Heisei Nishiki

Description

The Japanese government have today announced the name of the new imperial era in Japan, which will commence on the 1st May with the abdication of Emperor Akihito and the succession by his son, Crown Prince Naruhito.  The name for the new era will be ‘Reiwa’.

The 3 eras prior to Reiwa have all had a Koi variety named after them, starting with Taisho Sanke for the Taisho era which ran from 1912-26, Showa Sanke for the Showa era from 1926-1989, and the rather less known Heisei Nishiki for the current Heisei era which started in 1989.  (Note, the work Sanshoku and Sanke can be used interchangeably).