On Monday, April 1, Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga lifted a board with a Kanji sign on it at a media conference: 令 和 (令 - rei, 和 - wa), thereby announcing that from May 1, 2019 - on the day of the enthronement of the Crown Prince Naruhito, the new era in Japan - Era Reiwa will officially start.
The current Era of Heisei began on January 8, 1989, the day after the death of Emperor Era Show, and will end exactly on April 30, 2019, when the current Emperor Akihito (father of Naruhito) abdicates. For the first time in more than 200 years, the imperial throne is given during the emperor's lifetime.
The name of the coming era was taken from the introduction to 32 songs about the subject of Japanese plum "ume", contained in the oldest existing anthology of Japanese poetry Man'yoshu (literally Ten thousand leaves). A fragment of the song that inspired the originators of the name of the new era "Reiwa" speaks of the hope he feels in early spring, when the warm breeze brings a pleasant scent of plum flowers.
The word "Reiwa" 令 和 was explained by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as "auspicious peace" or "auspicious harmony". In addition, he hopes that by taking the name of the era from ancient Japanese literature, the country's history, tradition, culture and nature will be passed on to future generations.
An interesting fact is that Reiwa is the 248th name of the era of rule, but it was only the fifth introduced in accordance with the new rule (relatively new, since used since 1868): "One emperor - one name of the era". Moreover, "Reiwa" is the first name of the era that contains the character "rei." In turn, the second kanji 和, "wa", has been used over 19 years (e.g. in the era: "Showa" 昭和 or "Wado" 和 銅).
