慶安 was a "year name" after Shōhō and before Jōō. This period spanned the years from February 1648 through September 1652.[Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). " Keian" in Japan encyclopedia, p. 503; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File .] The reigning emperor was 後光明天皇.[Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 412.]
Change of era
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1648 慶安元年: The new era name was created in response to criticism that Shōhō was too closely related to Shōbō (焼亡, meaning "death by burning"). The previous era ended and a new one commenced in Shōhō 5, on the 5th day of the 2nd month.
The new era name was drawn from the Chinese classic, The I Ching: "At the end happiness, joy of quiet righteousness, answer the world unlimited" (乃終有 慶、安貞之吉、応地無疆):
Events of the Keian era
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April 1, 1649 ( Keian 2, 20th day of the 2nd month): There was a major earthquake in Edo.
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1651 ( Keian 4): Keian Uprising. Plans by well-organized rōnin to attack several Tokugawa strongholds simultaneously were timely discovered. The attempt plan to overthrow the Edo Bakufu by Marubashi Chūya and Yui Shōsetsu was thwarted.
[Screech, T. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shogans: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822, pp. 85–89.]
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1652 ( Keian 5, 5th month): Nihon Ōdai Ichiran is first published in Kyoto under the patronage of the tairō Sakai Tadakatsu, daimyō of the Obama Domain of Wakasa Province.
[Titsingh, p. 412; n.b., the first copy of this rare book was brought from Japan to Europe by Isaac Titsingh in 1796. Titsingh translated the text from Japanese and Chinese; and his work was then supplemented for posthumous publication by Julius Klaproth. The initial Japanese authorship is confirmed; the precise nengō-dating is confirmed in the same passage -- see Titsingh, p. 406.]
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