Regnal Year - Asian Era Names

Asian Era Names

An era name was assigned as the name of each year by the leader (emperor or king) of the East Asian countries during some portion of their history. The people of the country referred to that year by that name. Era names were used for over two millennia by Chinese emperors and are still used in North Korea, Japan and Taiwan. It could last from one year to the length of the leader's reign. If it lasted more than one year, numbers were appended to the era name. If it lasted the entire length of the leader's reign, then that leader is often referred to by that name posthumously. However, the leader was often given a more complex formal posthumous name as well. It should not be confused with a temple name, by which many leaders are known.

The Lanfang Republic era, Republic of Formosa era and Republic of China era are era names without an emperor. The Confucius era and Juche era are based on the year of birth of the thinker or eternal president. The Huangdi era, Dangun era and kōki were counted in terms of the number of years of the reign of the first monarch. Tibetan Empire, Kingdom of Khotan, Liao Dynasty, Western Xia, Jin Dynasty (1115–1234), Kara-Khitan Khanate, Mongol Empire, Northern Yuan Dynasty, Qing Dynasty, Nguyễn Dynasty, Joseon Dynasty, Bogd Khaanate of Mongolia and North Korea also use non-Chinese era names. Some are transliterations of their Chinese era names. Chinese era names were also employed in other East Asian countries.

Abolished era names may be reused. They were sometimes still be used. 景初四年 (240) was used on Japanese bronze mirrors. 广德四年 (766) and 建中八年 (787) were used in a Western Regions tomb and a document. Kuchlug did not change the era name. Yongle emperor used 洪武三十五年 (1402). After Ming Dynasty fell, Joseon Dynasty still used Chongzhen and Kingdom of Tungning still used Yongli. Post Zhang Xianzhong Daxi kingdom used Ganzhi without era names before subdue to the Yongli emperor. Overseas Chinese used Longfei (龍飛) or Tianyun (天運).