Question For Chinese - Japanese Collectors Regarding Naming Eras

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Author	Replies: 4 / Views: 998
jskirwin Pillar of the Community United States 616 Posts	Posted 11/11/2018 3:53 pm Next year the Japanese emperor Akihito will retire. Does the era change with retirement or does it require death? According to Wikipedia retirement was common for emperors prior to the Meiji period but since Meiji all emperors have died on the throne. Having lived in Japan myself I know that using the era for dates is very common and it appears on the coinage. Just curious if any collector of Chinese/Japanese pre-1800 coins is aware of the date of coinage changing based on the emperor's retirement of whether it was based on his death. Report this Post to the Staff

Finn235 Pillar of the Community United States 6130 Posts	Posted 11/11/2018 4:57 pm The era name will change when Naruhito ascends to the throne next year. Currently, the tradition (not sure if it is or was ever law?) is that each emperor uses only one era name; previously era names were changed at the emperor's discretion; usually it was done to mark a significant event, with eras changing every few years. The era name would usually carry over the death of the reigning emperor; Meiji was the last to do so, ruling under Keio nen from February 1867-October 1868 It was already announced that Naruhito will announce the new era name after his father steps down. They are going to have commemorative coins for it as well, which I am excited for! Edited by Finn235 11/11/2018 5:01 pm Report this Post to the Staff
echizento Moderator United States 23731 Posts	Posted 11/11/2018 5:45 pm I lived in Japan for a number of years back in the 70's and got into Japanese history and collecting Japanese Swords a passion that has remained with me for almost 50 years now. In the course of Japanese history not many emperors retired, Gotoba was one. Most died in office. In the feudal era, the era's changed with the new Shogun and not the emperor. It was not until 1868 when the emperor Meiji removed the last Tokugawa Shogun and restored the empire to imperial power where the era names restored to the emperor. When the current emperor retires and a new one is crowned, he will adopt his era name. Report this Post to the Staff
jskirwin Pillar of the Community United States 616 Posts	Posted 11/11/2018 10:13 pm Thanks for the answers gentlemen. I was in Japan at the time of the royal wedding between Princess Masako and Naruhito, and that was quite a big deal. Expecting the same next year. Report this Post to the Staff
Sap Moderator Australia 16938 Posts	Posted 11/11/2018 11:25 pm In mediaeval times in China, emperors changed the era-name frequently - most Song Dynasty emperors have at least two; emperor Renzong had nine different era-names during his 41-year reign. The tradition of one-era-per-emperor did not begin until the late Yuan (Mongol) dynasty, a tradition continued by the Ming and Qing. The only post-Yuan emperor of China to use two era-names was the Yingzhong emperor, and that's only because he had two separate periods of rule (1435-1449 and 1457-1464), with one era-name for each of those periods. All of which is largely irrelevant to the OP's question, as very few of these coins actually bore a date. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis Report this Post to the Staff
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