Kōbun (period)
# Kōbun (period)

Part of a series on the :

History of Japan :

ListPaleolithicbefore 14,000 BCJōmon14,000 – 1000 BCYayoi

1000 BC – 300 ADKofun

300 AD – 538 ADAsuka

538 – 710Nara

710 – 794HeianFormer Nine Years' WarLater Three-Year WarGenpei War 794–1185KamakuraJōkyū WarMongol invasionsGenkō WarKenmu Restoration 1185–1333MuromachiNanboku-chō periodSengoku period 1336–1573Azuchi–Momoyama

Nanban tradeImjin War 1573–1603Edo (Tokugawa)

Invasion of RyukyuSiege of OsakaSakokuPerry ExpeditionConvention of KanagawaBakumatsuMeiji RestorationBoshin War 1603–1868Meiji

Invasion of Taiwan (1874)Satsuma RebellionFirst Sino-Japanese WarTreaty of ShimonosekiTriple InterventionInvasion of Taiwan (1895)Boxer RebellionTreaty of PortsmouthJapan–Korea Treaty 1868–1912Taishō

World War IIntervention in SiberiaGreat Kantō earthquake 1912–1926Shōwa

MilitarismFinancial crisisNanking incidentMukden IncidentInvasion of ManchuriaMay 15 IncidentAnti-Comintern PactSecond Sino-Japanese WarAttack on Pearl HarborAtomic bombingsSoviet–Japanese WarSurrender of JapanPostwar JapanOccupation of JapanAnpo protestsEconomic miracleAsset price bubble1926–1989Heisei

Lost DecadesGreat Hanshin earthquakeCool JapanTōhoku earthquake 1989–2019ReiwaCoronavirus pandemic 2019–present :

Topics

Currency

Earthquakes

Economy

Era names

Education

Empire

Foreign relations

Geography

Historiography

Jewish history

Military

Naval

Politics

Post-war

Science and technology

Sports

World Heritage Sites :

Glossary

History

Timeline :

vte :

The Kōbun period is a chronological timeframe during the Asuka period of Japanese history. The Kōbun period describes a span of years which were considered to have begun in the 1332nd year of the Yamato dynasty.

This periodization is consistent with the short reign of Emperor Kōbun, which is traditionally considered to have been from 672 through 673.

## Periodization

The adoption of the Sexagenary cycle calendar (Jikkan Jūnishi) in Japan is attributed to Empress Suiko in 604; and this Chinese calendar continued in use throughout the Kōbun period.

In 645, the system of Japanese era names (年号,, nengō,, lit. "year name") was introduced. However, after the reign of Emperor Kotoku, this method of segmenting time was temporarily abandoned or allowed to lapse. This interval continued during the Kōbun period.

Neither Emperor Kōbun's reign nor the Kōbun periodization are included in the list of nengō for this explicit duration of time. The Sujaku period (朱雀, Sujaku) was an unofficial nengō during the reign of Emperor Kōbun after Hakuchi and before Suchō. The duration of this discrete non-nengō timespan lasted for about two years.

In the post-Taika or pre-Taihō chronology, the first year of Emperor Kōbun's reign (弘文天皇元年 or 弘文天皇1年) is also construed as the first year of the Kōbun period (弘文1年).

## Non-nengō period

Non-nengō periods in the pre-Taihō calendar were published in 1880 by William Bramsen. These were refined in 1952 by Paul Tsuchihashi in Japanese Chronological Tables from 601 to 1872.

The pre-Tahiō calendar included two non-nengō gaps or intervals in the chronological series:

   * Taika, August 645–February 650.

   * Hakuchi, February 650–December 654.

   ** Non-nengō dating systems

   * Shuchō, July–September 686.

   ** Non-nengō dating systems

   * Taihō, March 701–May 704.

Nengō were not promulgated (or were allowed to lapse) during the gap years between Hakuchi and Shuchō, and in another gap between Shuchō and Taihō.

Concurrent Chronologies :

| Non-nengō periods | Nengō eras | Shinengō | Yamato dynasty duration | Western calendar dates |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | Taika | | 1305 | 645 |
| | Hakuchi | | 1310 | 650 |
| Saimei's reign | | | 1315 | 655 |
| Tenji's reign | | | 1322 | 662 |
| Kōbun's reign | | Sujaku | 1332 | 672 |
| Tenmu's reign | | Hakuhō | 1333 | 673 |
| | Suchō | | 1346 | 686 |
| Jitō's reign | | | 1347 | 687 |
| | | Taika | 1350 | 695 |
| Monmu's reign | | | 1357 | 697 |
| | Taihō | | 1361 | 701 |

## Events of the Kōbun period

* 672 (Kōbun 1): Emperor Tenji dies; and his son, Prince Ō-ama (later to become Emperor Tenmu), declines to receive the succession (senso). Shortly thereafter, his older brother, Ō-tomo (posthumously known as Emperor Kōbun after 1870), formally accedes to the throne (sokui).
* 672 (Kōbun 1): A new period is marked by the beginning of the reign of Emperor Kōbun; but this posthoumus name was created retroactively in 1870, and Meiji scholars did not determine retroactively that a new nengō should have commenced with the beginning of Kōbun's accession.
