Japanese Eras Database is a free, English-language reference covering every Japanese imperial era name (元号, gengō) from Taika in 645 CE to the current Reiwa era — 247 eras in all.
It is built for people who are holding something dated in an era name and need to read it: collectors of Japanese coins, swords, prints and ceramics; people tracing family records; translators; and anyone reading an old Japanese document.
The era list is drawn from the National Diet Library of Japan's reference on Japanese era names (ndl.go.jp). The dataset behind this site was compiled on 2026-04-05.
We do not appraise, authenticate or value objects, and we do not tell you what an item is worth. This site reports dates and era names; judging an object is the work of a specialist.
Where a field on a page is blank, it means we have not been able to verify that item — not that it does not exist.
Japan used a lunisolar calendar until 1 January 1873 (Meiji 6). For anything dated before that, an era year begins in early spring and overlaps two Western years, so era years and Western years do not map one-to-one. Where this site gives a Western year for a pre-1873 era year, it is the year in which that era year began.
Japanese Eras Database is an independent project and is not affiliated with the National Diet Library, the Imperial Household Agency, or any Japanese government body. While we work for accuracy, we make no warranty as to completeness or timeliness.