Talk:Japanese numerical system
Help with Columns
Hopefully somebody better at wiki than me can help. How can I set the column widths to be the same please? You'll see under the 'number and counters' section, the widths go all over the place and it looks ugly. Can somebody help, onegai? --JessicaTOhayo gozaimasu! 14:47, 26 June 2008 (EDT)
- I've cleaned it up some. You might want to consider moving it into one large table and takeing out the '*' (ol) that is not being used properly. Something like this...
| Objects | |
| Counter | Represents |
| hon 本 | Long, cylindrical objects: trees, pens, etc. |
| mai 枚 | Flat, thin objects: paper, sheets, etc. |
| ko 個 | Broad category of small and compact items; also military units |
| hai 杯 | Liquid in cups, glasses, bowls, etc. |
| satsu 冊 | Bound objects,books, magazines, etc. |
| dai 台 | Vehicles, machines, etc. |
| kai 階 | Floors of a building |
| ken 件 | Houses, buildings, etc. |
| soku 足 | pairs of footwear, socks, sandals, etc. |
| tsuu 通 | Letters |
| Duration | |
| Counter | Represents |
| jikan 時間 | Hour, as in ni-jikan = 2 hours |
| fun 分 | Minute, as in go-fun = 5 minutes |
| byou 秒 | Second, as in sanjuu-byou = 30 seconds |
| hi 日 | Day, as in go-hi = 5 days |
| shuukan 週間 | Week, as in san-shuukan = 3 weeks |
| kagetsu か月 | Month, as in ni-kagetsu = 2 months |
| nenkan 年間 | Year, as in juu-nenkan = 10 years |
| Animals | |
| Counter | Represents |
| hiki 匹 | Insects, fish, small animals (dogs, cats, etc.) |
| tou 頭 | Large animals, cows, horses, etc. |
| wa 羽 | Birds |
| Frequency | |
| Counter | Represents |
| kai 回 | Times, as in ni-kai(twice) |
| do 度 | Times, as in ichi-do (once) |
This way, it is one large table and you can move the section heading around within the table. --Rutm 14:52, 26 June 2008 (EDT)
Thank You!
My day has been made. Thank you for the help - much appreciated. --JessicaTOhayo gozaimasu! 15:04, 26 June 2008 (EDT)
Japanese Calendar Question
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. -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. --KotomiTUser formerly known as JessicaT 16:42, 18 August 2008 (EDT)
I think the only thing I left out was measuring the years. There were two methods - firstly a "long count" gong back to the time of Emperor Jimmu in 660 BC, the other - still used today - is to count the years of the Emperor's era. So 2008 can also be Heisei 20 and Shōwa 60 was 1985. Hope that helped answer the question - if not, please feel free to fire away. --KotomiTUser formerly known as JessicaT 10:01, 19 August 2008 (EDT)