page_title: Japanese calendar
section_title: Months
hierarchical_section_title: Japanese calendar / Official calendar / Months
caption_attribution_description: Mural Hachigatsu Hazuki Tokyo Metro Shin-Ochanomizu Station Tokyo Japan I contribute my rights in this photo to the public domain.
context_page_description: Japanese calendar types have included a range of official and unofficial systems. At present, Japan uses the Gregorian calendar together with year designations stating the year of the reign of the current Emperor.
context_section_description: The modern Japanese names for the months literally translate to "first month", "second month", and so on. The corresponding number is combined with the suffix 月 (-gatsu, "month"). The table below uses traditional numerals, but the use of Western numerals (１月, ２月, ３月 etc.) is common.
  In addition, every month has a traditional name, still used by some in fields such as poetry; of the twelve, Shiwasu is still widely used today. The opening paragraph of a letter or the greeting in a speech might borrow one of these names to convey a sense of the season. Some, such as Yayoi and Satsuki, do double duty as given names (for women). These month names also appear from time to time on jidaigeki, contemporary television shows and movies set in the Edo period or earlier.
  The old Japanese calendar was an adjusted lunar calendar based on the Chinese calendar, and the year—and with it the months—started anywhere from about 3 to 7 weeks later than the modern year, so in historical contexts it is not entirely accurate to equate the first month with January.
caption: This mural on the wall of Shin-Ochanomizu subway station in Tokyo celebrates Hazuki, the eighth month.
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