Ryakuō

During the Meiji period, an Imperial decree dated March 3, 1911 established that the legitimate reigning monarchs of this period were the direct descendants of Emperor Go-Daigo through Emperor Go-Murakami, whose Southern Court (南朝, nanchō) had been established in exile in Yoshino, near Nara.^[4]

Until the end of the Edo period, the militarily superior pretender-Emperors supported by the Ashikaga shogunate had been mistakenly incorporated in Imperial chronologies despite the undisputed fact that the Imperial Regalia were not in their possession.^[4]

This illegitimate Northern Court (北朝, hokuchō) had been established in KyotobyAshikaga Takauji.^[4]

• 1338 Ryakuō gannen (暦応元年): The era name was changed to Ryakuō to mark an event or a number of events. The previous era ended and a new one commenced in Kenmu 5.^[5]

• 1340 (Ryakuō 3): Observations of the "broom star" (comet) are recorded.^[6]

• Engen, Kōkoku

• Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 48943301
• 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

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