Jitō period
The Jitō period is a chronological timeframe during the Asuka period of Japanese history. The Jitō period describes a span of years which were considered to have begun in the 1347th year of the Yamato dynasty. This periodization is congruent with the reign of Empress Jitō, which is traditionally considered to have been from 686 through 697. Periodization. The adoption of the Sexagenary cycle calendar ("Jikkan Jūnishi") in Japan is attributed to Empress Suiko in 604; and this Chinese calendar continued in use throughout the Jitō period. In 645, the system of was introduced. However, after the reign  of Emperor Kōtoku, this method of segmenting time was temporarily abandoned or allowed to lapse. This interval continued during the Jitō period. Neither Empress Jitō's reign nor the Jitō periodization are included in the list of "nengō" for this explicit duration of time, which comes after Suchō and before Taihō. In the post-Taika or pre-Taihō chronology, the first year of Empress Jitō's reign (持統天皇元年 or 斉持統皇1年) is also construed as the first year of the Jitō period (持統1年). Non-nengō period. Non-nengō periods in the pre-Taihō calendar were published in 1880 by William Bramsen . These were refined in 1952 by Paul Tsuchihashi in "Japanese Chronological Tables from 601 to 1872". The pre-Tahiō calendar included two non-nengō gaps or intervals in the chronological series: Nengō were not promulgated (or were allowed to lapse) during the gap years between Hakuchi and Shuchō, and in another gap between Shuchō and Taihō. Events of the Jitō period. Empress Jitō distributed rice to the aged throughout the years of her reign.