Japanese Eras, Time span, Emperors, Major Events during the Age of Ukiyo-e

Era	Japanese Era name (Nengō, 号)	from	until	Emperor/Empress (Tennō,天皇)	(Japanese Name)	Remarks
Enkyo	延享	1744	1748	Sakuramachi	後桜町	1746 great fire sweeping Edo
Kan'en	寛延	1748	1751	Momozono	桃園天皇桜
Hōreki	宝暦	1751	1764	Go-Sakuramachi	後桜町	1762 - 1771, Empress Go-Sakuramachi's reign
Meiwa	明和	1764	1772	Go-Momozono	後桃園	1770, fifteen consecutive years of drought in Japan
Meiwa	明和			Go-Momozono	後桃園	1772, The Great Meiwa Fire—one of the three greatest Edo fire disasters
An'ei	安永	1772	1780	Go-Momozono	後桃園
An'ei	安永	1780	1781	Kōkaku	光格	1775, epidemic diseases spread across the country – in Edo alone, an estimated 190,000 died
Tenmei	天明	1781	1789	Kōkaku	光格	1782, Great Tenmei Famine, Asama-yama eruption kills more than 80,000
Tenmei	天明			Kōkaku	光格	1788, Great Fire of Kyoto
Kansei	寛政	1789	1801	Kōkaku	光格	changes and new initiatives of the Tokugawa shogunate during this era became known as the Kansei Reforms.
Kyōwa	享和	1801	1804	Kōkaku	光格
Bunka	文化	1804	1817	Kōkaku	光格
Bunka	文化	1817	1818	Ninkō	仁孝
Bunsei	文政	1818	1830	Ninkō	仁孝	1822 and 1832 devastating earthquakes in Edo and Kyoto
Tenpō	天保	1830	1844	Ninkō	仁孝	1835 and 1843 devastating earthquakes
Kōka	弘化	1844	1846	Ninkō	仁孝
Kōka	弘化	1846	1848	Kōmei	孝明	1847, major earthquake
Kaei	嘉永	1848	1854	Kōmei	孝明	1854 Commodore Perry to force Japanese agreement to the Treaty of Kanagawa; Great Nankaidō earthquakes and tsunamis kill 80,000 people
Ansei	安政	1854	1860	Kōmei	孝明	several devastating earthquakes and consecutive tsunamis; 1858-1860 several massive Cholera outbreaks killed up to 200,000 people in Edo alone
Man'en	万延	1860	1861	Kōmei	孝明
Bunkyū	文久	1861	1864	Kōmei	孝明	1863 military clashes between British and other Westrn forces (Bombardment of Kagoshima)
Genji	元治	1864	1865	Kōmei	孝明	1864 military clashes between British and other Westrn forces (Bombardment of Shimonoseki)
Keiō	慶応	1865	1868	Kōmei	孝明	1868-1869 Boshin War (戊辰戦争 Boshin Sensō), civil war between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the Imperial Court.
Meiji	明治	1867	1912	Meiji	明治	1868, adoption of the Meiji nengō was done retroactively to January 25th
Meiji	明治			Meiji	明治	1868. all daimyōs returned authority to the Emperor resulting in a new centralized Meiji government and the replacement of the old feudal system with a new oligarchy
Meiji	明治			Meiji	明治	1894, Sino-Japanese War
Meiji	明治			Meiji	明治	1904, Russo-Japanese War
Meiji	明治			Meiji	明治	1910, annexation of Korea
Taishō	大正	1912	1926	Taishō	大正	1923, Great Kanto Earthquake
World War I		1914	1918	Taishō	第一次世界大戦
Shōwa	昭和	1926	1989	Shōwa	昭和	1931 onward, Japanese invasions of China, and subsequently SE Asia
Shōwa	昭和			Shōwa	昭和	1941 - 1949, World War II
Edo era	江戸時代	1603	1868	~	~	collective term for several eras during the defacto reign of the shogunate

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Eras of Japanese Woodblock Prints

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Japanese Eras,

Time span, Emperors, and Major Events

during the Age of Ukiyo-e