Tokugawa Ieharu

Tokugawa Ieharu (徳川家治 (June 20, 1737–September 17, 1786) was the tenth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, who held office from 1760 to 1786.

Events of the Ieharu's "bakufu"

* "Tenmei gannen" (天明元年) or "Tenmei 1" (1781): The new era name of "Tenmei" (meaning "Dawn") was crated to mark the enthronement of Emperor Kōkaku. The previous era ended and the new one commenced in "An'ei" 11, on the 2nd day of the 4th month.
* "Tenmei 2" (1782): Great "Tenmei" Famine begins.
* "Tenmei 2" (1782): An analysis of silver currency in China and Japan "Sin sen sen pou (Sin tchuan phou)" was presented to the emperor by Kutsuki Masatsuna (1750-1802), also known as Kutsuki Oki-no kami Minamoto-no Masatsuna, hereditary daimyo of Oki and Ōmi with holdings in Tamba and Fukuchiyama -- "related note at Tenmei 7 below". Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). "Annales des empereurs du japon," p. 420]
* "Tenmei 3" (1783): Mount Asama (浅間山, "Asama-yama") erupted in Shinano, one of the old provinces of Japan. [Today, Asama-yama's location is better described as on the border between Gunma and Nagano prefectures] . Japanologist Isaac Titsingh's published account of the of Asama-yama eruption will become first of its kind in the West (1820). [Screech, T. (2006), "Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779-1822," pp. 146-148.] The volcano's devastation makes the Great "Tenmei" Famine even worse.
* "Tenmei 4" (1784): Country-wide celebrations in honor of (Kūkai, also known as Kōbō-Daishi, founder of Shingon Buddhism) who died 950 years earlier. [see above] ]
* "Tenmei 4" (1784): The son of the Shogun's chief counselor was assassinated inside Edo Castle. The comparatively young "wakadoshiyori", Tamuna Yamashiro-no-kami Okitomo, was the son of the senior "wakadoshiyori" Tanuma Tonomo-no-kami Okitsugu. The younger Tanuma was killed in front of his father as both were returning to their "norimono" after a meeting of the Counselors of State had broken up. The involvement of senior figures in the "bakufu" was suspected; however, none but the lone assassin himself was punished. The result was that Tanuma-initiated, liberalizing reforms within the "bakufu" and relaxing the strictures of "sakoku" were blocked. [Screech, pp. 148-151, 163-170, 248.]
* "Tenmei 6", on the 8th day of the 9th month (September 17, 1786): Death of Tokugawa Ieharu. He is buried in Edo. [see above] ]
* "Tenmei 7" (1787): Kutsuki Masatsuna published "Seiyō senpu" ("Notes on Western Coinage"), with plates showing European and colonial currency -- "related note at Tenmei 2 above". [Screech, T. (2000). "Shogun's Painted Culture: Fear and Creativity in the Japanese States, 1760-1829," pp. 123, 125.] [http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:3QDOwDz5GUkJ:www.kufs.ac.jp/toshokan/50/senf.htm+Seiyo-sempu&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us&client=firefox-a -- see online image of 2 adjacent pages from library collection of Kyoto University of Foreign Studies and Kyoto Junior College of Foreign Languages]

Eras of Ieharu's "bakufu"

The years in which Ieharu was shogun are more specifically identified by more than one era name or "nengō". [see above] ]
* "Hōreki" (1751-1764)
* "Meiwa" (1764-1772)
* "An'ei" (1772-1781)
* "Tenmei" (1781-1789)

References

* Hall, John Whitney. (1955) "Tanuma Okitsugu: Foreruner of Modern Japan." Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
* Screech, Timon. (2000). "Shogun's Painted Culture: Fear and Creativity in the Japanese States, 1760-1829." London: Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-86189-064-1
* Screech, Timon. (2006). "Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779-1822." London: RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 0-7007-1720-X
* Titsingh, Isaac. (1822). "Illustrations of Japan." London: Ackerman.
* Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652] , "Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon." Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. [http://books.google.com/books?id=18oNAAAAIAAJ&dq=nipon+o+dai+itsi+ran ...Click link for digitized, full-text copy of this book (in French)]
*Totman, Conrad. (1967). "Politics in the Tokugawa bakufu, 1600-1843". Cambridge: Harvard University Press.