{"id":84,"date":"2018-12-12T22:41:17","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T21:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kirstengroot.com\/?p=84"},"modified":"2023-08-01T18:48:46","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T17:48:46","slug":"five-phases-wuxing-and-the-japanese-lunar-calendar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kirstengroot.com\/en\/vijf-fasen-wuxing-en-de-japanse-maankalender\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Phases (Wuxing) and the Japanese Lunar Calendar"},"content":{"rendered":"
Wuxing<\/em><\/strong><\/h5>\n

One of the theories important to the Shirareta Sekai <\/em>series is the Chinese cosmological theory of \u4e94\u884c wuxing <\/em>\u2013 or wushing <\/em>\u2013 often translated as the \"five phases\" or the \"five elements\". The five phases \u2013 wood, fire, earth, metal and water \u2013 are connected to each other based on how they nurture (light blue in the image below) and destroy (dark blue) one another and they are associated with seasons, colors, organs, etc.<\/p>\n

Combined with yin and yang they form the basis of Chinese cosmology as it was developed in the period of the Warring States (403-221 B.C.) and the beginning of the Han dynasty (206 B.C. - 220 A.D.). As a theory wuxing <\/em>was used as a framework for Chinese history \u2013 like the cyclical rise and fall of dynasties \u2013, philosophy and medicine (The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 982).<\/p>\n

\"Image
The five phases and their relations (I made the image in Dutch, my apologies. \"Hout\" is wood, \"vuur\" is fire, \"aarde\" is Earth, \"metaal\" is metal and, well, \"water\" speaks for itself).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
In what way does the wuxing <\/em>theory appear in my books?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

For starters, the element \"wood\" is used for the book cover of \"The Return of Layhar\" and is associated with the azure Dragon King of the East Sea, Ao Guang (or \"Dragon of the East\" as he's known in the series). It's also associated with the Eastern direction of the wind. Another important element in the books is \"water\" which is connected to the black Dragon King of the North Sea, Ao Shun, and the Northern wind direction. Click here for more information about dragons and the Dragon Kings specifically: Eastern Dragons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, even more relevant for the first book than the wind direction, is the season with which water is associated: winter. The elements \"fire\", \"metal\" and \"earth\" \u2013 and their respective colors, wind directions and seasons \u2013 gain importance in the sequels.<\/p>\n

Would you like to know more about wuxing <\/em>and the seasons, colors, tastes, organs, etc. each element is associated with? There's a useful chart on the website of Travel China Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The old Japanese calendar<\/strong><\/h5>\n

As can be expected, the world of Shirareta Sekai<\/em> uses the old Japanese calendar (or at least a version of it). It's a lunar calendar with months comprised of 29 to 30 days (and when necessary a thirteenth\n month) and the New Year starts at the beginning of Spring, instead of January. Furthermore, the wuxing <\/em>theory can also be found in the calendar, namely in the eto <\/em>system.<\/p>\n

\u5e72\u652f kanshi, <\/em>also known as eto, <\/em>is a system with periods of 60 years in which the wuxing <\/em>theory meets the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac (Shumacher 2014). Each element has a higher and lower version, the big brother \u5144 e <\/em>and the little brother \u5f1f\u00a0to <\/em>\u2013 likely derived from the yin\/yang dualism \u2013 so that gives a grand total of ten elements (Shumacher 2014). Each year combines an element with an animal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Elements<\/td>\nAnimals<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u7532<\/td>\nkinoe<\/em><\/td>\n(higher) wood<\/td>\n\u5b50<\/td>\nne<\/em><\/td>\nrat<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u4e59<\/td>\nkinoto<\/em><\/td>\n(lower) wood<\/td>\n\u4e11<\/td>\nushi<\/em><\/td>\nox<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u4e19<\/td>\nhinoe<\/em><\/td>\n(higher) fire<\/td>\n\u5bc5<\/td>\ntora<\/em><\/td>\ntiger<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u4e01<\/td>\nhinoto<\/em><\/td>\n(lower) fire<\/td>\n\u536f<\/td>\nu<\/em><\/td>\nrabbit<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u620a<\/td>\ntsuchinoe<\/em><\/td>\n(higher) earth<\/td>\n\u8fb0<\/td>\ntatsu<\/em><\/td>\ndragon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u5df1<\/td>\ntsuchinoto<\/em><\/td>\n(lower) earth<\/td>\n\u5df3<\/td>\nmi<\/em><\/td>\nsnake<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u5e9a<\/td>\nkanoe<\/em><\/td>\n(higher) metal<\/td>\n\u5348<\/td>\numa<\/em><\/td>\nhorse<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u8f9b<\/td>\nkanoto<\/em><\/td>\n(lower) metal<\/td>\n\u672a<\/td>\nhitsuji<\/em><\/td>\ngoat<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u58ec<\/td>\nmizunoe<\/em><\/td>\n(higher) water<\/td>\n\u7533<\/td>\nsaru<\/em><\/td>\nmonkey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u7678<\/td>\nmizunoto<\/em><\/td>\n(lower) water<\/td>\n\u9149<\/td>\ntori<\/em><\/td>\nrooster<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n\u620c<\/td>\ninu<\/em><\/td>\ndog<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n\u4ea5<\/td>\ni<\/em><\/td>\npig<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Like that you'll get kinoe <\/em>+ ne<\/em>, kinoto + ushi<\/em>, h<\/em>inoe + tora, <\/em>hinoto <\/em>+ u<\/em>, <\/em>etc. When you reach inu <\/em>you return to kinoe <\/em>and go on to kinoto <\/em>+ i, <\/em>and so forth. The list goes on in that way until the cycle of 60 years is finished and starts again at kinoe <\/em>+ ne <\/em>. Because of this there are 60 possible combinations (not 120).<\/p>\n

