Japanese Calendar

Japanese calendar types have included a range of official and unofficial systems. At present, Japan uses the Gregorian calendar together with year designations stating the year of the reign of the current Emperor. The written form starts with the year, then the month and finally the day, coinciding with the ISO 8601 standard. For example, February 16, 2003 can be written as either 2003年2月16日 or 平成15年2月16日 (the latter following the regnal year system). 年 reads ''nen'' and means "year", 月 reads ''gatsu'' or 「がつ」and means "month" and finally 日 (usually) reads ''nichi'' (its pronunciation depends on the number that precedes it, see below) and means "day".

Prior to the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1873, the reference calendar was based on the lunisolar Chinese calendar.

History

The lunisolar Chinese calendar was introduced to Japan via Korea in the middle of the sixth century. After that, Japan calculated its calendar using various Chinese calendar procedures, and from 1685, using Japanese variations of the Chinese procedures. But in 1873, as part of Japan's Meiji period modernization, a calendar based on the solar Gregorian calendar was introduced. In Japan today, the old Chinese calendar is virtually ignored; celebrations of the Lunar New Year are thus limited to Chinese and other Asian immigrant communities.

Japan has had more than one system for designating years:
* The Chinese sexagenary cycle was introduced early into Japan. It was often used together with era names, as in the 1729 Ise calendar shown above, which is for "the 14th year of Kyōhō, tsuchi-no-to no tori", i.e., . Now, though, the cycle is seldom used except around New Year.
* The system was also introduced from China, and has been in continuous use since AD 701. Since the Taishō Emperor's ascension in 1912, each emperor's reign has begun a new era; before 1868 era names were often also declared for other reasons. Nengō are the official means of dating years in Japan, and virtually all government business is conducted using that system. It is also in general use in private and personal business.
* The is based on the date of the legendary founding of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. Nowadays, Japanese people know it as well as the regnal eras.

File:Briefly_Abridged_Calendar_of_1873%2C_Hiroshige_Museum_of_Art.JPG, Briefly Abridged Calendar of 1873
File:Calendar_for_1907%2C_Nakai_Tokujiro_%28Pub.%29%2C_Hiroshige_Museum_of_Art.JPG, Calendar for 1907

Official calendar

Years

The official dating system known as (or, strictly speaking, ), has been in use since the late 7th century. Years are numbered within regnal eras, which are named by the reigning Emperor. Beginning with Meiji (1868–1912), each reign has been one era, but many earlier Emperors decreed a new era upon any major event; the last pre-Meiji Emperor's reign (1846–1867) was split into seven eras, one of which lasted only one year. The ''nengō'' system remains in wide use, especially on official documents and government forms.

The imperial year system (''kōki'') was used from 1872 to the Second World War. Imperial year 1 (''Kōki'' 1) was the year when the legendary Emperor Jimmu signal, pointing out that the history of Japan's imperial family is longer than that of Christianity, the basis of the Anno Domini (AD) system. ''Kōki'' 2600 (1940) was a special year. The 1940 Summer Olympics and Tokyo Expo were planned as anniversary events, but were canceled due to the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese naval Zero Fighter was named after this year. After the Second World War, the United States occupied Japan, and stopped the use of ''kōki'' by officials. Today, ''kōki'' is rarely used, except in some judicial contexts.

The 1898 law determining the placement of leap years is officially based on the ''kōki'' years, using a formula that is effectively equivalent to that of the Gregorian calendar: if the ''kōki'' year number is evenly divisible by four, it is a leap year, unless the number minus 660 is evenly divisible by 100 and not by 400. Thus, for example, the year ''Kōki'' 2560 (AD 1900) is divisible by 4; but 2560 − 660 = 1900, which is evenly divisible by 100 and not by 400, so ''kōki'' 2560 was not a leap year, just as in most of the rest of the world.

The present era, Reiwa, formally began on 1 May 2019. The name of the new era was announced by the Japanese government on 1 April 2019, a month prior to Naruhito's succession to the throne. The previous era, Heisei, came to an end on 30 April 2019, after Japan's former emperor, Akihito, abdicated the throne. Reiwa is the first era name whose characters come from a Japanese root source; prior eras' names were taken from Chinese classic literature.

Seasons

See also " Seasonal days", below.

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"). The table below uses traditional numerals, but the use of Western numerals (, , etc.) is common.

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'', contemporary television shows and movies set in the Edo period or earlier.

The old Japanese calendar was an adjusted lunar calendar based on the Chinese calendar, and the year—and with it the months—started anywhere from about 3 to 7 weeks later than the modern year, so in historical contexts it is not entirely accurate to equate the first month with January.

Subdivisions of the month

Japan uses a seven-day week, aligned with the Western calendar. The seven-day week, with names for the days corresponding to the Latin system, was brought to Japan around AD 800 with the Buddhist calendar. The system was used for astrological purposes and little else until 1876.

Much like in multiple European languages, in which the names for weekdays are, partially or fully, based on what the Ancient Romans considered the seven visible planets, meaning the five visible planets and the sun and the moon, in The Far East the five visible planets are named after the five Chinese elements (metal, wood, water, fire, earth.) On the origin of the names of the days of the week, also see East Asian Seven Luminaries.

* For those wondering, the Sun is 太陽 (great yang) and the Moon is 太陰 (great yin)

Sunday and Saturday are regarded as "Western style take-a-rest days". Since the late 19th century, Sunday has been regarded as a "full-time holiday", and Saturday a . These holidays have no religious meaning (except those who believe in Christianity or Judaism). Many Japanese retailers do not close on Saturdays or Sundays, because many office workers and their families are expected to visit the shops during the weekend. An old Imperial Japanese Navy song () says "Mon Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Fri!" which means "We work throughout the entire week."

Japanese people also use 10-day periods called . Each month is divided into two 10-day periods and a third with the remaining 8 to 11 days:
* The first (from the 1st to the 10th) is
* The second (from the 11th to the 20th),
* The last (from the 21st to the end of the month), .

These are frequently used to indicate approximate times, for example, "the temperatures are typical of the ''jōjun'' of April"; "a vote on a bill is expected during the ''gejun'' of this month." The magazine ''Kinema Junpo'' was originally published once every ''jun'' (i.e. three times a month).

Days of the month

Each day of the month has a semi-systematic name. The days generally use ''kun'' (native Japanese) numeral readings up to ten, and thereafter ''on'' (Chinese-derived) readings, but there are some irregularities. The table below shows dates written with traditional numerals, but use of Arabic numerals (, , , etc.) is extremely common in everyday communication, almost the norm.

''Tsuitachi'' is a worn-down form of ''tsuki-tachi'' (), which means "the month beginning". The last day of the month was called ''tsugomori'', which means "Moon hidden". This classical word comes from the tradition of the lunisolar calendar.

The 30th was also called ''misoka'', just as the 20th is called ''hatsuka''. Nowadays, the terms for the numbers 28–31 plus ''nichi'' are much more common. However, ''misoka'' is much used in contracts, etc., specifying that a payment should be made on or by the last day of the month, whatever the number is. New Year's Eve is known as , and that term is still in use.

There is traditional belief that some days are lucky (''kichijitsu'') or unlucky. For example, there are some who will avoid beginning something on an unlucky day.

National holidays

After World War II, the names of Japanese national holidays were completely changed because of the secular state principle (Article 20, The Constitution of Japan). Although many of them actually originated from Shinto, Buddhism and important events relating to the Japanese imperial family, it is not easy to understand the original meanings from the superficial and vague official names.

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 next day that is not a holiday (usually a Monday) is taken as a holiday.

::^† Traditional date on which according to legend Emperor Jimmu

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