Bunka (文化, culture) was a Japanese era name (年号, nengō; lit.'year name') after Kyōwa and before Bunsei. The period spanned the years from January 1804 to April 1818. The reigning emperors were Kōkaku-tennō (光格天皇) and Ninkō-Tennō (仁孝天皇).
Change of era
February 11, 1804 (Bunka gannen (文化元年)): The new era name of Bunka ( meaning "Culture" or "Civilization") was created to mark the start of a new 60-year cycle of the Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch system of the Chinese calendar which was on New Year's Day, the new moon day of 2 November 1804. The previous era ended and a new one commenced in Kyōwa 4.
Events of the Bunka era
1804 (Bunka 1): Daigaku-no-kamiHayashi Jussai (1768–1841) explained the shogunate foreign policy to Emperor Kōkaku in Kyoto.
June 1805 (Bunka 2): Genpaku Sugita (1733–1817) is granted an audience with Shōgun Ienari to explain differences between traditional medical knowledge and Western medical knowledge.
December 7, 1812 (Bunka 9, 4th day of the 11th month): Earthquake in Honshū (Latitude: 35.400/Longitude: 139.600), 6.6 magnitude.
1817 (Bunka 14): Emperor Kōkaku travelled in procession to Sento Imperial Palace, a palace of an abdicated emperor. The Sento Palace at that time was called Sakura Machi Palace. It had been built by the Tokugawa Shogunate for former-Emperor Go-Mizunoo.
Notes
↑Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Bunka" Japan Encyclopedia, p. 91, p. 91, at Google Books; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, seeDeutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File[link removed].
↑Cullen, L.M. (2003). A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds, pp. 117, 163.
↑Sugita Genpaku. (1969). Dawn of Western Science in Japan: Rangaku Kotohajime, p. xvi.
12Online "Significant Earthquake Database" -- U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC)