Since January 1, 1873, Japan has used the Gregorian Calendar, with local names for the months and mostly fixed holidays. Before 1873 a lunisolar calendar was in use, which was adapted from the Chinese calendar.
Years
Since the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, three different systems for counting years have been used in Japan:
Of the these three, the first two are still in current use; the imperial calendar was used until the end of World War II, though still maintained in some official contexts.
Months
The modern Japanese names for the months literally translate to "first month," "second month," and so on. The corresponding number is combined with the suffix -gatsu (month):
- January - ichigatsu
- February - nigatsu
- March - sangatsu
- April - shigatsu
- May - gogatsu
- June - rokugatsu
- July - shichigatsu
- August - hachigatsu
- September - kugatsu
- October - jūgatsu
- November - jūichigatsu
- December - jūnigatsu
In addition, every month has a traditional name, still used by some in fields such as poetry; of the twelve, shiwasu is still widely used today. The opening paragraph of a letter or the greeting in a speech might borrow one of these names to convey a sense of the season. Some, such as yayoi and satsuki, do double duty as given names (for women). These month names also appear from time to time on jidaigeki, which are contemporary television shows and movies set in the Edo period or earlier.
Here is a list of the traditional names.
The name of month: (pronunciation, literal meaning)
-
January - 睦月 (mu tsuki)
-
February - 如月 or 衣更着 (kisaragi or kinusaragi )
-
March - 弥生 (yayoi)
-
April - 卯月 (uzuki)
-
May - 皐月 or 早月 or 五月(satsuki)
-
June - 水無月 (mina tsuki or mina zuki, no water month)
-
July - 文月 (fumi zuki, book month)
-
August - 葉月 (ha zuki, leaf month)
-
September - 長月 (naga tsuki, long month)
-
October - 神無月 (kan'na zuki or kamina zuki, no god month), 神有月 or 神在月; (kamiari zuki, god month) only in Izumo province, where all the gods are believed to gather in October for an annual meeting at the Izumo Shrine.
-
November - 霜月 (shimo tsuki, frost month)
-
December - 師走 (shiwasu, teachers run; it is named so because even teachers are busy at the end of a year.)
Days of the month
Each day of the month has a semi-systematic but irregularly formed name:
| 1 |
一日 |
tsuitachi |
2 |
二日 |
futsuka |
| 3 |
三日 |
mikka |
4 |
四日 |
yokka |
| 5 |
五日 |
itsuka |
6 |
六日 |
muika |
| 7 |
七日 |
nanoka |
8 |
八日 |
yōka |
| 9 |
九日 |
kokonoka |
10 |
十日 |
tōka |
| 11 |
十一日 |
jūichinichi |
12 |
十二日 |
jūninichi |
| 13 |
十三日 |
jūsannichi |
14 |
十四日 |
jūyokka |
| 15 |
十五日 |
jūgonichi |
16 |
十六日 |
jūrokunichi |
| 17 |
十七日 |
jūshichinichi |
18 |
十八日 |
jūhachinichi |
| 19 |
十九日 |
jūkunichi |
20 |
二十日 |
hatsuka (occasionally, nijūnichi) |
| 21 |
二十一日 |
nijūichinichi |
22 |
二十二日 |
nijūninichi |
| 23 |
二十三日 |
nijūsannichi |
24 |
二十四日 |
nijūyokka |
| 25 |
二十五日 |
nijūgonichi |
26 |
二十六日 |
nijūrokunichi |
| 27 |
二十七日 |
nijūshichinichi |
28 |
二十八日 |
nijūhachinichi |
| 29 |
二十九日 |
nijūkunichi |
30 |
三十日 |
sanjūnichi |
| 31 |
三十一日 |
sanjūichinichi |
In the traditional calendar, the thirtieth was the last day of the month, and its traditional name, misoka, survives (although sanjunichi is far more common, and is the usual term). The last day of the year is ōmisoka (the big thirtieth day), and that term is still in use.
Days of the week
| 月曜日 |
getsuyōbi |
Moon |
Monday |
| 火曜日 |
kayōbi |
Fire |
Tuesday |
| 水曜日 |
suiyōbi |
Water |
Wednesday |
| 木曜日 |
mokuyōbi |
Wood |
Thursday |
| 金曜日 |
kinyōbi |
Metal/Gold |
Friday |
| 土曜日 |
doyōbi |
Earth |
Saturday |
| 日曜日 |
nichiyōbi |
Sun |
Sunday |
Holidays
Notes: Single days between two national holidays are taken as a bank holiday. This applies to May 4, which is a holiday each year. When a national holiday falls on a Sunday the following Monday is being taken as a holiday.
The list and the table are to be merged.
The list of national holidays:
This table includes 雑節 (Zassetsu), 二十四節気 (24 Sekki) and some others.
(Except 中元 (chūgen) and お盆 (obon), days vary according to the year.)
Some of these names are still used quite frequently in everyday life in Japan. It is common that daily weather reports use 冬至 (Tōji).
Seasonal festivals
The following are known as the five seasonal festivals (sekku 節句)
Rokuyō
The rokuyō (六曜) are a series of six days that predict whether there will be good or bad fortune during that day. The rokuyō are still commonly found on Japanese calendars today, and are often used to plan weddings and funerals. The rokuyō are also known as the rokki (六輝). In order, they are:
- 先勝 (senshō) - Good luck before noon, bad luck after noon
- 友引 (tomobiki) - Bad things will happen to your friends. Funerals avoided on this day.
- 先負 (senbu) - Bad luck before noon, good luck after noon
- 仏滅 (butsumetsu) - Most unlucky day. Weddings best avoided.
- 大安 (taian) - Most lucky day. Good day for weddings.
- 赤口 (shakkō) - The hour of the horse (11 am - 1 pm) is lucky. The rest is bad luck.
See also
External links
- Japanese calendar history by the National Diet Library http://www.ndl.go.jp/koyomi/e
- The Lunar Calendar in Japan http://www2.gol.com/users/stever/calendar.htm
- Koyomi no page http://koyomi.vis.ne.jp/mainindex.htm in Japanese
- Koyomi no hanashi http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~nm9m-hsy/koyomi/ in Japanese
Last updated: 02-09-2005 10:06:22
Last updated: 05-03-2005 17:50:55
