| 
Customs of Eto (zodiac signs) |
| We, the Japanese, have the concept of the “Eto
(zodiac signs),” which expresses “Date and time” by
using “Animals.” To be concrete, each year is
expressed by twelve kinds of animals as follows. Ne (Rat),
Ushi (Ox), Tora (Tiger), U (Rabbit), Tatsu (Dragon), Mi (Snake),
Uma (Horse), Hitsuji (Sheep), Saru (Monkey), Tori (Cock),
Inu (Dog), and I (Boar). |
The Eto has become very much familiar in the
daily life of Japanese people, in such a way as that people
decorate their home with the ornament of the Eto of that
year at the beginning of each year. Let's explain the Eto
in a little more detail.
To be exact, the Eto means the combination of the ten calendar
signs (Jukkan) and the twelve zodiac signs (Junishi), and the
origin can be found on the calendar of the ancient China. The
combination of the ten calendar signs and the twelve zodiac
signs is applied to the 60 years, in which the movement of
the stars makes one complete cycle, and the period of 60 years
is called one cycle. When Japanese people usually use the terms “Ne,
Ushi, Tora, U, Tatsu, Mi, Uma, ……,” those
terms were used as the twelve zodiacal signs (Junishi), and
the terms were originally the names that was used in order
to identify the time (year, month, day, hour). And in order
to make the calendar easy to understand, the animals was applied
to this. |
 |
| And, since Japanese people have believed the
mysterious power that dwells in animals since ancient times,
such a faith and the twelve zodiacal signs were connected,
and the customs of greeting Toshigami-Sama (The New Year’s
deity) by decorating the entrance and living room with the
ornament of the animal in connection with the Eto of that
year was born in the middle of the Edo era. The Eto of that
year is also loved in the present age by many people as a
good-luck charm that invites fortune, just like the Seven
Gods of Good Fortune or the Manekineko (beckoning figure
of a cat). (This is a photograph of the ornaments of the
twelve zodiacal signs to be decorated in each home.) |
| Japanese people and I (Boar) |
| A Wild boar (I) has been valued by Japanese
people for many years as a symbol that smashes any evil,
since it pushes on with violent vigor, just as the saying
of Chototsu Moushin (rushing recklessly). The wild boar is
enshrined as a god’s messenger in Goou Jinja Shinto
Shrine and Atago Shrine, and even in the Buddhism, the image
of Marishi-Ten (Solar deity) riding on the back of a wild
boar is very famous. Moreover, since the wild boar is prolific,
it is loved by many people as the guard of the productiveness
of grain. In Japan, a lot of people write a New Year’s
card using the illustration of the Eto of the year. There
are also many cases that people present a small ornament
of the Eto with their greetings at the end of the year, and
the concept of the Eto is an important culture that deeply
takes root in our life. |
 |
|
