I saw the giant dip in birth rates in 1966 and was confused. I flipped around a couple of pages and didn’t see any explanation. Was it some sort of error? Was there a big natural disaster that I didn’t know about? What exactly happened in 1966? Turns out that the explanation was stranger than I could even imagine.

The Other Chinese Zodiac

In Western society, we don’t have too many superstitions associated with dates; there’s Friday the 13, but that’s about it. In East Asian societies, there’s a whole lot more superstitious dates.

Last week, Viet wrote about the six-day calendar, but date-based superstitions dosn’t stop there. The Chinese Zodiac still holds more sway over the Japanese mindset than people realize.

Most people know about the Chinese Zodiac calendar and the 12 animals that comprise it; most people probably even know which animal they are (for the record, I’m a snake). East Asia and parts of Southeast Asia observe the Chinese Zodiac, at least on some level.

What lots of people don’t know is that there is another cycle that goes along with the Chinese zodiac. This second cycle goes through five elements: fire, wood, earth, metal, and water, and combines with the first cycle to make combinations like earth snake or metal dragon. Each of these combinations occurs once ever sixty years.

Some combinations have great associations, but others have very negative connotations. The most infamous of all being the Fire Horse (丙午/hinoeuma).

The Infamous Fire Horse

People born during the year of the Fire Horse are notorious for being bad luck. People born during a Fire Horse years are said to be irresponsible, rebellious, and overall bad news.

And for some reason, women are said to be especially dangerous Fire Horses. They supposedly sap their family’s finances, neglect their children, and drive their father and husband to an early grave.

This myth is so powerful that it seriously affects how people behave. Men might avoid marrying a Fire Horse, and families avoid giving birth to Fire Horse children.

In 1966, the year of the Fire Horse, people in Japan (and elsewhere in Asia) really, really tried not to have kids, either because they thought that the Fire Horse myth was true, or because they were worried that others would treat their kids differently because of the Fire Horse myth. Japanese people practiced birth control, and used abortion all in an effort to not have children during the year of the Fire Horse.

Pokémon, or Chinese Zodiac sign?

And if you’ll notice on the graph, there was a bit of a spike in births during 1965 and 67, another result of people avoiding the year of the Fire Horse.

Why wasn’t there such a dramatic dip in 1906, the previous year of the Fire Horse? There are a couple of reasons.

The Japanese census wasn’t as accurate nor thorough in 1906, so people could have kids, hide them from the official record, and pretend that they were born a different year, completely sidestepping the curse of the Fire Horse. Not to mention that birth control and abortion wasn’t as advanced or widely available in 1906.

Fire Horses Of The Future

The next year of the Fire Horse won’t happen for another 14 years, in 2026. Japan has definitely come a long way since 1966, but does the Fire Horse superstition still hold sway over Japanese culture? Only time will tell.

Header Image Source: My Little Koichi

Have you ever given thought about the names given to the days of the week? The naming scheme comes from the combination of the Chinese philosophies of yin-yang and the five Taoist elements.

Very algebraic, eh? Now you can go around and impress your peers with this newfound knowledge.

But wait! Did you know that alongside the seven-day calendar systems used in the last 1400 years, there was another system used by the Japanese (and other parts of Asia)?

This secondary calendar system has a profound impact in many Japanese lives. If you have seen an Asian calendar, you may have noticed kanji under the numerals. These are the names of the days under the six-day calendar system known as the Rokuyō (六曜, literal translation roku = six and yo = weekday. The kanji combination makes sense!).

So, what is the the Rokuyō and how does it impact Japanese lives?

Want to learn about Rokuyo? Today is your lucky day!

The Rokuyō is a variation of the original that came from China around the 14th century. As mentioned earlier, Rokuyō comprised six cycling days that are based on astrology. Each day determines the level of auspiciousness. In other words, it’s a fortune telling calendar system. Oh, Japanese, you are so superstitious (If you haven’t yet, check out the superstition article I wrote a while back!).

The following are the six Rokuyō days in cycling order.

