Kempo (era)

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

Kenpo (建保) was a Japanese era name (年号, nengō, lit. year name) after Kenryaku and before Jōkyū. This period spanned the years from December 1213 through April 1219.^[1] The reigning emperor was Juntoku-tennō (順徳天皇).^[2]

Change of era

• 1213 Kempo gannen (建保元年): The new era name was created because the previous era ended and a new one commenced in Kenryaku 3, on the 6th day of the 12th month of 1213.^[3]

Events of the Kempo era

• 1213 (Kempo 1, 1st day of the 1st month): There was an earthquake at
  Kamakura.^[4]
• 1213 (Kempo 1, 11th month):
  Fujiwara no Sadeie offered a collection of 8th century poems to Shōgun Sanetomo. These poems were collectively known as the Man'yōshū.^[5]
• 1214 (Kempo 2, 2nd month): Shōgun Sanetomo, having drunk too much sake, was feeling somewhat uncomfortable; and the Buddhist priest Eisai, who was the grand priest of the Jufuku-ji temple-complex, presented the shōgun with an excellent tea, which restored his good health.^[5]
• 1214 (Kempo 2, 3rd month): The emperor went to
  Kasuga.^[5]
• 1214 (Kempo 2, 4th month): A group of militant priests living on
  Mt. Hiei set fire to the central temple structure at Enryaku-ji. The damage was repaired at the expense of Shōgun Sanetomo.^[5]
• 1215 (Kempo 3, 1st month):
  Izu province.^[5]
• 1215 (Kempo 3, 6th month): The well-known priest Eisai died at age 75; his remains were interred at the temple of Kennin-ji which he had founded in Kyoto.^[5]
• 1215 (Kempo 3, 8th-9th months): There were many, serial earthquakes in the
  Kamakura area.^[5]
• 1217 (Kempo 5, 8th-9th months): The emperor visited the Shrines at Hirano and at Ōharano near Kyoto.^[6]

Notes

References

• Brown, Delmer and Ichiro Ishida. (1979). The Future and the Past: a translation and study of the 'Gukanshō', an interpretative history of Japan written in 1219. Berkeley:
  ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0; OCLC 5145872
• Kitagawa, Hiroshi and Bruce T. Tsuchida, eds. (1975).
  ISBN 9780860081890; OCLC 193064639
• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge:
  ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
• Nihon Odai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691
• ISBN 9780231049405; OCLC 6042764

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