Tenmei

Tenmei (天明) is a

Kōkaku Tennō' (光格天皇).^[2]

Change of era

1781 Tenmei gannen (天明元年): The new era name of Tenmei (meaning "dawn") was created to mark the enthronement of Emperor
Kōkaku
. The previous era ended and the new one commenced on the second day of the fourth month in what had been An'ei 11.

As is customary for choosing

Classic of History (書経) (also quoted in The Great Learning

1782 (Tenmei 2): An analysis of silver currency in China and Japan was presented to the Emperor by Minamoto no Masatsuna.[3]
1783 (Tenmei 3):
Gunma Prefecture and Nagano Prefecture]. Japanologist Isaac Titsingh's published account of the Asama-yama eruption became the first of its kind in the West (1820).^[4] The volcano's devastation makes the Great Tenmei Famine even worse. Much of the agriculture of Shinano Province and Kōzuke Province remained unproductive or under-producing for the next four or five years.^[5]

1783 (Tenmei 3): Famine was exacerbated, according to 20th-century studies, because after eight years of near- or actual famine, neither the authorities nor the people had any reserves left to meet further drought and crop failures during the Great Tenmei Famine.[6]
1784 (Tenmei 4): Country-wide celebrations took place in honor of
Shingon Buddhism, who had died 950 years earlier.^[3]

1784 (Tenmei 4): The son of the Shōgun's
Bakufu was suspected, but no one other than the lone assassin himself was punished. The result was that the liberalizing reforms that the older Tanuma had initiated were blocked.^[7]

September 17, 1786 (Tenmei 6, 25th day of the eighth month): Shōgun Tokugawa Ieharu died and was buried in Edo.
1787 (Tenmei 7):
Shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate.^[8]

1787 (Tenmei 7): Kutsuki Masatsuna published Seiyō Senpu (Notes on Western Coinage), with plates showing European and colonial currency.^[9]
1788 (Tenmei 7): Riots broke out in rice shops in Edo and Osaka.
1788 (Tenmei 8): Great Fire of Kyoto. A fire began in the city at three o'clock in the morning of March 6 (Tenmei 8, 29th day of the first month), and continued to burn uncontrolled until March 8 (first day of the second month). Embers smoldered until they were extinguished by heavy rain on March 11 (fourth day of the second month). The Emperor and his court fled the fire, and the Imperial Palace was destroyed. No other rebuilding was permitted until a new palace was completed. This fire was considered to be a major event. The opperhoofd of the VOC 'in Dejima noted in his official record book that "people are considering it to be a great and extraordinary heavenly portent".^[10]

^ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Temmei" Japan Encyclopedia, p. 956, p. 956, at Google Books; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File Archived 2012-05-24 at archive.today.
^ Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, pp. 420–421.
^ ^a ^b Titsingh, p. 420.
^ Screech, T. (2006), Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822, pp. 146–148.
^ Hall, John. (1955). Tanuma Okitsugu, 1719–1788: Forerunner of Modern Japan, p. 122.
^ Hall, p. 170.
^ Screech, pp. 148–151, 163-170, 248.
^ Hall, John Whitney et al. (1991). Early Modern Japan, p. 21.
^ Screech, T. (2000). Shogun's Painted Culture: Fear and Creativity in the Japanese States, 1760–1829, pp. 123, 125; See – online image of 2 adjacent pages from library collection of Kyoto University of Foreign Studies and Kyoto Junior College of Foreign Languages
^ Screech, pp. 152–154, 249–250