was a after Jishō and before Juei. This period spanned the years from July 1181 through May 1182.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Yōwa" in ; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see . The reigning emperor was .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, pp. 200-207; Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, pp. 333-334; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki. pp. 214-215.

Change of era 1181 : The new era name was created to mark an event or a number of events. The previous era ended and a new one commenced in Jishō 5, on the 14th day of the 7th month of 1181.Brown, p. 333.

Events of the Yōwa era 1181 (Yōwa 1, 25th day of the 11th month): Tokuko, former consort of the late Emperor Takakura, adopts the name of Kenreimon-in.Kitagawa, H. (1975). The Tale of the Heike, p. 783. 1181 (Yōwa 1): A famine that lasts for two years blights this era.Kamo no Chōmei. (1212). Hōjōki.

Notes

References Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). Gukanshō: The Future and the Past. Berkeley: University of California Press. ; OCLC 251325323 Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ; OCLC 58053128 Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Odai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691 Varley, H. Paul. (1980). A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa. New York: Columbia University Press. ; OCLC 6042764

External links National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar" -- historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection