Our 200-year calendar

The Rokuyo meaning of those two kanji together, is that you should hurry to be the first to win at something before the opportunity disappears.

It seems fitting that the first day of the Rokuyo cycle has the commonly accepted concept of 'first come, first served.'

'First' doesn't necessarily mean the first minutes or hours of the morning. Generally, Sensho is understood to mean luck is on your side in the first half of the day only, and that implies bad luck in the second half. (See what Rokuyo considers to be 'the second half'.)

An alternative meaning is that the whole day could be considered good for starting new ventures or dealing with urgent business.

In practice, 'first' or 'early' depends on the context. If there were only 300 of the new iPhone models in the shop, then to be lucky you must queue early enough in the day to be in the first 10 metres of the line.

In a different context, such as using superglue to re-attach the iPhone's screen because it broke as soon as you opened the box, it's lucky if you get the screen in the right position before the superglue sets. It doesn't really matter what time of day you start that operation, but you'll be unlucky if you fail to complete the task quickly.

Rokuyo is centuries old and the original interpretation of 'early' is long gone. So we'll settle for the 'Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon' meaning.

(See Sakimake for the reversed meaning - bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon.)

Also known as
Senkachi, Sakigachi and Sakikachi. 

The Rokuyo meaning of those two kanji together is good luck all day, except at noon, to pull or involve a friend (or friends) into whatever activity you are doing.

It used to have a somewhat different meaning - whatever you were doing on that day would not end successfully. Therefore it wasn't considered a good day for winning at a sports match or game, since they are best enjoyed when playing with friends. In the spirit of sportsmanship a player wants their opponent to enjoy the game, even if that means letting the opponent win. It has the meaning of sharing happiness. In the past, Tomobiki was called 'Tobiki' and originally used in competitions to mean a tied score, a stalemate or when a draw is agreed.

Now, Tomobiki is considered a good day for a wedding, where you can pull your friends into the spirit of love. However, Tomobiki days are avoided for funerals, where your friends might be pulled to the 'other side'. Crematoria traditionally closed on such days due to lack of business, though that tradition has changed in recent years.

If a funeral really must take place on that day, folklore tells of a doll placed in the coffin so that it, and not a friend, is dragged to the next life.

That's 100% codswallop, of course. If a supernatural entity could be powerful enough to pull somebody into death, it should also be able to differentiate between a doll and a human corpse.

This page's author has attended a Japanese funeral on a Tomobiki day and can confirm that the family didn't consider Rokuyo at all; neither did any particular bad luck follow the event. No doll was placed in the coffin and the funeral proceeded with decorum. As with most deaths, no emotional capacity remained to consider superstitions.

Pull your friend into something nice, whatever day it might be.

Known as
the only Rokuyo day without any alias name.

The Rokuyo meaning of those two kanji together is bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon. (See what Rokuyo considers to be 'the afternoon'.)

An alternative meaning: If you set off too quickly, then you'll lose; just as Aesop says in the Hare and Tortoise. We should be modest and calm in everything we do.

You'll notice that the first kanji (先) is the same for this Sakimake day (先負) and the Sensho day (先勝). For the Sakimake day, 先 is read as "Saki", but for Sensho day 先 is read as "Sen". Just as the English words are riddled with homonyms, homographs, homophones and heteronyms, Japanese is blessed with 'on' readings (imported Chinese) and 'kun' readings (native Japanese), and most kanji have both on-readings and kun-readings.

In this example, 'Sen' is the on-reading and 'Saki' is the kun-reading. Adding to the fun is that 先 also means previous or prior, which is a wider meaning of 'early'.

But don't worry. None of that is of interest to Rokuyo.

Just remember that the early bird gets the worm (Sensho), but the second mouse gets the cheese (Sakimake).

Also known as
Senmake, Sakeke, Senbu, Senpu 

The Rokuyo meaning of those two kanji together is unlucky all day. But what's that to do with the Buddha?

Well, many English websites erroneously say, or at least imply, that Butsumetsu is the day Buddha died, but that's not a very accurate translation from Japanese.

