Today's Rokuyo day

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.