, also romanized as Kanki, was a after ''
Antei
was a after '' Gennin'' and before '' Kangi.'' This period spanned the years from December 1227 to March 1229. The reigning emperor was .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834) ''Annales des empereurs du Japon'', pp. 238-241 Varley, H. Paul. (1980). ''Jinnō S ...
'' and before ''
Joei.'' This period spanned the years from March 1229 to April 1232. The reigning emperor was .
Change of era
* 1229 : The era name was changed to mark an event or a number of events. The previous era ended and a new one commenced in ''Antei'' 3.
Events of the ''Kangi'' era
* 1230 (''Kangi 2, 12th month''):
Kujō Yoritsune
, also known as , was the fourth ''shōgun'' of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan. His father was '' kanpaku'' Kujō Michiie and his grandmother was a niece of Minamoto no Yoritomo. His wife was a granddaughter of Minamoto no Yoritomo and daughter ...
is married to the daughter of
Minamoto no Yoriie
was the second ''shōgun'' (1202–1203) of Japan's Kamakura shogunate, and the first son of first shōgun Yoritomo. His Dharma name was Hokke-in-dono Kingo Da'i Zengo (法華院殿金吾大禅閤).
Life
Minamoto no Yoriie was born to Hōjō M ...
. She is 15 years older than he is.
[Titsingh]
p. 241.
/ref>
* 1231 (''Kangi 3, 2nd month''): Yoritsune is raised to the second rank of the 4th class in the ''dōjō kuge
The was a Japanese aristocratic class that dominated the Japanese Imperial Court in Kyoto. The ''kuge'' were important from the establishment of Kyoto as the capital during the Heian period in the late 8th century until the rise of the Kamakur ...
''.
The ''Kangi'' Famine (1229-1232)
''"Between 1229 and 1232, the Kanki famine
The , also spelled as Kangi famine, was a famine which affected Japan during the Kamakura period. The famine is considered to have begun in 1230 and lasted until 1231. It was named after the Kangi era (1229–1232), during the reign of Emperor G ...
struck. Possibly the worst famine in Japanese history, it was caused by unusually cold, damp weather related to world-wide volcanic activity. The weather was so severe that snow fell in central Japan in the summer of 1230, while aristocrats noted days when the sun did not shine and complained because they had to wear heavy clothing even in the spring and summer. The death toll was high—in 1231, in one estate in central Japan about twenty percent of cultivators died in less than a month.''
''Both governments attempted to ameliorate the harsh conditions but to little avail. Law and order broke down; countermeasures against nocturnal marauders and “evil monks” were largely ineffectual. Outlawry even affected relations with the Korean kingdom of Koryō when hungry residents of Kyushu raided the neigh boring peninsula for food. The famine also led to numerous quarrels between on-site warrior landlords and urban proprietors, with many estates unable to pay taxes or organize labor gangs. When harvests were inadequate, warriors also pressured and abused hapless cultivators, driving them from their fields. Both Kyoto and Kamakura took steps to make more grain available to commoners, but the results of their actions were only modest.''
''The most important countermeasure taken to try to reduce the impact of the lengthy crop failure was the legalization of the sale of human beings. When a family was faced with starvation, members might choose to sell children or other kin in return for grain, at the same time ensuring enough to eat for the sellers and the person to be sold. This behavior had been going on illegally for centuries, but its official authorization from 1231 to 1239 showed just how severe the Kangi famine was. The policy helped to spread starving victims around to people who could take care of them, but it also ripped more families asunder.''
''In addition, all those sold became members of a servile class, dwelling in small lean-tos or perhaps even in a room of their master's house. These conditions did not encourage large. stable families. The new policy may have saved some lives, but the creation of so many dependent, broken, and poor families helped lower fertility, making recovery from the famine even more difficult. After the famine in 1239, the bakufu tried to abrogate the more lenient laws, without success. The famine expanded the size of the servile class considerably; it was to remain a significant proportion of Japanese society for the next four hundred years ... ''
[William Wayne Farris]
''Japan To 1600: A Social and Economic History.''
/ref>
Notes
References
* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia.''
Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...
.
OCLC 58053128
* Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Nihon Odai Ichiran
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
''; 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
Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fiel ...
.
OCLC 6042764
* William Wayne Farris
''Japan To 1600: A Social and Economic History.''
External links
* National Diet Library
The is the national library of Japan and among the largest libraries in the world. It was established in 1948 for the purpose of assisting members of the in researching matters of public policy. The library is similar in purpose and scope to ...
, "The Japanese Calendar
-- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kangi
Japanese eras
1220s in Japan
1230s in Japan