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Tenmei (天明) is aJapanese era name (年号,nengō, literally "years name") for the years between theAn'ei Era and before theKansei Era, from April 1781 through January 1789.^[1] The reigning emperor wasKōkaku Tennō' (光格天皇).^[2]

• 1781Tenmei gannen (天明元年): The new era name of Tenmei (meaning "dawn") was created to mark the enthronement of EmperorKōkaku. The previous era ended and the new one commenced on the second day of the fourth month in what had been An'ei 11.

As is customary for choosingnengō, the name was selected from a passage in a historical Chinese text. In this case, the text wasClassic of History (書経) (also quoted inThe Great Learning (大學)), more specifically from the first of the King Tai Jia (大甲) chapters. It says: "先王顧諟天之明命..." meaning "The former king kept his eye continually on the bright requirements of Heaven, [and...]." This is continued with a description of reverence, virtue, and prosperity for the lands. From this, the two characters 天 and 明 were selected.

• 1782 (Tenmei 2): TheTenmei famine is said to have begun.
• 1782 (Tenmei 2): An analysis of silver currency in China and Japan was presented to the Emperor by Minamoto no Masatsuna.^[3]
• 1783 (Tenmei 3):Mount Asama (浅間山,,Asama-yama) erupted inShinano province, only 80 miles northwest of Edo, with a loss of life estimated at more than 20,000 (Tenmei eruption). [Today, Asama-yama's location is better described as on the border betweenGunma Prefecture andNagano Prefecture]. JapanologistIsaac Titsingh's published account of the Asama-yama eruption became the first of its kind in the West (1820).^[4] The volcano's devastation makes the Great Tenmei Famine even worse. Much of the agriculture ofShinano Province andKōzuke Province remained unproductive or under-producing for the next four or five years.^[5]
• 1783 (Tenmei 3): Famine was exacerbated, according to 20th-century studies, because after eight years of near- or actual famine, neither the authorities nor the people had any reserves left to meet further drought and crop failures during the Great Tenmei Famine.^[6]
• 1784 (Tenmei 4): Country-wide celebrations took place in honor ofKōbō-Daishi, founder ofShingonBuddhism, who had died 950 years earlier.^[3]
• 1784 (Tenmei 4): The son of the Shōgun'srōjū (chief counselor) was assassinated insideEdo Castle. The comparatively youngwakadoshiyori (junior counselor)Tanuma Okitomo [ja] was the son of the senior councilorTanuma Okitsugu. The younger Tanuma was killed in front of his father as both were returning to theirnorimono (carriage) after a meeting of the Counselors of State had broken up. The involvement of senior figures in theBakufu was suspected, but no one other than the lone assassin himself was punished. The result was that the liberalizing reforms that the older Tanuma had initiated were blocked.^[7]
• September 17, 1786 (Tenmei 6, 25th day of the eighth month): ShōgunTokugawa Ieharu died and was buried in Edo.
• 1787 (Tenmei 7):Tokugawa Ienari became the 11thShōgun of theTokugawa shogunate.^[8]
• 1787 (Tenmei 7):Kutsuki Masatsuna publishedSeiyō Senpu (Notes on Western Coinage), with plates showing European and colonial currency.^[9]
• 1787 (Tenmei 7): Riots broke out in rice shops inEdo andOsaka.
• 1788 (Tenmei 8): Great Fire ofKyoto. A fire began in the city at three o'clock in the morning of March 6 (Tenmei 8, 29th day of the first month), and continued to burn uncontrolled until March 8 (first day of the second month). Embers smoldered until they were extinguished by heavy rain on March 11 (fourth day of the second month). The Emperor and his court fled the fire, and the Imperial Palace was destroyed. No other rebuilding was permitted until a new palace was completed. This fire was considered to be a major event. Theopperhoofd of theVOC 'inDejima noted in his official record book that "people are considering it to be a great and extraordinary heavenly portent".^[10]

• Hall, John Whitney. (1988).Early Modern Japan (The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 4). Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.ISBN 9780521223553;OCLC 489633115
• __________. (1955).Tanuma Okitsugu, 1719–1788: Forerunner of Modern Japan. Cambridge:Harvard University Press.OCLC 445621
• Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005).Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge:Harvard University Press.ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5;OCLC 48943301
• Screech, Timon. (2006).Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822. London:RoutledgeCurzon.ISBN 978-0-203-09985-8;OCLC 65177072
• __________. (2000).Shogun's Painted Culture: Fear and Creativity in the Japanese States, 1760–1829. London : Reaktion.ISBN 9781861890641;OCLC 42699671
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834).Nihon Ōdai Ichiran; ou,Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.OCLC 5850691.

• National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar"-- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection
• National Archives of Japan:Hinozenshu sanbutsu zuko, scroll showing illustrated inventory of industries in Karatsu Domain,Tenmei 4 (1784)
• Toyohara Chikanobu,Mirror of the Ages (Jidai Kagami):Tenmei no koro.

• Japanese eras
• 1780s in Japan
• 1780s neologisms

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