A New Era! Goodbye Heisei, hello Reiwa!
The name of the new era is officially announced! 令å (Reiwa)
Today at about 11:30 a.m. JST the name of the next era was announced. Many Japanese people stopped what they were doing to be a part of this momentous occasion. But what does this mean? What exactly is an era? Letās dive into it!
Japan has been using their own unique method of counting years based on the reign of the emperor since 645 AD, adapted from the Chinese method of dating using dynasties. This method is called å
å· (gengou). To date, there has been a total of 248 eras. An era begins when a new emperor ascends to the throne and ends with his death (or, in rarer cases, abdication). This time, the emperor is elderly, has health issues, and has asked to step down from the throne. This is the first abdication since 1817.Ā
Currently, it is April 1st on the 31st year of the Heisei Era. That can be written like this:
å¹³ęļ¼ļ¼å¹“ļ¼ęļ¼ę„ (Heisei 31nen, shigatsu tsuitachi)
āHeisei 31ā can be abbreviated like this:
Whatās more commonly used in Japan, gengou or the western system?
On official documents, it is standard to use gengou. Also, all money uses it to denote the year it was minted. However, nine out of ten Japanese people will tell you that the western system (č„æę¦ seireki) is easier to understand. For this reason, people will often choose to use seireki when talking or in non-official paperwork. You will often commonly see both side-by-side, with one or the other in parentheses.Ā
What are the eras up until now?
Lol Iām not gonna list all 248. Sorry. However, all Japanese people know all the eras from Meiji to present, so Iāll talk about those. The Meiji Era was kicked off by the Bakumatsu, in which the centuries-long system of an all-powerful shogun and largely ceremonial emperor was overthrown, and Japan opened itself up to trade with the rest of the world for the first time in over 200 years. The start of the Meiji Era marks the start of modern Japan, the beginning of a more traditional monarchy (according to western standards), and the adoption of Western technology, education, etc.Ā
25 Jan 1868 ā 30 Jul 1912
30 Jul 1912 ā 25 Dec 1926
8 Jan 1989 ā 30 Apr 2019
How are era names chosen?
This is actually really interesting. In centuries past, government officials would determine the gengou within 1-2 years of the emperorās enthronement. The names were chosen using auspicious kanji like ę (bright), ę°ø (eternity), åÆæ (longevity), å (peace, Japan), etc. There were few rules, except that an era name could not be used more than once.
Nowadays, when these dates are used by all Japanese people on a daily basis instead of just by the select elite, several criteria have been established.
The meaning of the kanji must reflect the image of Japan and the way Japan wants to move forward in history. (Nothing negative or unlucky)
The kanji must be easy to write and pronounce. (TheĀ å ofĀ åę°ø [Kaei Era, 1848 - 1855] wouldnāt stand muster today because itās ridiculous to write.)
It can only be two characters. (In the past, there were some eras with four kanji.)
The starting letter cannot be M, T, S, or H. (This is because the gengou is commonly shortened toĀ āH31" to mean Heisei 31, or 2019. If the next era used the same consonant, we wouldnāt know which era was being referred to.Ā
It cannot be a word already in use. It cannot be used in a surname, company name, or place name of any kind.
A small group of select historians, literary experts, and political scientists (I think this time it was 8 or 10?) sequester themselves away for several long months while they decide the new gengou. The gengou is of the utmost secrecy up until it is announced, so they are completely cut off from the outside world. No phones, no television, no radio, no contact with family,Ā no internetĀ until it is announced. Why is it so secret? Because Japan likes to be spooky and mysterious, I guess. lol Iām honestly not sure, but itās probably just because thatās how itās always been done.Ā
Since the emperorās abdication is scheduled for April 30th, the new gengou was announced one month in advance, today. Because many computer programs and official government/business forms have been pre-made withĀ āHeseiā on them (sort of like how we may sometimes make templates that have 20__ written on them), you can imagine how busy this change will make company and government employees. They will be spending this month creating new templates or getting rubber stamps with the new era on it and stamping over the obsolete Heisei. Poor guys.Ā
Letās take a look at each kanji.
orders, ancient laws, command, decree
harmony, Japanese style, peace, soften, JapanĀ
When I first saw it, I thought it was something likeĀ ādecree of peace,ā which sounded veryā¦militaristic? I mean, can you command that there be peace? Haha. But then I looked further, and it appears that this is taken from a line of poetry in the Manāyoshu, which is the oldest anthology of Japanese poetry.Ā
Classical: äŗęćåę„令ęćę°£ę·é¢Øåćę¢
ę«é”åä¹ē²ćčč«ē®å¾ä¹é¦ć
Modern:Ā ęćåę„ć®ä»¤ęć«ćć¦ćę°£ę·ćé¢Øåććę¢
ćÆé”åć®ē²ćę«ććčćÆē®å¾ć®é¦ćč«ćć
Summary:Ā äŗŗć
ćē¾ććåæćåÆćåćäøć§ęåćēć¾ćč²ć¤
English Summary: Culture blooms and grows through the beautiful cooperation of the people.
Okay, so itās not as dour as I thought it was at first haha. Itās actually pretty!Ā
What do you think about the new name? Is it fitting? Do you have any other questions about eras?
