We've mentioned Rokuyo's connection with Buddha. Does that mean Rokuyo is a religious tool?
Well, you'll have noticed Rokuyo is quite balanced with symmetrically-reversed meanings in the six days:
Sensho Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon | <—> | Sakimake Bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon |
Tomobiki Good luck all day, except at noon | <—> | Shakku Bad luck all day, except at noon |
Taian Good luck all day | <—> | Butsumetsu Bad luck all day |
Rokuyo is also quite balanced with an equal amount of good fortune and misfortune, as shown in this Fortune Indicator:
Fortune Indicator |
| |||
Sensho | ||||
Tomobiki | ||||
Sakimake | ||||
Butsumetsu | ||||
Taian | ||||
Shakku |
This yin/yang harmony brings elements of Buddhism, Taoism and Shinto into a syncretic philosophy but doesn't make Rokuyo a religion in the generally accepted sense of the word.
And while we might occasionally mention Yin Yang on these pages, the only relation between Rokuyo and the Chinese Yin Yang philosophy is the general concept of opposite yet complementary situations. Similarly, Rokuyo is not a variation of the Chinese Feng Shui. While both the Rokuyo calendar and the Feng Shui calendar calculations depend on the lunar calendar and both involve the concept of auspicious dates, they are distinct systems with their own cultural backgrounds and applications.
Rokuyo and Feng Shui are two different systems and serve different purposes.
Many words which seem to be associated with butsuji (Buddhist memorial service) are used but in reality they are just phonetic equivalents. The most widely-practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan (Jōdo Shinshū) emphatically warns against fortune-telling. Superstition in general is taboo.
The Butsumetsu kigen is certainly the Buddhist calendar in Japan, but just as Santa Claus is not a saint revered by Christianity, the Rokuyo's Butsumetsu is not a day of Buddhist observance.