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Japanese Animal Celebrations

Learn about the Year of the Ox and how the ancient the traditions of 十二支 are still thriving in Japan.

Note: This article has a lot of vocabulary in it. You can find translations of all Japanese words in the vocabulary listings, as well as a translation next to each word if holding the mouse pointer over the white space between the brackets.

New Calendar Designs

Around the end of October, you can find some things for the upcoming year, such as カレンダー () and 手帳 () at 本屋 () and 文房具店 (). They have different designs, but you might notice the same animal featured regardless of the design. For example, now it’s 2008 when I’m writing this article, and you would notice some different 牛 () on things for 2009. That means, 2009 is 丑年 (), but guess what?

There is an animal cycle called 十二支 (), and the twelve animals are as follows. Can you spot them in the picture on the right side? chinesezodiak.jpg

Animals of the cycle, as written in ordinary Japanese:
ねずみ － nezumi – rat
牛　－　うし – ushi – ox
虎　－　とら – tora – tiger
兎　－　うさぎ – usagi – rabbit
辰　－　たつ – tatsu – dragon
蛇　－　へび – hebi – snake
馬　－　うま – uma – horse
羊　－　ひつじ – hitsuji – sheep
猿　－　さる – saru – monkey
酉　－　とり – tori – rooster
犬　－　いぬ – inu – dog
猪 － いのしし – inoshishi – wild pig, boar

Each of these animals comes in order, so it’s easy to know which one for the particular year. 2009 is 丑年 () as I mentioned, and 2010 is 寅年 ().

As Western people do at Christmas time, we send 年賀状 () in December, which is delivered 元旦　（). You can buy 年賀状 () at 郵便局 （), 本屋 (), 文房具店 (), コンビニ () and so on, and you can find different designs of 牛 on the cards. It’s fun to choose which cards to buy, and it’s fun also to receive cards with
some different 牛 in 2009 from different people. Some of them might draw 牛 by themselves, instead of just sending a simple printed one. Some of them might take a picture of the paticular 動物 () at 動物園 (), and paste it on the 年賀状. But it’s quite difficult to take one of a dragon…

If you have an アルバム (), it might have pictures or drawings of the animal of your birth year. For example, 2009 is 丑年 (), and 12 years ago of it, namely 1997, was 丑年 as well. If you were born in 1997, and if your parents bought the アルバム for you at that year, it might have ox/cow drawings. We often talk about the birth year with the animal, and such topic brings us interesting discussion, pleasant feelings and disappointment at times. When you realized that a person was born in the same animal year as you although you had no idea about his/her true age, you may start thinking the age while adding 12 years or the opposite, lol. Since most of your classmates were born in the same animal year, the topic may move to your school age if the speakers realize that they have the same animal year, or one nearby.

Year of the Ox

If now it’s 丑年, and if you were born in 丑年, it means that you are 年男 () or 年女 () depending on your gender. That doesn’t have special meanings maybe, but at least it’s easy to count your age for others, lol. Actually we tend to enjoy the topic like this, and even TV news announce the number of 年男 and 年女 of the year at the beginning of the year.

If you like 占い (), you can enjoy this matter more. Some books say that each of the animals symbolizes the character of a person, or tells you something good possibly. For example, if you were born in 蛇年 (), you might have luck with money regardless of the specific year. I’ve heard it said that if a company or an working office has three persons who were born in 蛇年 (), the company will be successful economically. Interestingly, the number should be “three” exactly. Two persons are not enough, and four or more is too much, it seems. And a person who was born in うさぎ年 () is quieter and tends to like being alone, it’s said. Therefore, if two persons who were born in うさぎ年 (), they won’t get married, or will be quite “quiet” couple, a book says.

There is a Connection to Directions and Time as Well 

As each of the animals corresponds with the particular year, each does with the particular time as well. For example, 子の刻 () means 12:00 midnight. In addition, each animal indicates a particular direction; for example, the rat stands for 北 (). If you encounter the mysterious expression like this when reading novels in 江戸時代 (), that’s it. But these expressions are not used in the modern life mostly.

Names of directions:
東　（ひがし – higashi – east)
西　（にし – nishi – west)
南　（みなみ – minami – south)
北　（きた – kita – north)

But Where is the Cat?

FRUITS BASKET

You may have seen the anime Fruits Basket, where this story of the cat is mentioned in the first episode.

By the way, I am a cat lover, and I used to be wondering why a cat is not a member of this cycle. And I heard of a story. Once upon a time, a god told animals to come to a 神社 () one particular day. They should start at the same time, and the first twelve animals who arrive at the shrine can get the “position” of 十二支. A ネズミ () wanted to arrive there at first, but he is a little animal you know. So, he jumped on the back of a 牛 as soon as animals started to the shrine. Besides, the rat hated a ネコ (), so he told the cat a false day actually. Thus, the cat was sleeping all the time during the competition.

