Kengen

For other uses, see Kengen (disambiguation).

Kengen (乾元) was a Japanese era name (年号, nengō, lit. "year name") after Shōan and before Kagen. This period spanned the years from November 1302 through August 1303.^[1] The reigning emperor was Go-Nijō-tennō (後二条天皇).^[2]

Kengen 乾元
November 1302 – August 1303
Taima mandala (painted 1302)
Location	Japan
Monarch(s)	Emperor Go-Nijō
Chronology Shōan Kagen

Change of era

• 1302 Kengen gannen (乾元元年): The new era name was created to mark an event or a number of events. The previous era ended and a new one commenced in Shōan 4. The era name is derived from the I Ching and combines the characters 乾 ("heaven" in the Bagua) and 元 ("foundation").

Events of the Kengen era

• 1302 (Kengen 1, 16th day of the 6th month):Emperor Go-Nijo visited the home of retired Emperor Kameyama.^[3]
• 1302 (Kengen 1): Major repairs and reconstruction at Yakushi-ji.^[4]

Notes

1. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Kengen" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 508, p. 508, 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, p. 275-278; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki. p. 239.
3. Perkins, George W. (1998). The Clear Mirror: a Chronicle of the Japanese Court During the Kamakura period (1185-1333), p. 150., p. 150., at Google Books
4. Pier, Garrett Chatfield. (1914). Temple treasures of Japan, p. 95., p. 95, 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
• 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 978-0-231-04940-5; OCLC 6042764

External links

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

Preceded by Shōan	Era or nengō Kengen 1302–1303	Succeeded by Kagen