An'ei

Part of a series on the
History of Japan
Shōsōin
List Paleolithic before 14,000 BC Jōmon 14,000 – 1000 BC Yayoi 1000 BC – 300 AD Kofun 300 AD – 538 AD Asuka 538 – 710 Nara 710 – 794 Nanboku-chō period Sengoku period 1336–1573 Azuchi–Momoyama Nanban trade Imjin War Battle of Sekigahara 1573–1603 Edo (Tokugawa) Tokugawa shogunate Invasion of Ryukyu Siege of Osaka Sakoku Perry Expedition Convention of Kanagawa Bakumatsu Meiji Restoration Boshin War 1603–1868 Meiji Invasion of Taiwan (1874) Satsuma Rebellion First Sino-Japanese War Treaty of Shimonoseki Triple Intervention Invasion of Taiwan (1895) Colonization of Taiwan Boxer Rebellion Russo-Japanese War Treaty of Portsmouth Japan–Korea Treaty Colonization of Korea 1868–1912 Taishō World War I Intervention in Siberia Great Kantō earthquake 1912–1926 Shōwa Mukden Incident Invasion of Manchuria May 15 incident February 26 incident Anti-Comintern Pact Tripartite Pact Second Sino-Japanese War World War II Attack on Pearl Harbor Pacific War Atomic bombings Soviet–Japanese War Surrender of Japan Occupation of Japan Postwar Japan Anpo protests Economic miracle Asset price bubble 1926–1989 Heisei Lost Decades Great Hanshin earthquake Cool Japan Tōhoku earthquake Imperial transition 1989–2019 Reiwa COVID-19 pandemic Abe assassination 2019–present
Topics Capital punishment Currency Earthquakes Economy Era names Education Empire Foreign relations Geography Historiography Religion Buddhism Christianity Islam Judaism Shinto Military Naval Politics Post-war Science and technology Sports World Heritage Sites
Glossary History Timeline
v t e

An'ei (安永) was a

Change of era

• 1772 An'ei gannen (安永元年): The era name was changed to An'ei (meaning "peaceful eternity") to mark the enthronement of
  Emperor Go-Momozono
  and in hopes of turning attention from the serial catastrophic devastation from fires and storms in Meiwa 9. The previous era ended and a new one commenced in the 11th month of Meiwa 9.

Events of the An'ei era

• 1775 (An'ei 4): Epidemic diseases spread across the country – in Edo alone, an estimated 190,000 perished.^[2]
• 1775 (An'ei 4): Swedish physician and botanist
  Nagasaki
  bay; and ultimately, his scientific activities will result in the first detailed, descriptive survey of the flora and fauna of the Japanese archipelago.
• 1778 (An'ei 7): Kyoto suffers a massive flood.^[2]
• 1778 (An'ei 7): Volcanic island of
  Kagoshima – 16,000 dead.^[2]
• 1779 (An'ei 8): Dutch surgeon and cultural-anthropologist Isaac Titsingh arrives at Dejima for the first of three terms as Opperhoofd or captain of the VOC station; and ultimately, his seminal research will become a noteworthy step in that process in which the Japanese begin to describe and characterize themselves in their own terms. Titsingh's correspondence with William Marsden, a philologist colleague in the Royal Society in London, provides some insight into his personal appreciation of the task at hand. In an 1809 letter, he explains:

To form a proper idea of the spirit, the character, and the customs of a Nation, almost unknown in Europe, I deemed it preferable to represent them in their own dress, rather than to enter myself into particular details, always infected by the manner of considering the facts, notwithstanding the utmost endeavors to be guided by truth in the most essential parts. [T]o obtain this end, I applied during my stay in Japan to some friends, reputed as men of learning, and free from all national prejudices. [T]hey procured me such works on various topicks, as enjoy'd with them the highest regard. [H]aving succeeding in this, a literal translation appeared to me more congenial with the purpose, and likely to be more satisfactory to the desire for more distinct notions on a people almost unknown, though fully deserving the attention, since a number of years so profusely lavished on the Chinese.

— Isaac Titsingh^[3]

Japanologists in the 19th century; and the work of both men continues to be rigorously examined by modern researchers today.^[4]