page_title: Reiwa
section_title: Novelty
hierarchical_section_title: Reiwa / Novelty
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Extrait du volume 5 du Man'yōshū d'où sont issu les kanjis du nom de l'Ère Reiwa.Annotations par @tkasasagi.English: Extract of Volume 5 of the Man'yōshū where the kanji characters for "Reiwa" are derived.Annotations by @tkasasagi.
context_page_description: Reiwa is the current era of Japan's official calendar. It began on 1 May 2019, the day on which Emperor Akihito's elder son, Naruhito, ascended the throne as the 126th Emperor of Japan. The day before, then-Emperor Akihito abdicated the Chrysanthemum Throne, marking the end of the Heisei era. The year 2019 corresponds with Heisei 31 from 1 January through 30 April, and with Reiwa 1 from 1 May. Reiwa is interpreted as "beautiful harmony".
context_section_description: "Reiwa" marks the first Japanese era name with characters that were taken from Japanese classical literature instead of classic Chinese literature. The Chinese foreign ministry responded to a question from the Japanese media on this by saying that it is an internal matter for Japan to choose an era name, and expressing good wishes for Sino-Japanese relations.
  According to Masaaki Tatsumi (辰巳正明), professor of Japanese literature, and Masaharu Mizukami (水上雅晴), professor of Chinese philosophy, interviewed by the Asahi Shimbun shortly after the announcement was made, the phrase has an earlier source in ancient Chinese literature dating back to the second century AD, on which the Man'yōshū usage is allegedly based:
  於是仲春令月，時和氣清；原隰鬱茂，百草茲榮。
  Yú shì zhòng chūn lìng yuè, shí hé qì qīng; yuán xí yù mào, bǎi cǎo zī róng.
  — Zhang Heng, Return to the Field
  Then comes young spring, in a fine month,
  
  When the wind is mild and the air clear.
  
  Plains and swamps are overgrown with verdure
  
  And the hundred grasses become rank and thick.
  — translation by Liu Wu-chi, An Introduction to Chinese Literature (1990)
  Robert Campbell, director-general of National Institute of Japanese Literature in Tokyo, provided an official televised interpretation to NHK, regarding the characters based on the poem, noting that "Rei" is an auspicious wave of energy of the plum blossoms carried by the wind, and "Wa", the general character of peace and tranquility.
  Accordingly, the name marks the 248th era name designated in Japanese history. While the "wa" character 和 has been used in 19 previous era names, the "rei" character 令 has never appeared before.  The character appeared in a proposed era name in 1864—Reitoku (令徳)—that the ruling Tokugawa shogunate rejected, as it could be interpreted as the emperor commanding (rei) the Tokugawa.
caption: Extract of Volume 5 of the Man'yōshū from which the kanji characters for "Reiwa" are derived
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