As the rat expected, the first winner was supposed to be the ox. But since the rat jumped down the front of the god before the ox does, eventually the winner was the rat. On the other hand, the cat realized that he was cheated by the rat after things had finished completely. Since that time, a cat started to chase a rat, it’s said. I’m wondering if Tom and Jerry know this Eastern tale?

Language Notes

In Japanese, the gender of animals is often ignored. As for 牛, we can’t distinguish if the animal is male (ox) or female (cow), and normally we don’t care about that at all. However, we have some words which correspond with English ones such as 雄牛 () and 牝牛 (). These are found mainly on translated Japanese books from English or other Western languages, or books about animals for example.

You might be aware of different kanji used for the same animal in the text above. In fact, an animal has often several kanji, and each of them is used differently. In our daily life, the kanji 牛 is used commonly as the animal cow. But when we talk about 十二支, another kanji 丑 is adopted. The twelve special kanji for the animals in the 十二支 are as follows:

子 (rat),　丑　(ox), 寅 (tiger), 卯　(rabbit), 辰　(dragon), 巳　(snake), 午 (horse), 未　(sheep), 申　(monkey), 酉　(rooster), 戌　(dog), 亥 (wild pig, boar)

But even when talking about 十二支, we often say 蛇年 (), for example, in daily conversation, not 巳年 ().

Apart from the reason above, animal names in Japanese can be written in different ways. Animals that were introduced to Japanese rather recent, mostly have their names written in katakana, like ペンギン (). But if the animal had existed from early times in Japan, the name is written in kanji, hiragana or katakana depending on the situation or author’s taste etc. In books for children, animals are often written in katakana like サル () and ネコ () for example.

Vocabulary

  • カレンダ　karendaa – calendar
  • 手帳　　　てちょう – techou – pocket planner
  • 本屋　　　ほんや – honya – book store
  • 文房具店　ぶんぼうぐてん – bunbougu ten – stationary shop
  • 牛　　　　うし – ushi – ox/cow
  • 丑年　　　うしどし – ushi doshi – the Year of Ox
  • 十二支　　じゅうにし – juuni shi
  • 鼠　　　　ねずみ　nezumi – rat
  • 虎　　　　とら – tora – tiger
  • 兎　　　　うさぎ – usagi – rabbit
  • 辰　　　　たつ – tatsu – dragon
  • 蛇　　　　へび – hebi – snake
  • 馬　　　　うま – uma – horse
  • 羊　　　　ひつじ – hitsuji – sheep
  • 猿　　　　さる – saru – monkey
  • 酉　　　　とり – tori – rooster
  • 犬　　　　いぬ – inu – dog
  • 猪　　　　いのしし – inoshishi – wild pig, boar
  • 丑年　　　the Year of Ox
  • 寅年　　　とらどし – toradoshi – the Year of Tiger
  • 年賀状 　　ねんがじょう – nengajou – New Year’s Card
  • 元旦　　　がんたん – gantan – the first of January
  • 郵便局　　ゆうびんきょく – yuubinkyoku – post office
  • 本屋　　　ほんや – honya – book store
  • 文房具店　ぶんぼうぐてん – bunbouguten – stationary shop
  • コンビニ　conbini – convenience store
  • 動物　　　どうぶつ – doubutsu – animal
  • 動物園　　どうぶつえん – doubutsuen – zoo
  • アルバム　arubamu – album
  • 年男　　　としおとこ – toshi otoko – man of the year
  • 年女　　　としおんな – toshi onna – woman of the year
  • 占い　　　うらない – uranai – fortune-telling
  • 蛇年　　　へびどし – hebidoshi – the Year of Snake
  • 巳年　　　みどし – midoshi – the Year of Snake
  • うさぎ年　うさぎどし – usagidoshi – the Year of Rabbit
  • 子の刻　　ねのこく – ne no koku – the time of rat
  • 北　　　　きた – kita – north
  • 江戸時代　えどじだい – edo jidai – Edo period
  • 神社　　　じんじゃ – jinja – shrine
  • ネズミ　　nezumi – rat
  • ネコ　　　neko – cat
  • 雄牛　　　おうし – oushi – ox
  • 牝牛　　　めうし – meushi – cow
  • ペンギン　pengin – penguin
  • サル　　　monkey

Note: The system of 12 animals, often called the “Chinese Zodiac” in English, originated in China in relation to systems of divination. Scholars believe that this was some time before 1100 B.C. (BCE). It was brought to Japan, along with Buddhism, in the mid sixth century A.D. (CE).