were returning to their norimono (carriage) after a meeting of the Counselors of State had broken up. The involvement of senior figures in the Bakufu was suspected, but no one other than the lone assassin himself was punished. The result was that the liberalizing reforms that the older Tanuma had initiated were blocked. September 17, 1786 (Tenmei 6, 25th day of the eighth month): Shōgun Tokugawa Ieharu died and was buried in Edo. 1787 (Tenmei 7): Tokugawa Ienari became the 11th Shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate. 1787 (Tenmei 7): Kutsuki Masatsuna published Seiyō Senpu (Notes on Western Coinage), with plates showing European and colonial currency. 1788 (Tenmei 7): Riots broke out in rice shops in Edo and Osaka. 1788 (Tenmei 8): Great Fire of Kyoto. A fire began in the city at three o'clock in the morning of March 6 (Tenmei 8, 29th day of the first month), and continued to burn uncontrolled until March 8 (first day of the second month). Embers smoldered until they were extinguished by heavy rain on March 11 (fourth day of the second month). The Emperor and his court fled the fire, and the Imperial Palace was destroyed. No other rebuilding was permitted until a new palace was completed. This fire was considered to be a major event. The opperhoofd of the VOC 'in Dejima noted in his official record book that "people are considering it to be a great and extraordinary heavenly portent". Notes References Hall, John Whitney. (1988). Early Modern Japan (The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 4). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ; OCLC 489633115 __. (1955). Tanuma Okitsugu, 1719–1788: Forerunner of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. OCLC 445621 Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ; OCLC 48943301 Screech, Timon. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822. London: RoutledgeCurzon. ; OCLC 65177072 __. (2000). Shogun's Painted Culture: Fear and Creativity in the Japanese States, 1760–1829. London : Reaktion. ; OCLC 42699671 Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Ōdai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691. External links National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar" -- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection National Archives of Japan: Hinozenshu sanbutsu zuko, scroll showing illustrated inventory of industries in Karatsu Domain, Tenmei 4 (1784) Toyohara Chikanobu, Mirror of the Ages (Jidai