Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Business Industries Finance Tax

Home > Japanese calendar


First Prev [ 1 2 3 ] Next Last

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.

1 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.

2 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):

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 periodThe Edo period is a division of Japanese history running from 1603 to 1867. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa Shogunate which was also officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. During this period external or earlier.

Here is a list of the traditional names.

The name of month: (pronunciation, literal meaning)





Non User