Reiwa was it, dearie!

[Té Rowan]

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190401_44/ — “Japanese govt. chooses ‘Reiwa’ as new era name”
With only a month left of the Heisei era, it was about time for a new name.

[Neko-]

According to the Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Japan

Paleolithic and Jōmon periods - Unclear how long this took
Yayoi period - Unclear how long this took
Kofun period (c. 250–538) - So 288 years
Asuka period (538–710) - 172 years
Nara period (710–794) - 84 years
Heian period (794–1185) - 391 years
Kamakura period (1185–1333) - 148 years
Muromachi period (1333–1568) - 235 years
Azuchi–Momoyama period (1568–1600) - 32 years
Edo period (1600–1868) - 268 years
Meiji period (1868–1912) - 44 years
Taishō period (1912–1926) - 14 years
Shōwa period (1926–1989) - 63 years
Heisei period (1989–2019) - 30 years

So the shortest period has been 14 years, while the longest lasted 391 years... So the length of the period is arbitrary? I'd have expected some sense of fixed lengths to it, with how organized Japan shows itself to be.

Lets see... The Meiji to Heisei seem to coincide with the changing of the emperor... So that has some sense of rhyme to it.
The Edo period refers to the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Azuchi-Momoyama seems somewhat unclear, but the Muromachi period is set by the governance of the Muromachi shogunate. So the changing of periods seems somehow connected to the ruler (or at the least, the 'family' or rulers).

So I learned something today

[Spica75]

The Azuchi-Momoyama seems somewhat unclear

Not THAT bad. 13th shogun died 1565, a (probably)puppet replacement finally put in place 1568, the brother of the 13th asked Oda Nobunaga for support and was installed as the 15th shogun before the year was over. He became the last shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate, which laster from 1336 to 1573 ( although he did not officially leave office until 1588 ) when Oda Nobunaga ran him out of Kyoto.

The previous defacto rule of the Hojo clan ended in 1333 when the emperor ordered vassals to oppose them.
The Kamakura period was essentially the time during which the Kamakura shogunate existed, even though the Hojo clan pretty much stole the power from them with a "regent" position from 1203.

So, beginning of the era is when order was restored by Oda Nobunaga while taking control over Kyoto. It's also the year that the Ashikaga lost control of the shogunate, as Yoshiaki was certainly a puppet.
So, the period effectively ended in 1565, but with no real replacement and a "time of chaos", it was ended when there could be said to be a "new start".

There's definitely logic behind the eras, even if you have to look for it sometimes.


Anyway, i find the new era name a bit too much of a "taunting Murphy" risk...

[Neko-]

Well, we can always mispronounce it as the Ranma period

[Té Rowan]

The last four do indeed coincide with imperial eras. Nara, Heian, Kamakura and Edo were all named for capitals. Muromachi took its name from a ruling clan and Azuchi-Momoyama got its name from a pair of castles. Late Muromachi and Azuchi-Momoyama made up the Sengoku jidai (Warring States period). If nothing else, you might know of the Warring States period from Inu-Yasha.

[Neko-]

Yeah, I know those warring states thing, partly from InuYasha. But I was more or less wondering what 'made' a period. I'd have expected it to be a fixed amount of calendar time or something, but I guess some had-of-state period works too.

[Té Rowan]

The first thing my Webster’s said was: “A rather large interval of time that is meaningful in the life of a person, in history, etc. because of its particular characteristics”. OK, it said a lot more on the subject; a total of nineteen definitions.

So, a period can be a lot of things, depending on the W’s: Who, When, Where, Whyyyy? and WTF?!?