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was a after Manji and before Enpō. This period spanned the years from April 1661 to September 1673. The reigning emperors were and .

Change of era

  • 1661 : The new era name of Kanbun (meaning "Generous Art") was created to mark a number of disasters, including a great fire at the Imperial Palace. The previous era ended and a new one commenced in Manji 4.

Events of the Kanbun era

  • March 20, 1662 (Kanbun 2, 1st day of the 2nd month)<!-- NengoCalc 寛文二年二月一日 -->: There was a violent earthquake in Heian-kyō which destroyed the tomb of Toyotomi Hideyoshi .
  • 1662 (Kanbun 2): Emperor Gosai ordered Tosa Hiromichi (, 1599–1670), a Tosa-school disciple, to adopt the name Sumiyoshi, probably in reference to a 13th-century painter, Sumiyoshi Keinin (), upon assuming a position as official painter for the Sumiyoshi Taisha ().
  • March 5, 1663 (Kanbun 3, 26th day of the 1st month)<!-- NengoCalc 寛文三年一月二十六日 -->: Go-sai abdicated in favor of his younger brother, Satohito, aged 10; and then he lived in complete retirement until his death.
  • June 6, 1663 (Kanbun 3, 1st day of the 5th month)<!-- NengoCalc 寛文三年五月一日 -->: An earthquake struck in Ōmi Province.
  • 1669 (Kanbun 9): An Ainu rebellion, Shakushain's Revolt (1669–1672), breaks out in Hokkaido against the Matsumae clan
  • 1670 (Kanbun 10): The Bonin Islands (Ogasawara Islands) are discovered by the Japanese when a ship bound for Edo from Kyūshū is blown off course by a storm.

Notes

References

  • Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ; OCLC 48943301
  • Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887
  • Screech, Timon. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822. London: RoutledgeCurzon. ; OCLC 65177072
  • Tanaka, Hiroyuki. (1993). "The Ogasawara Islands in Tokugawa Japan", Kaiji Shi Kenkyuu (Journal of the Maritime History). No. 50, June, 1993, Tokyo: The Japan Society of the History of Maritime.... Click link to digitized, full-text copy of this monograph (in English)
  • 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.
  • National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar" -- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection
  • Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia --link to period painting in museum collection
  • Asia Society, New York -- link to porcelain figurines illustrating Kanbun era fashion...seated porcelain figurine
  • British Museum, London --link to further artist information