Times of day

Morning only features in two of the six Rokuyō days: good luck in the morning of a Senshō day and bad luck in the morning of a Sakimake day. The definition of the Rokuyō morning has a certain degree of precision.

By definition, morning runs from midnight to midday, but the Rokuyō morning is assumed to be the same as in most languages - that is, from whenever the sun rises until midday. Curiously, however, the Rokuyō morning doesn’t end precisely at midday; rather, it either stops at 11 a.m. or it ambles on until 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. More about that is explained below.

In English, the word "noon" comes from Old English non and the Latin nona hora which originally meant 3 p.m., the ninth hour after sunrise. Timekeeping was only important in certain situations and societies, such as religious observances in monasteries. To adapt to changes in practices, noon shifted between the 12th and 14th centuries to 12 p.m.

In Japan also, noon has shifted to suit various situations. But whenever that time is, it marks the instant between morning and afternoon.

Now as we know, an instant is so infinitesimally small that philosophers and mathematicians since Aristotle have puzzled over what an instant is, how to measure it or how to observe what happens in it, and even whether instants of time actually exist. But don't worry; you don't need to crawl to a quiet corner to contemplate all this, since the Rokuyō "noon" lasts for two hours; from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

Historically, Japan divided the day into 12 rather than 24 hours. This 12-part zodiac influenced old religions and cultures, not only throughout a duodecennial (12-year) period, but also throughout each day. Each temporal unit of a day was associated with one of the 12 animals of the Japanese zodiac and the Japanese Yin-Yang:

So noon is the 'hour' of the horse (Uma no koku).

Unlike the standard kanji for horse (馬), the zodiac horse (noon) is assigned the kanji 午, which closely resembles 牛, the kanji for a cow. This identity crisis might explain why the horse is a bit feisty, influencing the change of pace for each Rokuyō day – except Taian and Butsumetsu, which are presumably the horse's days off.

The ancient timekeeping system

As shown above, the hour number started at 9, the highest mark etched on an incense stick, which burned for six hours down to 4. A new stick was then used for the next six hours. The counting began at 9, a Chinese homophone for long-lasting, followed by 8, 7, 6, 5, and 4, which were the least significant digits of incremental multiples of 9:

(One, two and three were the number of chimes calling Buddhists to prayer at dawn, noon and dusk, and were therefore not used in secular time keeping. Four can mean death, so it conveniently marked the point where the stick burned out.)

The digital root of each multiple is also the cosy 9, a neat numerical phenomenon unique to the number 9.

This quaint system was replaced by the Western method of timekeeping in 1873 and no longer features in any Japanese customs today; unlike Rokuyō, which has withstood the test of time.

The dials on these two Edo-period wall clocks (Seiko Museum, Ginza, Tokyo) show the twelve zodiac 120-minute hours on the outer rim, with the 9-to-4 numbers for daytime and the 9-to-4 120-minute hours on the inner rim. (Click either image to enlarge.)

Besides seasonal time indication, the clock on the left has a moon window and solar hand, showing the motions of both the sun and moon phases.

As with morning, the afternoon only features in Senshō and Sakimake.

By definition, afternoon starts after noon, which in the case of Rokuyō's noon is 1 p.m. However, Rokuyō's afternoon begins at 2 p.m. and continues until 6 p.m. irrespective of when the sun sets.

That said, the good or bad luck in the afternoon is only implied by the kanji characters for Senshō and Sakimake which describe the morning’s fortune. There is no specific reference to what happens in the afternoon.

The same can be said for the evening and night.

It might seem surprising that Rokuyō doesn’t mention the fortunes of the evening and night, as they span from 6 p.m. until dawn the next day - a substantial part of the 24-hour day.

If you've ever been to Tokyo or indeed any large city in Japan, you'll know how lively remain throughout the day and night. However, this was not the case hundreds of years ago. Only a bright moon on a cloudless night permitted much activity

There was, therefore, no need for good luck and no need to worry about bad luck.