[RIDGELINE] Eras

Ridgeline subscribers —

I like “eras.” That is, named chunks of time.

Japanese history tends to periodicize based on locus of power. The Tokugawa Shogunate reigned for hundreds of years, and so: Edo, where the power was, becomes the period (a big sweeping one). Post-Shogunate, power was restored to the emperor, and so we get: Meiji (1868–1912), Taishō (1912–1926), Shōwa (1926–1989), Heisei (1989–2019), Reiwa (2019-). Periods aligning with imperial reign. (It’s a bit wacky though: The era name is not the emperor’s name while he’s alive; upon death, the emperor is posthumously renamed the era name (which was chosen by a governing body of scholars); so the Shōwa Era emperor was named Hirohito (but just called “Emperor” while alive), but is known as “Emperor Shōwa” historically.)