Calendars in Japan

If you have ever bought a calendar or diary in Japan, you will have noticed that, in addition to having the numbers and indications of the holidays, there is a writing on each day, like this:

This is called “Six Day Calendar” (六曜) and from the end of the Kamakura period to the Muromachi period (14th century) it was used. The six-day calendar is believed to have come to Japan from China and to have changed over the years to its current form in the 19th century.

Originally, this calendar was used as a unit to distinguish each day from the stars by periodically dividing a month (≈ 30 days) into five equal periods and six days as a constant period (30 ÷ 5 = 6)

The sequence of days is 先勝→友引→先負→仏滅→大安→赤口 where:

“Victory” (先勝 “saki gachi”) → The best day to rush to do everything to win.

“Friendship” (友引 “tomo hiki”) → a superstition where the friend leads you to a cliff, something like “betrayal”.

“Keep Going” (先負 “saki make”) → This day is good to be calm in everything, no need for pressure, do things calmly” ^^

“Unlucky Day” (仏滅 “butsu metsu”) → The day Buddha died.

“Lucky Day” (大安 “taian”) → Celebrations like buying a car, wedding, building a house, births are good for this day.

“Misfortune” (赤口 shakku) This is reminiscent of “death”. The leap month is the same as the previous month.

In the Meiji Era, people followed this calendar in their daily lives. For example, if you wanted to buy a house, get married or celebrate something special, you had to check the calendar to know what day would be favorable. Perhaps it became obsessive, since the government prohibited it since it bordered on superstition.

Currently, more and more people do not consider this calendar for special occasions, celebrations and things like that, although there are still those who decide conscientiously according to this calendar. I don’t ^^

Many of the words in this calendar are related to Buddhism, such as Buddha (仏滅) and friendship (友引), but it has nothing to do with religion.