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Talk:Japanese numerical system (view source)
Revision as of 20:42, August 18, 2008
, 20:42, August 18, 2008→Japanese Calendar Question: quick answer - more later
Great page, Jessica - well laid out and informative. The section on months and weekdays made me wonder, though - was there a different Japanese calendar used in the past? I think of the 12-month, 7-day convention as being Western, and find the way other cultures organically measure the passage of time to be fascinating. -[[User:DinsdaleP|DinsdaleP]] 11:34, 18 August 2008 (EDT)
Great page, Jessica - well laid out and informative. The section on months and weekdays made me wonder, though - was there a different Japanese calendar used in the past? I think of the 12-month, 7-day convention as being Western, and find the way other cultures organically measure the passage of time to be fascinating. -[[User:DinsdaleP|DinsdaleP]] 11:34, 18 August 2008 (EDT)
:Thank you, again, Dinsdale - very kind of you. A short answer to your question (before I get ready for work) is that Japan adopted the Western calendar in the late 1800's - probably around the time of Commander Perry - I will need to check and confirm for you. Before then, we used a lunar calendar adopted (stolen?) from the Chinese - 12 months of 30 days, with an occasional 13th month to make up the actual 365 days. The week was also 6 days long - called ''rokuyo'' - something that still survives to this day, as a superstition, as each day was associated with varying degrees of good and bad luck. Most Japanese will swear blind they do not believe in it, but you will find very few businesses opening on a ''Sakimake'' day, which is associated with bad luck in the morning.
That was the quick and ugly answer - hope it helped; I will add some more tonight. Might even add an article on Rokuyo, now that I think about it. Will raid the library at school. --[[User:JessicaT|KotomiT]]<sub>[[User talk:JessicaT|''User formerly known as JessicaT'']]</sub> 16:42, 18 August 2008 (EDT)