Man'en Explained

was a after Ansei and before Bunkyū. This period spanned the years from March 1860 through February 1861.^[1] The reigning emperor was .

Change of era

• March 18, 1860 : The new era name was created to mark the destruction caused by a fire at Edo Castle and the assassination of Ii Naosuke (also known as "the disturbance" or "the incident" at the Sakurada-mon).^[2] The previous era ended and a new one commenced in Ansei 7.

The new era name is derived from an hortatory aphorism to be found in The Book of the Later Han: "With 100,000,000,000 descendants, your name will forever be recorded" (豊千億之子孫、歴万載而永延).

Events of the Man'en era

• 1860 (Man'en 1): First Western professional photographer to establish residence in Japan, Orrin Freeman began living in Yokohama^[3]
• 1860 (Man'en 1): First foreign mission to the United States.^[4]

See also

• Sesquicentennial of Japanese Embassy to the United States

References

• Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ; OCLC 48943301
• Satow, Ernest Mason and Baba Bunyei. (1905). Japan 1853-1864, Or, Genji Yume Monogatari. Tokyo: .

External links

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

Notes and References

1. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Man'en" ; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File .
2. Satow, Ernest Mason et al. (1905). Japan 1853-1864, Or, Genji Yume Monogatari, p. 38.
3. Hannavy, John. (2007).
4. Press release: "First Japanese Diplomatic Mission to U.S. Is Subject of May 24 Lecture," Library of Congress, April 16, 2010.