Year in Japan

686 in Japanese History

2 recorded entries for this year. It falls in the Asuka period (飛鳥時代, 538 – 710).

Era name: Shuchō 朱鳥 (year 1 of the era)

What happened 出来事

Shuchō 朱鳥 · Japanese era name — Japanese era from August 686 to October 686
Mii-dera Temple 園城寺 · Buddhist temple — Buddhist temple in Shiga Prefecture, Japan

Reading the year 686 in Japanese

Japanese sources from this period date events by era name, not by the Western calendar. 686 corresponds to Shuchō 朱鳥 (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 686年 (686ねん) in modern Japanese. Browse the full timeline to see where this year sits in the wider arc, or the 7th century for its neighbours.