for farmers, who were meant to remain at home and work their fields) and trade relations crumbled. This, in turn, caused various goods to lower in price. Under Mizuno's leadership, the reforms brought about the following: "Moral reform, the encouragement of frugality and retrenchment, recoinage, forced loans from wealthy merchant houses, and the cancellation of samurai debts". In addition, the bakufu met with fierce objection when land transfers were impressed upon the daimyōs in an attempt to reinforce the reach of influence and authority that remained of the Tokugawa government. Though the reforms largely ended in failure, the introduction of economical change during this period is seen as the initial approach leading ultimately to the modernization of Japan's economy. Fires at Edo Castle Edo Castle was devastated by two fires during the Tenpō era, in 1839 and 1843 respectively, and despite rampant rebellion during this period, neither fire was due to unrest. Other Events of the Tenpō era 1834 (Tenpō 5): Kondō Isami born in Tama. July 20, 1835 (Tenpō 6, 7th day of the 6th month): Earthquake in Sanriku (Latitude: 37.900/Longitude: 141.900), 7.6 magnitude on the Richter Scale. Hijikata Toshizō born, May 5. 1836 (Tenpō 7): Matsudaira Katamori born in Edo. 1837 (Tenpō 7): Tokugawa Ieyoshi becomes the 12th shōgun of the bakufu government. 1837 (Tenpō 8): Tokugawa Yoshinobu born. April 25, 1843 (Tenpō 14, 25th day of the 3rd month): Earthquake in Yezo, Kushiro, Nemuro (Latitude: 41.800/Longitude: 144.800), 8.4 magnitude on the Richter Scale. 1844''' (Tenpō 15): Insurrection in Chōshū; also, Saitō Hajime born in Edo. Calendar revision During the Tenpō era, Koide Shuke translated portions of Jérôme Lalande's work on astronomy. Koide presented this work to the Astronomy Board as evidence of the superiority of the European calendar, but the effort produced no identifiable effect. However, Koide's work and translations of other Western writers did indirectly affect the Tenpō calendar revision in 1842–1844. A great many errors had been found in the lunar calendar; and a revised system was publicly adopted in 1844. The new calendar was called the Tenpō-Jinin calendar. It was in use in Japan until 1872 when the Gregorian calendar was adopted. Gallery See also Tenpō calendar Tenpō Reforms Notes References Hall, John Whitney and Marius Jansen. (1991). Early Modern Japan: The Cambridge History of Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ; OCLC 62064695 Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard