Unofficial Era Name System
In addition to the official era name system, in which the era names are selected by the imperial court, one also observes—primarily in the ancient documents and epigraphs of shrines and temples—unofficial era names called shinengō (私年号?), also known as ginengō (偽年号?) or inengō (異年号?). Currently, there are over 40 confirmed shinengō, most of them dating from the middle ages. Shinengō used prior to the reestablishment of the era name system in 701 are usually called itsunengō (逸年号?). A list of shinengō and more information can be seen in the Japanese Wikipedia page ja:私年号.
Because official records of shinengō are lacking, the range of dates to which they apply is often unclear. For example, the well-known itsunengō Hakuhō (白鳳?) is normally said to refer to AD 650–654; a poetic synonym for the Hakuchi era. However, alternate interpretations exist. For example, in the Nichūreki, Hakuhō refers to AD 661–683, and in some middle-age temple documents, Hakuhō refers to AD 672–685. Thus, shinengō may be used as an alternative way of dating periods for which there is no official era name.
Other well-known itsunengō and shinengō include Hōkō (法興?) (AD 591–621+), Suzaku (朱雀?) (686), Fukutoku (福徳?) (1489–1492), Miroku (弥勒?) (1506–1507 or 1507–1508) and Meiroku (命禄?) (1540–1543).
The most recent shinengō is Seiro (征露?) (1904–1905), named for the Russo-Japanese war.
Read more about this topic: Japanese Era Name
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