Months in the Japanese Calendar

Normally in Japanese language, the months of the year are simply treated as numbers. The first month is ichigatsu (month 1), nigatsu (month 2) and so on. Like the West, Japan uses the Western Gregorian calendar, but the names of the months are simply treated as numbers. However, as my wife and I often receive calendars from friends in Japan, I soon realized that in traditional culture, the months had more poetic names that more meaning:

If you look by the number “4″, just to the right, you’ll see the characters uzuki (卯月), meaning “rabbit month”, where “卯” is taken from the Japanese Zodiac characters, not the standard character for rabbit.

For the translations of these names, I consulted this helpful book which I picked up a few months back at Narita Airport:

1. 睦月 – mutsuki (Month of Harmony)
2. 如月 – kisaragi (Month “Like the Moon”)
3. 弥生 – yayoi (More Life)
4. 卯月 – uzuki (Rabbit Month)
5. 皐月 – satsuki (Month of Azaleas)
6. 水無月 – minazuki (Month of No Water)
7. 文月 – fuzuki (Month of Culture, Literature)
8. 葉月 – hazuki (Month of Leaves)
9. 長月 – nagatsuki (The Long Month)
10. 神無月 – kannazuki (The Month of No Gods)
11. 霜月 – shimotsuki (The Month of Frost)
12. 師走 – shiwasu (Teachers/Priests Running)

Interesting, on Wikipedia, the article there states that the 無 may not actually mean “No/Not”, but rather is a stand-in for the “na” possessive particle. So, minazuki for example would be “Month of Water”, not “Month without Water”, but I haven’t been able to independently confirm whose right. The etymology of these words are pretty difficult anyways, even for Japanese.

However, although they are not used in day-to-day conversation, they are still woven into literature and poetry since they evoke more vivid imagery than “first month”, “second month” and so on. Originally these were the months of the old Chinese Calendar used in Japan, but when Japan moved to a Gregorian calendar, they retained the names. In regular speech though, these names are seldom used, except maybe Shiwasu (December), according to my wife.

In any case, it’s interesting to see how the yearly cycle is reflected in traditional calendars like this.

Namu Amida Butsu

P.S. This is a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist calendar we get every year from the local Shinshu temple near my wife’s house, named kōganji (高願寺) in Kawasaki City. My wife’s family is good friends with them, and we visited them again on New Year’s Day just recently. On this last trip, I had a small inspirational moment when I visited there, which is worth blogging about separately.

P.P.S. Notice that on April 8th, Hanamatsuri is coming up. That’s the Buddha’s Birthday in Japanese Buddhism. I better not forget!