Is there a difference between 平和 and 平安


Is it like 平安 is used mainly when talking about the 平安時代 or in terms of
historical peace?




In the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese, we can see the
following trend

> 平安 1644 results, with more particular results being
>
>   * 平安時代 668
>   * 平安京 194
>   * 平安末 55
>   * 平安後期 40
>   * 平安朝 85
>   * 平安神宮 28
>   * 平安初期 36
>   * 平安貴族 35
>   * 平安宮 9
>   * 平安期 16
>   * 平安文化 6
>   * 平安中期 33
>

In other words, 平安 seems to be primarily used as a reference to the Heian
period.

It _can_ be used to mean "calm" (as opposed to "peaceful" 平和), but for this
purpose 平穏 is more common:

> 平穏 500 results (already more than for 平安, after subtracting the specific
> list above)




In the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese, we can see the
following trend

> 平安 1644 results, with more particular results being
>
>   * 平安時代 668
>   * 平安京 194
>   * 平安末 55
>   * 平安後期 40
>   * 平安朝 85
>   * 平安神宮 28
>   * 平安初期 36
>   * 平安貴族 35
>   * 平安宮 9
>   * 平安期 16
>   * 平安文化 6
>   * 平安中期 33
>

In other words, 平安 seems to be primarily used as a reference to the Heian
period.

It _can_ be used to mean "calm" (as opposed to "peaceful" 平和), but for this
purpose 平穏 is more common:

> 平穏 500 results (already more than for 平安, after subtracting the specific
> list above)