Either 8 or 15 February (on the old lunisolar calendar) is considered to have been the day of Buddha's death but the actual date is uncertain. In Japan, a widely accepted year for Buddha's death was 949 BCE. Other Buddhist traditions have dates which differ by centuries. So pinpointing the precise day is impossible.

However, let's be clear that Butsumetsu is NOT a day of remembrance of the death of Buddha. The critical part of the word 'Butsumetsu' is 'metsu' which means annihilation, the emptiness following the total destruction of everything. An evil calamity so great that even the Buddha would be unable to counter it and would perish.

It's as worse as something that's worse than the worst thing imaginable.

The Rokuyo day was originally called 'kumo' or 'kyomo', meaning the existence of something which doesn't exist, later interpreted as emptiness of everything and called 'the death of everything'. Later the kanji for 'everything' was changed to the kanji for Buddha to emphasise the enormity of the destruction, which even the Buddha couldn't overcome.

So the meaning of Butsumetsu in the Rokuyo calendar is bad luck all day and unwise to do anything important on this day. Life is full of important events, some of which cannot be rescheduled. But moving house, opening a new shop, having a wedding ceremony, non-urgent medical check-ups, etc., can be deferred for a day.

Some people believe that if they become ill on a Butsumetsu day, the illness will last for long time. The same will happen, of course, due to a psychosomatic disorder.

As a final point of interest regarding the concept of the complete collapse of everything. Life as we know it continues and 'things' start anew. Therefore an alternative interpretation of Butsumetsu is a great day for starting things. No need to wait for the next day on the Rokuyo calendar (Taian).

An associated kun-reading for 安 (yasu) is 'cheap', giving no cause for concern. Therefore Taian is a day of great peace, the finest for wedding ceremonies, starting new business ventures, having success with love, exams, etc.

Also a good day for surgery, to start building projects, move house, travel, etc. A notably apparent endorsement is that the Japanese Prime Minister invariably chooses Taian as the day for selecting ministers for the Cabinet.

During the Meiji period, fortune-telling annotations (rekichu) on official calendars was regarded as a superstition and banned by the government, and although Rokuyo was not officially advocated, it was permitted.

As a pictograph, the first kanji 大 is of a person standing with arms and legs outstretched, looking as large as possible.

The second kanji 安 is in two parts; the upper representing a roof, and by extension, a building or home, and the lower part represents a kneeling woman. She's at rest in her home. An earlier pictograph for woman referred to a woman sitting on a thin item; a cloth during menstruation, resting quietly.

As mentioned, the first kanji also indicates a person, and therefore attaches Taian to the good fortune in a personal sense rather than just an event.

A cynical naysayer might say that personal fortune shouldn't be sought on Taian, and compare the day to the Sabbath in Christianity or Judaism. (See Is Rokuyo a Religion?)

Also known as
Daian 

The Rokuyo meaning of those two kanji together is bad luck all day except at noon. Not a good day to do anything important, except perhaps memorial services and events suitable at midday. Registering your wedding at the city hall at midday sounds a good idea, though some offices might close at that time for lunch.

The name is derived from the eight demon gods under Akakuchigami, the guardian deity of the east gate of the royal capital of Tai Sui, .

Akakuchigami

Hence Shakku days cause trouble to people and creatures. The Rokuyo day originates from 'shakuzetsunichi' (赤舌日: red tongue day).

The colour red has a long wavelength and the second most visible colour in the colour spectrum. It therefore catches people's attention and a good choice to warn us of danger. God (or 'nature', if you prefer) knew this when deciding on what colour blood should be. (Yellow similarly has a long wavelength; a good choice for the colour of potential danger from fire.)

So the 'red' in Shakku can represent blood, and 'mouth' can represent speaking.

Together, these words caution tailors, carpenters, chefs, butchers, farmers, etc., who use knives and other sharp-edged implements.

Fire-eaters also should take care!

Also known as
Akakuchi, Shakko, Jakko and Sekiguchi