retires to a Buddhist monastery where he shaves his head.

Notes

References

* 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 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
* 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 Japanese Calendar
-- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection
Japanese eras 1310s in Japan 14th-century neologisms {{Japan-era-stub