Japan revealed the name of its next imperial era to be “Reiwa” on April 1. The new era name is set to begin on May 1 as Crown Prince Naruhito takes the throne.
Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, unveiled the name with the two kanji characters written on a board. The two characters that make up the new name translate roughly to “good fortune” and “peace” or “harmony”, according to The Japan Times.
The announcement comes as the current “Heisei” era draws to a close after three decades, with Emperor Akihito set to step down on April 30. It is the first abdication（退位） of the throne in over 200 years.
In August 2016, Akihito — who is now 85 years old — signaled that he wanted to step down. But he ran up against Japanese law, which does not allow the emperor to give up his throne. In June 2017, Japan’s parliament allowed him to step down and pass the role to his son.
According to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the name “Reiwa” is from the Manyoshu, the oldest existing anthology of Japanese poetry. That marks a break from the tradition of drawing era names from Chinese classical texts.
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