Kansei Reforms

was a after ''Tenmei'' and before ''Kyōwa''. This period spanned the years from January 1789 through February 1801. The reigning emperor was .

Change of era

* 1789 : The new era name of '' Kansei'' (meaning "Tolerant Government" or "Broad-minded Government") was created to mark a number of calamities, including a devastating fire at the Imperial Palace. The previous era ended and a new one commenced in ''Tenmei'' 9, on the 25th day of the 1st month.

Events of the Kansei era

The broad panoply of changes and new initiatives of the Tokugawa shogunate during this era became known as the Kansei Reforms.

Matsudaira Sadanobu (1759–1829) was named the shōgun's chief councilor (''rōjū'') in the summer of 1787; and early in the next year, he became the regent for the 11th shōgun, Tokugawa Ienari. As the chief administrative decision-maker in the ''bakufu'' hierarchy, he was in a position to effect radical change; and his initial actions represented an aggressive break with the recent past. Sadanobu's efforts were focused on strengthening the government by reversing many of the policies and practices which had become commonplace under the regime of the previous shōgun, Tokugawa Ieharu. These reform policies could be interpreted as a reactionary response to the excesses of his ''rōjū'' predecessor, Tanuma Okitsugu (1719–1788); and the result was that the Tanuma-initiated, liberalizing reforms within the ''bakufu'' and the relaxation of ''sakoku'' (Japan's "closed-door" policy of strict control of foreign merchants) were reversed or blocked.

* 1790 (''Kansei 2''): Sadanobu and the shogunate promulgate an edict addressed to Hayashi Kinpō, the rector of the Edo Confucian Academy -- " The Kansei Prohibition of Heterodox Studies" (''kansei igaku no kin''). The decree banned certain publications and enjoined strict observance of Neo-Confucian doctrine, especially with regard to the curriculum of the official Hayashi school.Bodart-Bailey, Beatrice. (2002). "Confucianism in Japan", in ; excerpt, "Scholars vary in their opinion on how far this heterodoxy was enforced and whether this first official insistence on heterodoxy constituted the high point of Confucianism in government affairs or signalled its decline."
* 1798 (''Kansei 10''): ''Kansei'' Calendar Revision

Notes

References

* Bodart-Bailey, Beatrice. (1997)
"Confucianism in Japan"
in ''Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy'' (Brian Carr and Indira Mahalingam, eds). London: Routledge.
OCLC 35049601
* Hall, John Whitney. (1955). ''Tanuma Okitsugu, 1719–1788: Forerunner of Modern Japan.'' Cambridge: Harvard University Press
OCLC 445621
* Nosco, Peter. (1984). ''Confucianism and Tokugawa Culture''. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
OCLC 252082779
* Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). ''Japan Encyclopedia''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
OCLC 48943301
* Screech, Timon. (2006). ''Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822''. London: RoutledgeCurzon.
OCLC 65177072
* Totman, Conrad. (1967). ''Politics in the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1600–1843''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press
OCLC 279623

External links

* National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar
-- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kansei
Japanese eras
1780s in Japan
1790s in Japan
1800s in Japan