Part of a series on the
History of Japan
Periods Paleolithic 35,000–14,000 BC Jōmon 14,000–1000 BC Yayoi 1000 BC – 300 AD Kofun 300–538 AD Asuka 538–710 Nara 710–794 Heian Former Nine Years' War Later Three-Year War Genpei War 794–1185 Kamakura Jōkyū War Mongol invasions Genkō War Kenmu Restoration 1185–1333 Muromachi Nanboku-chō period Sengoku period 1336–1573 Azuchi–Momoyama Nanban trade Imjin War Battle of Sekigahara 1573–1603 Edo (Tokugawa) Tokugawa shogunate Invasion of Ryukyu Siege of Osaka Sakoku Perry Expedition Convention of Kanagawa Bakumatsu Meiji Restoration Boshin War 1603–1868 Meiji Ryūkyū Disposition Invasion of Taiwan (1874) Satsuma Rebellion First Sino-Japanese War Treaty of Shimonoseki Triple Intervention Invasion of Taiwan (1895) Colonization of Taiwan Boxer Rebellion Russo-Japanese War Treaty of Portsmouth Japan–Korea Treaty Colonization of Korea 1868–1912 Taishō World War I Intervention in Siberia Great Kantō earthquake 1912–1926 Shōwa Militarism Financial crisis Nanking incident Mukden Incident Invasion of Manchuria May 15 incident February 26 incident Anti-Comintern Pact Tripartite Pact Second Sino-Japanese War World War II Attack on Pearl Harbor Pacific War Atomic bombings Soviet–Japanese War Surrender of Japan Occupation of Japan Postwar Japan Anpo protests Economic miracle Asset price bubble 1926–1989 Heisei Lost Decades Great Hanshin earthquake Cool Japan Tōhoku earthquake Imperial transition 1989–2019 Reiwa COVID-19 pandemic Abe assassination Noto earthquake 2019–present
Topics Capital punishment Currency Earthquakes Economy Era names Education Empire Foreign relations Geography Historiography Religion Buddhism Christianity Islam Judaism Shinto Military Naval Politics Post-war Science and technology Sports World Heritage Sites
Glossary History Timeline
v t e

Ōtoku (応徳) was a Japanese era name (年号, nengō, "year name") after Eihō and before Kanji. This period spanned the years from February 1084 through April 1087.^[1] The reigning emperor was Emperor Shirakawa-tennō (白河天皇).^[2]

• February 9, 1084 Ōtoku gannen (応徳元年): The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. The previous era ended and the new one commenced in Eihō 4, on the 7th day of the 2nd month.^[3]

• 1084 (Ōtoku 1, 9th month): The empress Kenshi, the emperor's principal consort, died. Shirakawa was afflicted with great grief, and for a time, he turned over the administration of the government to his ministers.^[4]
• 1086 (Ōtoku 3, 9th month): Shirakawa announced his intention to abdicate in favor of his son.^[4]
• January 3, 1087 (Ōtoku 3, 26th day of the 11th month): Shirakawa formally abdicated,^[3] and he took the title Daijō-tennō.^[4] Shirakawa had personally occupied the throne for 14 years; and for the next 43 years, he would exercise broad powers in what will come to be known as cloistered rule.^[5]

• Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). Gukanshō: The Future and the Past. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0; OCLC 251325323
• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Ōdai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691
• Varley, H. Paul. (1980). A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231049405; OCLC 6042764

• National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar" -- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection