Year in Japan

1340 in Japanese History

2 recorded entries for this year. It falls in the Muromachi period (室町時代, 1336 – 1573).

Era name: Kōkoku 興国 (year 1 of the era)

What happened 出来事

Kōkoku 興国 · Japanese era name — Japanese era from April 1340 to December 1346
Motouji Ashikaga 足利基氏 · Samurai — 1st Kamakura Kubō of the Ashikaga shogunate

Reading the year 1340 in Japanese

Japanese sources from this period date events by era name, not by the Western calendar. 1340 corresponds to Kōkoku 興国 (year 1 of the era). Years are written with 年 (ねん, nen) — so 1600 appears as 慶長5年, "the fifth year of Keichō".

The year itself is read 1340年 (1340ねん) in modern Japanese. Browse the full timeline to see where this year sits in the wider arc, or the 14th century for its neighbours.