Genchū

Genchū (元中) was a Japanese era of the Southern Court during the Era of Northern and Southern Courts lasting from April 1384 to October 1392.^[1] The reigning Emperors were Go-Kameyama in the south and Go-Komatsu in the north.

Nanboku-chō overview

The Imperial seats during the Nanboku-chō period were in relatively close proximity, but geographically distinct. They were conventionally identified as:

• Northern capital: Kyoto
• Southern capital: Yoshino.

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 (南朝, nanchō) had been established in exile in Yoshino, near Nara.^[2]

Until the end of the Edo period, 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.^[2]

This illegitimate Northern Court (北朝, hokuchō) had been established in Kyoto by Ashikaga Takauji.^[2]

Events of the Genchū Era

Northern Court Equivalents

• Shitoku
• Kakei
• Kōō
• Meitoku – Genchū became Meitoku 3 when the Courts were united

Notes

1. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Genchū" in Japan encyclopedia, p. 236; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File.
2. 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. pp. 140–147.

References

• Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 48943301
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Ōdai 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

Preceded by Kōwa	Era or nengō Genchū 1384–1392	Succeeded by Meitoku