Part of a series on the
History of Japan
List Paleolithic before 14,000 BC Jōmon 14,000 – 1000 BC Yayoi 1000 BC – 300 AD Kofun 300 AD – 538 AD Asuka 538 – 710 Nara 710 – 794 Heian Former Nine Years' War Later Three-Year War Genpei War 794–1185 Kamakura Jōkyū War Mongol invasions Genkō War Kenmu Restoration 1185–1333 Muromachi Nanboku-chō period Sengoku period 1336–1573 Azuchi–Momoyama Nanban trade Imjin War Battle of Sekigahara 1573–1603 Edo (Tokugawa) Tokugawa shogunate Invasion of Ryukyu Siege of Osaka Sakoku Perry Expedition Convention of Kanagawa Bakumatsu Meiji Restoration Boshin War 1603–1868 Meiji Invasion of Taiwan (1874) Satsuma Rebellion First Sino-Japanese War Treaty of Shimonoseki Triple Intervention Invasion of Taiwan (1895) Colonization of Taiwan Boxer Rebellion Russo-Japanese War Treaty of Portsmouth Japan–Korea Treaty Colonization of Korea 1868–1912 Taishō World War I Intervention in Siberia Great Kantō earthquake 1912–1926 Shōwa Militarism Financial crisis Nanking incident Mukden Incident Invasion of Manchuria May 15 incident February 26 incident Anti-Comintern Pact Tripartite Pact Second Sino-Japanese War World War II Attack on Pearl Harbor Pacific War Atomic bombings Soviet–Japanese War Surrender of Japan Occupation of Japan Postwar Japan Anpo protests Economic miracle Asset price bubble 1926–1989 Heisei Lost Decades Great Hanshin earthquake Cool Japan Tōhoku earthquake Imperial transition 1989–2019 Reiwa COVID-19 pandemic Abe assassination 2019–present
Topics Capital punishment Currency Earthquakes Economy Era names Education Empire Foreign relations Geography Historiography Religion Buddhism Christianity Islam Judaism Shinto Military Naval Politics Post-war Science and technology Sports World Heritage Sites
Glossary History Timeline
v t e

Tenpyō-shōhō (天平勝宝) was a Japanese era name (年号, nengō, lit. "year name") after Tenpyō-kanpō and before Tenpyō-hōji. This period spanned the years from July 749 through August 757.^[1] The reigning empress was Kōken-tennō (孝謙天皇).^[2]

• 749 Tenpyō-shōhō gannen (天平勝宝元年): The new era name of Tenpyō-shōhō (meaning "Heavenly Peace and Victorious Treasure")^[3] was created to mark the accession of Empress Kōken. Shortly after Tenpyō-kanpō was initially proclaimed, Emperor Shōmu renounced the throne, thus becoming the first emperor to take the tonsure as a Buddhist monk.^[4] Shōmu's reign and the Tenpyō-kanpō era ended simultaneously as he began a new phase of his life. The previous era ended after a mere four months, and the new one commenced in Tenpyō-kanpō 1, on the 2nd day of the 7th month of 749.^[5]

• 749 (Tenpyō-shōhō 1): Emperor Shōmu abdicates, and his daughter receives the succession (senso). Shortly thereafter, Empress Kōken formally accedes to the throne (sokui).^[6]
• 749 (Tenpyō-shōhō 1)
• 752 (Tenpyō-shōhō 4, 4th month): The Eye-Opening Ceremony celebrating the completion of the Great Buddha is held at Tōdai-ji in Nara.^[7]
• 5 September 750 (Tenpyō-shōhō 2, 1st day of the 8th month): In the 10th year of Kōken-tennō's reign (称徳天皇10年), the empress abdicated; and succession (senso) was received by her adopted son. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Junnin is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).^[8]

• Bowman, John Stewart. (2000). Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231110051; ISBN 9780231110044; OCLC 42429361
• Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). Gukanshō: The Future and the Past. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0; OCLC 251325323
• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Odai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691
• Varley, H. Paul. (1980). A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231049405; OCLC 6042764

• National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar" -- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection