Tenmu period


The Temmu period is a chronological timeframe during the Asuka period of Japanese history. The Temmu period describes a span of years which were considered to have begun in the 1333rd year of the Yamato dynasty.
This periodization is congruent with the reign of Emperor Tenmu, which is traditionally considered to have been from 673 through 686.

Periodization

The adoption of the Sexagenary cycle calendar in Japan is attributed to Empress Suiko in 604; and this Chinese calendar continued in use throughout the Tenmu period.
In 645, the system of Japanese era names was introduced. However, after the reign of Emperor Kōtoku, this method of segmenting time was temporarily abandoned or allowed to lapse. This interval continues during the Tenmu period.
Neither Emperor Tenmu's reign nor the Tenmu periodization are included in the list of nengō for this explicit duration of time. The Hakuhō period was an unofficial nengō during the reign of Emperor Temmu after Hakuchi and before Suchō. The duration of this discrete non-nengō timespan lasted for 15 years.
In the post-Taika or pre-Taihō chronology, the first year of Emperor Tenmu's reign is also construed as the first year of the Temmu period.

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:
Nengō were not promulgated during the gap years between Hakuchi and Shuchō, and in another gap between Shuchō and Taihō.

Events of Temmu period