Kōchō

Kōchō 弘長
February 1261 – February 1264
Sculpture in Kizugawa, Kyoto dated to 1262.
Location	Japan
Monarch(s)	Emperor Kameyama
Chronology Bun'ō Bun'ei

Kōchō (弘長) was a Japanese era name (年号, nengō, lit. "year name") after Bun'ō and before Bun'ei. This period spanned the years from February 1261 to February 1264. The reigning emperor was Kameyama-tennō (亀山天皇).

Change of era

• Kōchō gannen (弘長元年); 1261: The new era name was created to mark an event or a number of events. The previous era ended and a new one commenced in Bun'ō 2. The era name comes from The Political Program of the Zhenguan Period and combines the characters 弘 ("broad") and 長 ("long").

Events of the Kōchō era

• June 11, 1261 (Kōchō 1, 12th day of the 5th month): Nichiren was exiled to Itō in the Izu Province.
• March 19, 1262 (Kōchō 2, 28th day of the 11th month): Shinran passes away at the age of 90
• April 1, 1263 (Kōchō 3, 22nd day of the 2nd month): Nichiren was pardoned.

References

• Nichiren. (2004). Writings of Nichiren Shonin: Doctrine 3. onolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-2931-X
• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Odai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691
• Varley, H. Paul. (1980). A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231049405; OCLC 6042764

External links

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