Reiwa era

Overview

Reiwa (令和, れいわ) is the current era of the official calendar of Japan, and the 232nd such era in the country's history. It began on 1 May 2019, the day Naruhito ascended the throne as the 126th Emperor of Japan. Naruhito is the eldest son of Emperor Emeritus Akihito, who had abdicated the Chrysanthemum Throne the previous day, bringing the Heisei era to a close.

The year 2019 corresponds with Heisei 31 from 1 January to 30 April, and with Reiwa 1 (令和元年, Reiwa gannen; "the base year of Reiwa") from 1 May. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan has explained the meaning of Reiwa as "beautiful harmony."

What Defined the Era

The Reiwa era opened with a historic transition: the first imperial abdication in Japan in over two centuries. Akihito's decision to step down, announced in 2016 and enacted on 30 April 2019, set the stage for Naruhito's accession. The era's early years were shaped by the new emperor's public emphasis on peace, empathy, and the welfare of ordinary citizens, themes he returned to repeatedly in his addresses.

The era name itself was chosen to signal a break from the past while drawing on classical Japanese literature rather than Chinese sources, a departure from centuries of precedent. The selection process, conducted by the Cabinet, was kept secret until the official announcement on 1 April 2019, when Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga revealed the name on live television. The choice of a Japanese literary source was widely noted as a deliberate cultural statement.

Key Events

The Reiwa era began amid the final weeks of the Golden Week holiday, with the imperial succession ceremonies spread across the spring of 2019. Naruhito formally proclaimed his enthronement before domestic and international dignitaries on 22 October 2019, in a ceremony known as the Sokui no Rei.

The era's first years were dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which reached Japan in early 2020. The government declared a state of emergency in April 2020, and the Tokyo Olympic Games, originally scheduled for summer 2020, were postponed to 2021. The Games were held in July and August 2021 under strict pandemic restrictions, with no spectators permitted at most venues.

In July 2022, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated while giving a campaign speech in Nara, a shock that reverberated through Japanese politics. The era also saw significant political transitions, including the resignation of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in 2021 and the assassination of Abe, who had been the country's longest-serving prime minister. In 2024, the Bank of Japan ended its negative interest rate policy, a landmark shift in monetary policy after years of deflationary pressure.

The Name in Japanese

The era name is written 令和 in kanji, read れいわ in hiragana, and romanised as Reiwa.

The name consists of two characters:

• 令 (rei): In this word, the character is read rei. Its core meaning is "order," "command," or "decree," but it also carries the sense of "auspicious" or "good" in classical compounds. It appears in words like 命令 (meirei, "command") and 令嬢 (reijō, "someone else's daughter," a polite term).

• 和 (wa): In this word, the character is read wa. Its primary meanings are "harmony," "peace," and "Japan" or "Japanese." It is the same character used in 日本 (Nihon, "Japan")'s older reading of Yamato, and it appears in 和食 (washoku, "Japanese food") and 平和 (heiwa, "peace").

Together, the characters are commonly glossed as "beautiful harmony," the meaning given by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The first character, 令, is less common in era names than the second; 和 has appeared in several previous era names, including 昭和 (Shōwa, "radiant harmony") and 永和 (Eiwa, "eternal harmony").

How the Era Name Works

Japan's era name system, known as gengō (元号), dates the years by the reign of the sitting emperor. Each era name is declared when a new emperor takes the throne, and the era ends when the emperor dies or abdicates. The current era began on 1 May 2019, and the year is counted from that point: 2019 is Reiwa 1, 2020 is Reiwa 2, and so on.

The first year of an era is often called gannen (元年, "base year"), so Reiwa 1 is written 令和元年. In everyday usage, Japanese people commonly write dates as Reiwa 6 for 2024, or use the Western calendar year alongside it. Official documents, government forms, and many business contracts still require the era name, while younger generations increasingly use the Western calendar in casual contexts.

The selection of an era name follows a strict procedure. A panel of experts proposes candidates, and the Cabinet chooses one. The name must be two kanji characters, easy to read and write, and must not have been used in a previous era. Reiwa was the first era name taken from a Japanese literary work, the Man'yōshū (万葉集), an eighth-century poetry anthology, rather than from Chinese classics. The chosen passage speaks of plum blossoms blooming in early spring, a metaphor for the hope and renewal that the name was meant to convey.