Apart from the eto <\/em>system, the old calendar included \u6570\u3048\u5e74\u00a0kazoedoshi<\/em>, which meant that everybody was already one year old at birth (JapanKnowledge, n.d.). Moreover, everybody aged on New Years Day, so they all shared their Birthday. Consequentially, if someone was born in January, for example, they were already two years old after a month.<\/p>\n

There are many theories about personal characteristics tied to certain birth years (somewhat comparable to astrological ideas). Unfortunately, this can lead to discrimination, as is often the case with the Fire Horse. Notably in the year 1966 (the Year of the Fire Horse) birth rates drastically dropped, because of the belief that women born in that year are dangerously stubborn and independent (China Buddhism Encyclopedia 2014).<\/p>\n

It may not be a surprise then that 19 year-old Hana<\/a> \u2013 of \"The Return of Layhar\" \u2013 was born in the Year of the \u4e19\u5348 hinoe-uma<\/em>, the (Higher) Fire Horse. That being the case, Ai<\/a> (15 years old) was born in the Year of the (Higher) Metal Dog, \u5e9a\u620c kanoe-inu, <\/em>Kazuto<\/a> (21 years old) in the Year of the (Higher) Fire Dragon, \u7532\u8fb0 k<\/em>inoe-tatsu, <\/em>and Saburo (32 years old) in the Year of the (Higher) Water Snake, \u7678\u5df3 mizunoto-mi.<\/em><\/p>\n

Would you like to know more about this topic? Check out the website of Tofugu<\/a> or that of Mark Shumacher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/h5>\n
    \n
  1. Audi, Robert. 1995. \u201cwu-hsing\u201d. The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy<\/em>: pp. 982.<\/li>\n
  2. Travel China Guide. 2018. \u201cThe Five Elements (Wu Xing)\u201d. Last modified December 3, 2018. https:\/\/www.travelchinaguide.com\/intro\/astrology\/five-elements.htm<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Shumacher, Mark. 2014. \u201cZodiac calendar & lore.\u201d Last modified July, 2014. http:\/\/www.onmarkproductions.com\/html\/12-zodiac.shtml<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Tofugu. 2014. \u201cThe many Japanese calendars\u201d. Last modified on July 15, 2014. https:\/\/www.tofugu.com\/japan\/japanese-calendar\/<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. China Buddhism Encyclopedia. 2014. \u201cYear of the Fire Horse.\u201d Last modified March 20, 2014. http:\/\/www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com\/en\/index.php\/Year_of_the_Fire_Horse<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. “\u304b\u305e\u3048\u2010\u3069\u3057\u3010\u6570\u3048\u5e74\u3011”, Digital Dai-ji-sen Japanese Dictionary, JapanKnowledge, https:\/\/japanknowledge-com.ezproxy.leidenuniv.nl<\/a> , (accessed Dec.12, 2018)<\/li>\n<\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Wuxing Een theorie die belangrijk is voor de Shirareta Sekai serie is de Chinese kosmologische theorie van \u4e94\u884c wuxing \u2013 of wushing \u2013 wat vaak vertaald wordt als de \u2018vijf fasen\u2019 of de \u2018vijf elementen\u2019. De vijf fasen \u2013 hout, vuur, aarde, metaal en water \u2013 zijn met elkaar verbonden op basis van hoe ze … Continue reading Five Phases (Wuxing) and the Japanese Lunar Calendar<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":148615206,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[695621137,68900],"tags":[7724,496817875,673972984,701021050,2062,701021051,30402,1095938,701021052,760469989,57808731,690525133,9279311,701021053,4455698],"class_list":["post-84","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artikelen-over-japan","category-kosmologie","tag-azie","tag-chinese-kosmologie","tag-de-terugkeer-van-layhar","tag-eto-systeem","tag-japan","tag-japanse-kalender","tag-kalender","tag-kanshi","tag-kazoedoshi","tag-kosmologie","tag-maankalender","tag-shirareta-sekai","tag-vijf-elementen","tag-vuur-paard","tag-wuxing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paucO4-1m","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kirstengroot.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kirstengroot.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kirstengroot.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirstengroot.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148615206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirstengroot.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/kirstengroot.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1145,"href":"https:\/\/kirstengroot.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions\/1145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kirstengroot.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirstengroot.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirstengroot.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}