{"id":7087,"date":"2022-01-22T09:49:58","date_gmt":"2022-01-22T09:49:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=7087"},"modified":"2022-01-22T09:49:58","modified_gmt":"2022-01-22T09:49:58","slug":"year-of-the-tiger-a-year-of-growth-and-beginning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/year-of-the-tiger-a-year-of-growth-and-beginning\/","title":{"rendered":"Year of the Tiger \u2013 a year of Growth and Beginning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Belated happy new year! This is a year of the Tiger. Tiger in Japanese is written as \u864e\uff08tora\uff09but for Zodiac, it is written as \u5bc5. I have learned that there are many versions of animal zodiacs (\u5341\u4e8c\u652f \u00a0Junishi) in the world with some differences in animals. We adopted (\u5c0e\u5165\u3059\u308b dounyusuru) Zodiac from China. But there is one difference. While the Chinese have a year of the Pig (\u8c5a buta), we have a year of the Boar (\u732a inoshishi).<\/p>\n

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woodpeace1<\/a>\u306b\u3088\u308bPixabay<\/a>\u304b\u3089\u306e\u753b\u50cf<\/p><\/div>\n

It is important to point out – many Japanese mix up Eto (\u5e72\u652f eto) and Junishi. I am one of them. When we refer to 2022, for instance, we say this year\u2019s Eto is a tiger. However, precisely speaking, it is wrong! Eto is a combination of Jyunishi and Jikkan. However, in general, we say this year\u2019s Eto is a tiger even on news.<\/p>\n

Why \u201cboar\u201d instead of \u201cpig\u201d in Japan? According to Edo no Biboroku<\/em> by Michifumi Isoda, there were many wild boars in Japan, so there really was no need to domesticate (\u5bb6\u755c\u5316\u3059\u308b kachikukasuru) pigs. There were some, but the introduction of Buddhism, which disapproved of eating meat, wiped out any need of pigs. Thus, when the Animal Zodiac came from China, \u201cpig\u201d was changed to boar.<\/p>\n

Then Dragon \u2013 the only imaginary (\u60f3\u50cf\u4e0a\u306e sozojono) creature (\u751f\u304d\u7269 ikimono) in the Animal Zodiac. Dragon is transliterated as \u9f8d (ryuu) or \u7adc in Japanese. However, in Junishi, it is \u8fb0 (tatsu).\u00a0There are many different theories why Dragon was chosen. One of the theories is that it might have been supposed to be alligator (\u9c10 wani) because \u9f8d (dragon) also referred to \u9c10\uff08alligator.\uff09Another theory is that Chinese people might have believed that dragons did exist.<\/p>\n

Here are animals in Junishi<\/p>\n

\u5b50<\/strong> \uff08\u306d\uff09\uff1a<\/strong> Rat<\/strong>\/mouse<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>\u4e11<\/strong> \uff08\u3046\u3057\uff09\uff1a<\/strong>Ox<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>\u5bc5<\/strong> \uff08\u3068\u3089\uff09\uff1a<\/strong>Tiger<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>\u536f<\/strong> \uff08\u3046\uff09\uff1a<\/strong>Rabbit \/ Hare<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>\u8fb0<\/strong> \uff08\u305f\u3064\uff09\uff1a<\/strong>Dragon<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>\u5df3<\/strong> \uff08\u307f\uff09\uff1a<\/strong> Snake<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>\u5348<\/strong> \uff08\u3046\u307e\uff09\uff1a<\/strong>Horse<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>\u672a<\/strong> \uff08\u3072\u3064\u3058\uff09\uff1a<\/strong>Sheep<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>\u7533<\/strong> \uff08\u3055\u308b\uff09\uff1a<\/strong>Monkey<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>\u9149<\/strong> \uff08\u3068\u308a\uff09\uff1a<\/strong>Rooster \/ Cock<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>\u620c<\/strong> \uff08\u3044\u306c\uff09\uff1a<\/strong>Dog<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>\u4ea5<\/strong> \uff08\u3044\uff09\uff1a<\/strong>Pig \/ Boar<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many question why there is no cat (\u732b neko) in Junishi. You can see a reason in the video below. However, cats are<\/u> in the Vietnamese Animal Zodiac, replacing Rabbit. Also Sheep is replaced by Goat, and Ox is replaced by Water Buffalo. You can see similar animals in the Animal Zodiac in Thailand.<\/p>\n

Here is the interesting folk tale how these 12 animals have been chosen.<\/p>\n