Year in Japan

1640 in Japanese History

3 recorded entries for this year. It falls in the Edo period (江戸時代, 1603 – 1868).

Era name: Kan'ei 寛永 (year 17 of the era)

What happened 出来事

Date Tsunamune 伊達綱宗 · Samurai — daimyo of Sendai han (1640-1711)
Keichū 契沖 · Writer — Buddhist priest and scholar
Matsudaira Masachika 松平昌親 · Samurai — daimyo

Reading the year 1640 in Japanese

Japanese sources from this period date events by era name, not by the Western calendar. 1640 corresponds to Kan'ei 寛永 (year 17 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 1640年 (1640ねん) in modern Japanese. Browse the full timeline to see where this year sits in the wider arc, or the 17th century for its neighbours.