Heisei period

 

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Heisei (平成?) is the current era in Japan. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the first day after the death of the reigning Emperor, Hirohito. His son, Akihito, succeeded to the throne. In accordance with Japanese customs, Hirohito was posthumously renamed "Emperor Shōwa" on 31 January.

Thus 1989 corresponds to Shōwa 64 up to 7 January and to Heisei 1 (平成元年 Heisei gannen?, gannen means "first year") since 8 January. To convert a Western era year after 1989 to Heisei, subtract 1988. Example for 2014: 2014−1988 = Heisei 26.

 

 

 

On 7 January 1989, at 07:55 JST, the grand steward of Japan's Imperial Household Agency, Shōichi Fujimori, announced Emperor Shōwa's death, and revealed details about his cancer for the first time. Shortly after the death of the Emperor, Keizō Obuchi, then Chief Cabinet Secretary and later Prime Minister of Japan, announced the end of the Shōwa era, and heralded the new era name "Heisei" for the new incoming Emperor, and explained the meaning of the name.

According to Obuchi, the name "Heisei" was taken from two Chinese history and philosophy books, namely Records of the Grand Historian (史記 Shiji) and the Classic of History(書経 Shujing). In the Shiji, the sentence "内平外成" (nèi píng wài chéng;Kanbun: 内平かに外成る Uchi tairaka ni soto naru) appears in a section honoring the wise rule of the legendary Chinese Emperor Shun. In the Shujing, the sentence "地平天成" (dì píng tiān chéng; Kanbun: 地平かに天成る Chi tairaka ni ten naru) appears. By combining both meanings, Heisei is intended to mean "peace everywhere". The Heisei era went into effect immediately after the announcement of the new emperor on 8 January 1989.