Page 380 - Japanese marks and seals on pottery, paper and other objects.

342 THE ZODIACAL CYCLE AND YEAR PERIODS.

literally, of the elder brother, and the latter of the younger
brother.
The Jiuni Shi group of characters consists of the names
in full, or in an abbreviated form, of the twelve animals
used to express the calendar signs they are Ne, rat or
;
mouse; Ushi, ox; Tora, tiger; U, hare or rabbit; Tatsu,
dragon; Mi, snake or serpent; Miima, horse; Hitsiiji, sheep
or goat Saru, monkey Tori, cock Imi, dog I, wild
; ; ; ;
boar. These characters are used to denote the months of
the year, the hours of the day, and the points of the
compass, as shown in the table of the signs they are
;
also used to designate the seasons and the different periods
of the day, and occasionally the years but this latter
;
application of them is incorrect except in combination with
the Jikkwan signs, and is only used in Japan by the
illiterate.
In forming the Zodiacal names of the years, the first
word of each of the two groups is taken, and these together
express the name of the first of the sixty years forming the
cycle then the second words in each group are combined
;
in the same manner, and so on in succession until the
Jikkwan signs are exhausted, when the process is recom-
menced, and as there are ten words in one group and
twelve in the other, they must necessarily produce sixty
different combinations, and at the sixty-first year the name
formed by the first words of each group must reappear,
and another cycle is commenced.
The second mode of marking time is by the Year
Periods, the use of which commenced in 645 a.d. ; these
periods, which are of varying length, frequently lasting not
more than a single year, and seldom extending over ten
years, have no special significance, having been arbitrarily
fixed by the reigning Emperor according to caprice, or upon
the occurrence of some notable event of good or evil import.
This system has, however, been changed since the revolu-
tion, and it is intended that in future the name of the
period shall be changed only upon the completion of each