Book of Documents
The two kanji characters in Shōwa () were from a passage of the Chinese Book of Documents: (Translated: "[T]he people (of his domain), ... all became brightly intelligent. (Finally), he united and harmonized the myriad states.") From this same quotation, Japan also adopted the era name Meiwa () during the Edo period in the late-18th century. There were two other candidates at the time – Dōwa () and Genka ().