Man'en

Man'en (万延) was a Japanese era name (年号) after Ansei and before Bunkyū. This period spanned the years from March 1860 through February 1861. The reigning emperor was Kōmei-tennō (孝明天皇).

Change of era

 * March 18, 1860 (Man'en 1 (万延元年)): The new era name was created to mark the destruction caused by a fire at Edo Castle and the assassination of Ii Naosuke (also known as "the disturbance" or "the incident" at the Sakurada-mon). The previous era ended and a new one commenced in Ansei 7.

The new era name is derived from an hortatory aphorism to be found in The Book of the Later Han: "With 100,000,000,000 descendants, your name will forever be recorded" (豊千億之子孫、歴万載而永延).

Events of the Man'en era

 * 1860 (Man'en 1): First Western professional photographer to establish residence in Japan, Orrin Freeman began living in Yokohama
 * 1860 (Man'en 1): First foreign mission to the United States.