Year in Japan

978 in Japanese History

2 recorded entries for this year. It falls in the Heian period (平安時代, 794 – 1185).

Era name: Tengen 天元 (year 1 of the era)

What happened 出来事

Tengen 天元 · Japanese era name — Japanese era from 978 to 983
Murasaki Shikibu 紫式部 · Philosopher — Japanese novelist and poet (c.973–c.1014)

Reading the year 978 in Japanese

Japanese sources from this period date events by era name, not by the Western calendar. 978 corresponds to Tengen 天元 (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 978年 (978ねん) in modern Japanese. Browse the full timeline to see where this year sits in the wider arc, or the 10th century for its neighbours.