Kagen

For the Jewish surname, see Kagan, the Norwegian island, and Kågen.

Kagen (嘉元) was a Japanese era name (年号, nengō, lit. "year name") after Kengen and before Tokuji. This period spanned the years from August 1303 through December 1306.^[1] The reigning emperor was Go-Nijō-tennō (後二条天皇).^[2]

Kagen 嘉元
August 1303 – December 1306
Part of the Pictorial Biography of Prince Shōtoku (painted by Kōzuke Hokkyō and Tajima Bō, 1305)
Location	Japan
Monarch(s)	Emperor Go-Nijō
Chronology Kengen Tokuji

Change of era

• 1303 Kagen gannen (嘉元元年): The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. The previous era ended and the new one commenced in Kengen 2. The era name is derived from the Yiwen Leiju (AD 624) and combines the characters 嘉 ("auspicious") and 元 ("foundation").

Events of the Kagen era

• July 17–27, 1303 (Kagen 1, 13th-23rd days of the 6th month): A white comet ("broom star") was seen at azimuth in the northeast each day at dawn for 10 days.^[3]
• October 4, 1305 (Kagen 3, 15th days of the 9th month): Former Emperor Kameyama's death.^[4]

Notes

1. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Kagen" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 447, p. 447, at Google Books; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File Archived 2012-05-24 at archive.today.
2. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, pp. 275-278; Varley, H. Paul. Jinnō Shōtōki, p. 239.
3. Pankenier, David et al. (2008). Archaeoastronomy in East Asia: Historical Observational Records of Comets and Meteor Showers from China, Japan, and Korea, p. 158., p. 158, at Google Books
4. Perkins, George W. (1998). The Clear Mirror: a Chronicle of the Japanese Court During the Kamakura period (1185-1333), p. 151., p. 151., at Google Books

References

• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
• Pankenier, David W., Zhentao Xu and Yaotiao Jiang. (2008). Archaeoastronomy in East Asia: Historical Observational Records of Comets and Meteor Showers from China, Japan, and Korea. Amherst, New York: Cambria Press. ISBN 9781604975871 ISBN 1604975873; OCLC 269455845
• 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
• Varley, H. Paul. (1980). A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231049405; OCLC 6042764

External links

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

Preceded by Kengen	Era or nengō Kagen 1303–1306	Succeeded by Tokuji