Tenryaku facts for kids

The Tenryaku (天暦) was a special name for a period of time in Japanese history, like how we have years today. It was called a nengō, which means "year name." This era came after the Tengyō period and before the Tentoku period. The Tenryaku era lasted from April 947 to October 957. The emperor who ruled during this time was Emperor Murakami (村上天皇).

Important Events of the Tenryaku Era

• 947 (Tenryaku 1): Work began on building the Kitano Shrine. This shrine is still an important place today.
• 947 (Tenryaku 1): Later that year, Emperor Murakami went hunting in an area called Uji.
• 948 (Tenryaku 2): Japan experienced very dry weather during the summer, which is called a drought. Then, in the autumn, there were very strong rains.
• September 29, 948 (Tenryaku 2): Something unusual happened! Both the sun and the moon could be seen in the sky at the same time.
• August 14, 949 (Tenryaku 3): A very important person named Fujiwara no Tadahira passed away at 70 years old. He had served as a sesshō (a regent who helps a young emperor rule) for 20 years and as a kampaku (a chief advisor to the emperor) for 8 years.
• September 9, 949 (Tenryaku 3): Former-Emperor Yōzei died at the age of 82. He had ruled before Emperor Murakami.
• 950 (Tenryaku 4): Emperor Murakami officially announced that his baby son, Norihira, would be the next Crown Prince. This meant Norihira would become emperor after him.
• 951 (Tenryaku 5): The pagoda (a type of tower) at Daigo-ji temple became the oldest building in the city of Kyoto.
• October 7, 952 (Tenryaku 6): Former-Emperor Suzaku died at the age of 30. He was another emperor who ruled before Murakami.

Related pages

• Heian period

• National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar" -- a look at Japanese history with pictures from the library