, also romanized as Kō-ō, was a

Japanese era name The , also known as , is the first of the two elements that identify years in the Japanese era calendar scheme. The second element is a number which indicates the year number within the era (with the first year being ""), followed by the literal ...

(年号, ''nengō'', lit. year name) of the

Northern Court The , also known as the Ashikaga Pretenders or Northern Pretenders, were a set of six pretenders to the throne of Japan during the Nanboku-chō period from 1336 through 1392. The present Imperial House of Japan is descended from the Northern Cour ...

during the Era of Northern and Southern Courts after

Kakei Kakei (嘉慶) was a Japanese era name (年号, ''nengō'', lit. year name) of the Northern Court during the Era of Northern and Southern Courts after Shitoku and before Kōō. This period spanned the years from August 1387 to February 1389. The ...

and before

Meitoku Meitoku (明徳) was a Japanese era name (年号 ''nengō'', "year name") of the Northern Court during the Era of Northern and Southern Courts after '' Kōō'' and before ''Ōei''. This period spanned the years from March 1390 to July 1394. After ...

. This period spanned the years from February 1389 to March 1390. The emperor in Kyoto was The

Southern Court The were a set of four emperors (Emperor Go-Daigo and his line) whose claims to sovereignty during the Nanboku-chō period spanning from 1336 through 1392 were usurped by the Northern Court. This period ended with the Southern Court definitively ...

rival in Yoshino during this time-frame was .

Nanboku-chō overview

During the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, an Imperial decree dated March 3, 1911 established that the legitimate reigning monarchs of this period were the direct descendants of

Emperor Go-Daigo Emperor Go-Daigo (後醍醐天皇 ''Go-Daigo-tennō'') (26 November 1288 – 19 September 1339) was the 96th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')後醍醐天皇 (96) retrieved 2013-8-28. according to the traditional order ...

through

Emperor Go-Murakami (1328 – March 29, 1368) was the 97th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession, and a member of the Southern Court during the Nanboku-chō period of rival courts. He reigned from September 18, 1339, until March 29, 13 ...

, whose had been established in exile in

Yoshino Yoshino may refer to: * Yoshino cherry, another name for ''Prunus × yedoensis'', a flowering cherry tree * Japanese cruiser Yoshino, Japanese cruiser ''Yoshino'', a protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy Places * Yoshino, Nara, a town ...

, near Nara.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.'' p. 140-147. Until the end of the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, the militarily superior pretender-Emperors supported by the

Ashikaga shogunate The , also known as the , was the feudal military government of Japan during the Muromachi period from 1336 to 1573.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Muromachi-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 669. The Ashikaga shogunate was establ ...

had been mistakenly incorporated in Imperial chronologies despite the undisputed fact that the

Imperial Regalia The Imperial Regalia, also called Imperial Insignia (in German ''Reichskleinodien'', ''Reichsinsignien'' or ''Reichsschatz''), are regalia of the Holy Roman Emperor. The most important parts are the Crown, the Imperial orb, the Imperial sce ...

were not in their possession. This illegitimate had been established in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

Ashikaga Takauji was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 625. His rule began in 1338, beginning the Muromac ...

Change of era

* 1389, also called : The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. The previous era ended and the new one commenced in ''Kakei'' 3. In this time frame,

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.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Genchū''" i ''Japan encyclopedia,'' p. 236 n.b., Louis-Fréd� ...

(1384–1393) was the Southern Court equivalent ''nengō.''Titsingh, p. 317.

Events of the Kōō era

* 1389 (''Kōō 1''): Dissension continues in Toki family in

Mino Mino may refer to: Places in Japan * Mino, Gifu, a city in Gifu Prefecture * Mino, Kagawa, a former town in Kagawa Prefecture * Mino, Tokushima, a town in Tokushima Prefecture * Mino, an alternate spelling of Minoh, a city in Osaka Prefecture * Mi ...

.Ackroyd, Joyce. 1982) ''Lessons from History: The "Tokushi Yoron"'', p. 329. * 1389 (''Kōō 1''): Yoshimitsu pacifies Kyūshū and distributes lands; Yoshimitsu opposed by Kamakura ''kanrei''

Ashikaga Ujimitsu (1359–1398) was a Nanboku-chō period warrior and the Kamakura-fu's second ''Kantō kubō'', or ''Shōgun'' Deputy. Son of first ''Kantō Kubō'' Ashikaga Motouji, he succeeded his father in 1367 at the age of nine when this last suddenly died ...

. * 1389 (''Kōō 1, 7th month''): The ''

udaijin was a government position in Japan in the late Nara and Heian periods. The position was consolidated in the Taihō Code of 702. The Asuka Kiyomihara Code of 689 marks the initial appearance of the ''udaijin'' in the context of a central administr ...

'' Saioinji Sanetoshi died at the age of 56.Titsingh, p. 318; Mass, Jeffrey P. (2002)
''The Origins of Japan's Medieval World: Courtiers, Clerics, Warriors, and Peasants in the Fourteenth Century'', p. 410.
/ref> * 1390 (''Kōō 2''): Kusunoki defeated; Yamana Ujikiyo chastises Tokinaga.

Notes

References

* Ackroyd, Joyce. (1982) ''Lessons from History: The

Tokushi Yoron The is an Edo period historical analysis of Japanese history written in 1712 by Arai Hakuseki (1657–1725). Hakuseki's innovative effort to understand and explain the history of Japan differs significantly from previous chronologies which were c ...

.'' Brisbane:

University of Queensland Press Established in 1948, University of Queensland Press (UQP) is an Australian publishing house. Founded as a traditional university press, UQP has since branched into publishing books for general readers in the areas of fiction, non-fiction, poetr ...

. * Mehl, Margaret. (1997). ''History and the State in Nineteenth-Century Japan.'' New York:

St Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

.
OCLC 419870136
* 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 48943301
* Thomas, Julia Adeney. (2001). ''Reconfiguring Modernity: Concepts of Nature in Japanese Political Ideology.'' Berkeley:

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

. ; * 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

External links

* National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar
-- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koo (Nanboku-Cho Period) Japanese eras 1380s in Japan 1390s in Japan