These days cycle in order through each Gregorian month. For example, January 1st starts out as Senshō, January 2nd is Tomobiki, January 3rd is Senbu, and etcetera.

One variation of the Rokuyō has the first day of each month starting on a certain day depending on the month. January 1 starts out as Senshō, February 1 starts out as Tomobiki. March 1 starts out as Senbu. Are you starting to see the pattern? On the 7th month, the first day resets back to Senshō. Another version has Senshō  starting on January 1st and cycle through the six days until a new year begins.

How serious do some of the Japanese take into account the Rokuyō in their daily lives? Although the newer generation seem indifferent about it, the more mature group take the system into heavy consideration.

For example, about three times as many weddings are held on Taian than on Butsumetsu. Due to this huge difference in planning, rates for weddings held on Butsumetsu days are discounted heavily. Many major events other than weddings favor Taian over Butsumetsu.

Child birth on a Taian day is highly desirable. With the advances in modern medicine, many parents opt to induce labor if a desirable day is near or to delay the birth if the day falls under Butsumetsu. I’ll let you decide if this is a healthy, sane decision. I couldn’t find numbers relating to the Japanese, but in 2003 a study done in Taiwan saw a significant increased in scheduled births on auspicious days versus non-auspicious days¹.

Just from glancing at the list, one would deduce that you wouldn’t want to plan anything important on Butsumetsu. That’s not always the case.

The kanji for Tomobiki literally translates to “pulling a friend.” Due to it’s name, it is considered bad luck to schedule any funerals on these days. What kind of dead friend would pull you to the death realm, anyway? Crematoriums are typically closed on this day. Good to know.

Also another good thing to know: some Shinto shrines close on Butsumetsu. If you ever plan on visiting one, be sure they are open on the day you are visiting!

Before the next time you decide to munch on some of that delicious mochi or perhaps a quick bite of eel and watermelon (great pairing of food items, I’m told), take a quick glance at this version of the Rokuyō calendar to make sure the day and time of day is aligned in your favor. According to this, yesterday was 4-4 and butsumetsu. How bad was your day, yesterday?

Why should you check this, though? Because Tofugu cares about each and every one of you!

…

Ahhhhhh ♥

[1] “Patients’ attitudes vs. physicians’ determination: implications for cesarean sections.” Soc Sci Med. 2003 Jul;57(1):91-6.

Erin (who writes something on Tofugu like once a year now, and has a new blog over at SputnikSweetie.com) showed me this calendar. After looking at this calendar for four straight days, I exclaimed:

“Omg, this will be an awesome ‘Saturday Timewaster’ for Tofugu!”

“But what day is Saturday?? Where AM I?”

“Thank God I have this calendar to tell me.”

This is the most addicting, time wasting calendar I’ve ever seen. Thanks Uniqlo (who also told us what women think about their bras).

Japan-Tilt-Shift-Video-Calendar-Music-Awesome

Tilt shift is awesome.

Video tilt shift is even better.

Tilt shift video of Japan is even betterer.

Knowing what day it is today is pretty sweet as well.

Uniqlo usually makes really inexpensive clothes, but sometimes they make really cool interactive websites as well. They’ve apparently been running this calendar for a while, but they just released the winter edition making it full of snowy goodness (and making Hokkaido-centric calendar buff really happy).

So yes, this is basically just a web calendar with a few other neat things like greeting cards and screensavers (guess what’s saving my screen now), but something about it makes it so mesmerizing. Perhaps it’s wanting to know what you’ll see next, or perhaps it’s finding all the little things going on in each scene… Most likely, though it’s the incredible music (oh Fantastic Plastic Machine, how I love you).

Anyways, to see the glory in action, you’ll want to check it out for yourself. Try not to get stuck over there for too long, it’s addicting (not to mention a *ahem* “time waster”of sorts.

Visit the Uniqlo Calendar!

If you’re the time wasting type, you can see all the other Saturday Timewasters on Tofugu, as well.

P.S. Speaking of wasting your time, you should follow Tofugu on Twitter and Facebook.