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A belief in something doesn't make it a fact, and a belief doesn't need factual evidence in order for it to exist and be powerful.
Take astrology, for example. (Please take it, because we don't want it.)
Some refer to it as science, some as pseudoscience, and some consider it religion. Whatever it is, astrology suffers the same basic problems as Rokuyo.
Questions of credibility apply to both astrology and Rokuyo; a system compiled by some ancient sages who may, or may not, have been enlightened and in touch with equally ancient deities or other supernatural entities. The credibility of Rokuyo depends on how accurate those sages were about understanding which lunar calendar to use and at what date to start the very first six-day cycle.
Equally important is which part of each of the six days should be lucky, and which not.
And then we need to remember that the order of Rokuyo days changed after the Tokugawa period. Ooops!
Mainstream religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, etc, can rely on ancient texts which have been exhaustively studied and rigorously tested over the centuries. Those sacred texts provide, amongst other things, wisdom, moral commandments and ethical conduct, give spiritual aspirations and divine revelations. It's easy to understand why people believe in a supreme God and have faith.
Rokuyo, in contrast, doesn't even pretend to be a religion; it's just a set of superstitions that it will be to be lucky, or unlucky, or neither lucky nor unlucky, at certain times of the day on a particular phase of the moon.
The plain fact is that the fortune of a day doesn't depend on what the Rokuyo day is, but rather on how each individual spends the day. It differs from person to person.
Somebody emailed us recently, asking which Rokuyo day it was on their wedding date, twelve years ago. They're now divorcing and wondered if their marriage failed because their wedding was on the 'wrong' day. It's useful to be able to put the blame on somebody or something else when things go wrong. Similarly when things go right, it's tempting to say "That proves Rokuyo / astrology / tea-leaf-reading works!"
When a couple fall in love and marry, the success of their marriage largely depends on what they put into the relationship. If instead, they trust their future on Rokuyo, then they only have themselves to blame if things go awry.
But the attraction of Rokuyo is understandable to a certain extent. As with astrology, Rokuyo is mysterious. For a start, it's from the East with a fuzzy ancient history. And partly because it's exotic, some people fall into the trap of believing there's something in it.
Luck is a relative concept. Probably like you, I'm incredibly lucky today because I live in country with a living standard that's much more comfortable than the majority of other people in the world. But also today I accidentally dropped my phone and the screen broke. So is today lucky for me, or unlucky?
We also need to remember that in many cases, luck should only be considered 'good' in a win-win situation. For example, consider the start of a business venture on a Sensho morning, which succeeds but hurts the competitor. That would both good and bad luck; a conflict for the Rokuyo day.
Similarly with sporting events, where most matches result in winners and losers. A win-win situation would be something like breaking a personal-best record running a marathon or lifting a heavier weight.
Sensho is also favoured for those summoned to appear court, but again, in many cases there are victims and perpetrators. A win-win situation could be a successful acquittal of a so-called 'victimless crime' or an amnesty from a crime that society now agrees is outdated and should be abolished.
Actually it's bad luck every day if the casino happens to be in Japan, since such establishments are currently illegal. Both customers and operators are subject to severe penalties. (A law was passed in 2018 which will permit gambling with games, such as poker or baccarat, and the country's first gambling resort is due to open in Osaka in 2029.)
Pachinko parlours have been legal for decades, giving very small prizes for winners. Nevertheless, they remain hugely popular every day of the week, except (according to the parlour managers we've spoken to in Japan) on Butsumetsu days.
Luck can be categorised with these two types:
Zero-sum luck: This type of luck is when the advantage to one person disadvantages others. In other words, the total amount of luck remains constant, but it is redistributed among individuals. Gambling is a prime example.
Non-zero-sum luck: This type of luck doesn't disadvantage anyone. For example, being lucky in having fine weather for your picnic.
Ah! And there's a third type which we could call:
Ambiguous luck: This type of luck is quite subjective, whether an event benefits one person at the expense of another (zero-sum) or benefits one person without impacting others (non-zero-sum). For example, you might lose in a sporting competition (zero-sum luck), but sufficiently benefit from the pleaure of taking part so that losing doesn't matter to you.
Collecting evidence to support or refute Rokuyo is easy. Just recall some momentous events in your life and check the date on the Rokuyo calendar. For me, one momentous day was when I got married. That was a lucky Taian day and I've been happily married for several decades. My wife, however, might say marrying me was bad luck!
Another momentous event was on an unlucky Butsumetsu day when I was walking down a road on a bitterly cold winter's day and saw a heavily pregnant woman in trouble as she was about to give birth. Unluckily for her, the only person nearby (me!) had no medical training or experience to help deliver the baby. This was the time before mobile phones existed and it took a long time for professonal help to arrive. It really couldn't have been a better match Butsumetsu, and yet luckily the baby girl not only survived, but grew up perfectly well. (She's now married with three lovely children - all delivered in a maternity ward.) Despite the odds, she was incredibly lucky.
Let's look at seven real world famous catastrophies this century :
Three years later, Russia began invading Ukraine on 27 February 2014, Butsumetsu. That was certainly a bad day for Ukraine, and also a bad day for Russia which began its rapid descent towards being the world's most despised country. So does that give support for the notion that Butsumetsu is a 'bad luck' day?
No – quite the opposite!
For the shareholders of matériel suppliers, the invasion was and is extremely 'good luck'. (Not to mention the hundreds of scam websites that always spring up within days of any disaster to siphon donations given for relief efforts.)
We mentioned Cyclone Nargis, a disastrous day on 'lucky' Taian. Was there any good fortune from that calamity? Well, the government did become more open to foreign aid since the disaster, but little else to support the notion that Taian had any good luck for the nation. Many people will never recover and yet some Western companies will benefit from piecemeal reconstruction.
And that brings us to the point we are trying to make:
Everybody wants to have good luck and fortune – it's in our sorry greedy nature. But often good fortune for one person means a penalty for somebody else.
Well, it may be, but taking such pseudoscience seriously can have tragic consequences.
Consider how many people have consulted Chinese astrology to determine the sex of an unborn child, and aborted the baby if the result was undesirable. Accuracy of an astrological prediction of a baby's sex is at best only 50%.
And what if the child later becomes pansexual?
Please enjoy these Rokuyo pages, but put no faith in the system. Rokuyo, invented by some unknown philosophers and sages hundreds of years ago, is no match for the power you can generate within yourself to change your life. Be assured that you will get much more benefit in life by putting faith in yourself, your family, your friends, and of course, your God.
"Therefore since the world has still
Much good but much less good than ill,
And while the sun and moon endure
Luck's a chance but trouble's sure,
I'd face it as a wise man would,
And train for ill and not for good."
(A E Houseman)
(This page was updated on 6 June 2006. That's 6/6/6, supposedly the mark of the Devil. And yet nothing unusually bad or demonic happened for the world on that day...)
Oil company PR departments prefer the soft word "spill", rather than more devastating terms such as "gush"
<pansexual> (adj.): having a variety of sexual interests, especially kitchen utensils
... and there are a few more here