In feudal Japan, a land steward appointed by the central military government to each of the estates (shōen) into which the countryside was divided. The jitō collected taxes and maintained the peace; he was also enh1d to a portion of the taxes collected. The position, created by Minamoto Yoritomo in 1184, came to be hereditary. As time went by, the jitō came to have closer ties with local leaders than with the central government, which contributed to the weakening of the Kamakura shogunate (see Kamakura period).

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The years of Emperor Jitō's reign or the Jitō (持統) period should not be misunderstood as a Japanese era name (年号, nengō, lit. year name). The nengō system which was introduced in reign of Emperor Kotoku was abandoned at the end of his reign, and the era name was not updated for a quite some time, except for very brief re-occurrence near the close of Emperor Temmu's reign.

For further discussion, see .

During the years after Emperor Kōtoku, the reigning sovereigns were Saimei-tennō (斉明天皇), then Tenji-tennō (天智天皇), then Kōbun-tennō (弘文天皇), then Temmu-tennō (天武天皇), and then Jitō-tennō (持統天皇). The first year of Empress Jitō's rule (持統天皇元年; 686) could be arguably abbreviated as "the first year of Jitō" (持統元年; 686), but this is nowhere understood as a true nengō. The reigns of Japanese emperors and empresses are not nengō, nor were the two considered to be the same until Meiji came on the scene.

References to the emperors who ruled during this period are properly written as, for example,

*"the 3rd year of Jitō" (持統天皇３年), and

*not "Jitō 3" (持統３年).

Nengō were abolished during the interregnum years between Hakuchi and Shuchō, and again between Shuchō and Taihō.

*The commonly accepted pre-Tahiō nengō are:

*Taika: 645.6.19–650.2.15

*Hakuchi: 650.2.15–654.10.?

**GAP/interregnum

*Shuchō: 686.7.20–686.9.?

**GAP/interregnum

*Taihō: 701.3.21–704.5.10

Non-nengō period

• 1st year of Jitō's reign (持統天皇元年; 686): A new period is marked by the beginning of the reign of Empress Jitō, but the end of the previous nengō Hakuchi 6 (654) does not imply the commencement of a new nengō in the succeeding reigns.

Events of the Jitō period

• Jitō 1 (686): Emperor Temmu dies, but his son and heir was deemed too young to receive the succession (senso). Instead, the mother of the heir succeeds the Chrysanthemum Throne (senso) as Empress Jitō until her son would grow mature enough to accept senso and sokui.
• Jitō 3 (688): Prince Kusakabe, Empress Jitō's son, dies at age of 27.
• Jitō 4 (689): Empress Jitō formally acceeds the Chrysanthemum Throne (sokui) on the first month, first day.
• Jitō 11 (697): Prince Karu, the Empress' grandson, is made the Heir Apparent on the second month, 16th day. The Empress gets sick. She abdicates the Chrysanthemum Throne in favor of Prince Karu on the eighth month, first day.

Empress Jitō distributed rice to the aged throughout the years of her reign.

References

Notes

Further reading

• Brown, Delmer and Ichiro Ishida, eds. (1979). Gukanshō; "The Future and the Past: a translation and study of the 'Gukanshō,' an interpretive history of Japan written in 1219" translated from the Japanese and edited by Delmer M. Brown & Ichirō Ishida. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03460-0
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō (1652)]. Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon, tr. par M. Isaac Titsingh avec l'aide de plusieurs interprètes attachés au comptoir hollandais de Nangasaki; ouvrage re., complété et cor. sur l'original japonais-chinois, accompagné de notes et précédé d'un Aperçu d'histoire mythologique du Japon, par M. J. Klaproth. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. --Two digitized examples of this rare book have now been made available online: (1) from the library of the University of Michigan, digitized January 30, 2007; and (2) from the library of Stanford University, digitized June 23, 2006. Click here to read the original text in French.
• Varley, H. Paul , ed. (1980). [Kitabatake Chitafusa, 1359], Jinnō Shōtōki ("A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa" translated by H. Paul Varley). New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-04940-4

External links

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

Jitō period	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th
Gregorian	686	687	688	687	689	690	691	692	693	694	695	696	697