was a Japanese era name of the Northern Court during the Era of Northern and Southern Courts after Shōkei and before Ryakuō. Although Kemmu is understood by the Southern Court as having begun at the same time, the era was construed to have begun after Genkō and before Engen.

This period spanned the years from January 1334 through August 1338 in the North, and until only February 1336 in the Southern Court. The reigning Emperors were Emperor Go-Daigo in the south and Emperor Kōmyō in the north.

Nanboku-chō overview

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

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 been established in exile in Yoshino, near Nara.

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.

  • 1334 (Kenmu 1): Emperor Go-Daigo caused Kenmu nenchū gyōji to be written. This was a book which described the ceremonies of the court; and its purpose was to aid the process of reviving ancient court etiquette.
  • October 25, 1334 (Kenmu 1, 27th day of the 9th month): Emperor Go-Daigo made an Imperial progress to Kamo-jinja. No other emperor would visit Kamo's shrines until April 29, 1863 (Bunkyū 3, 11th day of the 3rd month), when Emperor Kōmei made an Imperial progress to Kamo-jinja accompanied by the shōgun, all the principal officials and many feudal lords. This was the first Imperial progress since Go-Mizunoo visited Nijō Castle more than 230 years before.
  • 1336 (Kenmu 3): An anonymous author published Kenmu nenkan ki, which was a chronicle of the Kemmu era. The text is a source of information about laws, government, bureaucrats, and arable lands and estates given by the emperor to the nobility or to religious institutions (shōen).
  • 1336 (Kenmu 3): Ashikaga Takauji promulgated the Kenmu-shikimoku, which was a legal code with 17 articles addressing the behavior of the nobles.

Notes

References

  • Mehl, Margaret. (1997). History and the State in Nineteenth-Century Japan. New York: St Martin's Press. ; OCLC 419870136
  • Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ; OCLC 48943301
  • Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1956). Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794-1869.] Kyoto: The Ponsonby Memorial Society.
  • Thomas, Julia Adeney. (2001). Reconfiguring Modernity: Concepts of Nature in Japanese Political Ideology. Berkeley: University of California Press. ;
  • 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
  • National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar" -- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection