The Monmu period is a
chronological timeframe during the
Asuka period of Japanese history. The Mommu period describes a span of years which were considered to have begun in the 1357th year of the Yamato dynasty.
[Murray, David. (1894). , citing William Bramsen. (1880). ; compare, the Japanese ]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 ...
website explains tha
"Japan organized its first calendar in the 12th year of Suiko (604)"
which was a pre-''nengō'' time frame.
This
periodization is consistent with the traditional dates asserted for the reign of
Emperor Monmu, from 697 through 707.
Periodization
The adoption of the
Sexagenary cycle calendar (''Jikkan Jūnishi'') in Japan is attributed to
Empress Suiko in 604; and this Chinese calendar continued in use throughout the Mommu period.
In 645, the system of was introduced. However, after the reign of
Emperor Kōtoku, this method of segmenting
time was temporarily abandoned or allowed to lapse. This interval continued during the Monmu period.
Neither Empress Mommu's reign nor the Monmu periodization are included in the list of ''nengō'' for this explicit duration of
time, which comes after
Suchō and before
Taihō.
In the post-Taika or pre-Taihō chronology, the first year of Emperor Monmu's reign (文武天皇元年 or 文武統皇1年) is also construed as the first year of the Mommu period (文武1年).
[Tsuchihashi, Paul. (1952)]
''Japanese Chronological Tables from 601 to 1872'', p. 16
Non-nengō period
Non-nengō periods in the pre-Taihō calendar were published in 1880 by
William Bramsen
William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conqu ...
.
These were refined in 1952 by
Paul Tsuchihashi , S.J. was a Japanese Roman Catholic priest, mathematician, astronomer, Sinologist, lexicographer, academic and administrator."98-Year-Old Jesuit Priest, Born a Samurai Warrior, Dies at Tokyo University," Father Paul is known for having developed ...
in ''Japanese Chronological Tables from 601 to 1872.''
The pre-Tahiō calendar included two non-nengō gaps or
intervals in the chronological series:
:*
Taika, August 645–February 650.
[Nussbaum, "''Taika''" at ]
:*
Hakuchi, February 650–December 654.
[Nussbaum, "''Hakuchi''" at .]
:**Non-nengō dating systems
:*
Shuchō
, alternatively read as ''Suchō'' or ''Akamitori'', was a after a gap following '' Hakuchi'' (650–654) and before another gap lasting until ''Taihō'' (701–704). This ''Shuchō'' period briefly spanned a period of mere months, June through S ...
, July–September 686.
[Nussbaum, "''Shuchō''" at .]
:**Non-nengō dating systems
:*
Taihō, March 701–May 704.
Nengō were not promulgated (or were allowed to lapse) during the gap years between Hakuchi and Shuchō, and in another gap between Shuchō and Taihō.
Events of the Mommu period
* 697 (''Mommu 1''): Empress Jitō abdicates; and her son receives the succession (''senso''). Shortly thereafter, Emperor Mommu formally accedes to the throne (''sokui'').
[Varley, H. Paul. (1980). ''Jinnō Shōtōki'', p. 44. [A distinct act of ''senso'' is unrecognized prior to Emperor Tenji; and all sovereigns except Jitō, Yōzei, Go-Toba, and Fushimi have ''senso'' and ''sokui'' in the same year until the reign of Go-Murakami.]]
* 697 (''Mommu 1''): A new period could be said to have commenced at the beginning of the reign of any of the Japanese sovereigns after Kōtoku and including Mommu
See also
*
Regnal name
*
List of Japanese era names
Notes
References
* Bramsen, William. (1880). ''Japanese Chronological Tables: Showing the Date, According to the Julian or Gregorian Calendar, of the First Day of Each Japanese Month, from Tai-kwa 1st year to Mei-ji 6th year (645 AD to 1873 AD): with an Introductory Essay on Japanese Chronology and Calendars''. Tokyo: Seishi Bunsha
OCLC 35728014* Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979)
''Gukanshō: The Future and the Past''.Berkeley: University of California Press.
OCLC 251325323*
Murray, David. (1894). ''The Story of Japan''. New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons
OCLC 1016340* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia''.Cambridge:
Harvard University Press.
OCLC 58053128*
Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959)
''The Imperial House of Japan''.Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society
OCLC 194887*
Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''
Nihon Ōdai Ichiran
, ', is a 17th-century chronicle of the serial reigns of Japanese emperors with brief notes about some of the noteworthy events or other happenings.
According to the 1871 edition of the ''American Cyclopaedia'', the 1834 French translation of ...
''; ou
''Annales des empereurs du Japon.'' Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland
OCLC 5850691*
Tsuchihashi, Paul Yashita, S.J. (1952). . Tokyo: Sophia University
OCLC 001291275*
Varley, H. Paul. (1980). ''A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa''. New York:
Columbia University Press.
OCLC 6042764* Zöllner, Reinhard. (2003). ''Japanische Zeitrechnung: ein Handbuch'' Munich: Iudicium Verlag.
OCLC 249297777
External links
* National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar
– historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection
{{Japanese era name
Japanese eras