＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
<Added on April 1, 2019> The new era name announced on April 1, 2019 is “Reiwa”
The new era name was announced on April 1, 2019, and was called “Reiwa.”
The word “Reiwa” in the preface to the 32 plum blossom poems in the Manyoshu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves, refers to the extensive collection of poems compiled during the Nara period in Japan.), from which “Reiwa” was derived, means “a good month for doing anything,” but it is also another name for the second month in the lunar calendar.
(＊) Preface to the 32 plum blossom poems in the Manyoshu
＜Original Text＞
于時初春令月 氣淑風和 梅披鏡前之粉 蘭薫珮後之香
<Modern Translation>
初春の令月(れいげつ)にして気(き)淑(よ)く風和(やわら)ぎ、梅は鏡前(きょうぜん)の粉(こ)を披(ひら)き、蘭は珮後(はいご)の香を薫(かお)らす
<Translated text>
It is a fine month in early spring, the air is pleasant, the breeze is fresh. The plum blossoms bloom like a beautiful woman applying powder to her face in front of the mirror, and the orchids give off a fragrant perfume like adorning the body.
This time, the selection was not from a Chinese classic, but from a Japanese classic, “Manyoshu” (The Anthology of Myriad Leaves). I think it was a good choice, as it is typical of Prime Minister Abe, who cares about Japan.
1. Announcement of the “Heisei” era name
“The new era name is ‘Heisei.'”
The current era name “Heisei” was announced by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Keizo Obuchi on January 7, 1989 (Showa 64). This was the day Emperor Showa passed away. I have lived through the “Showa” era since I was born, so the photo of Obuchi holding up a plaque with “Heisei” written in ink made a strong impression on me.
The next morning (January 8th), when asked how he felt about the start of the Heisei era, then Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita replied, “I’m calm（平静：heisei））.” It seems that Takeshita liked puns. His grandson, musician and TV personality DAIGO, told an anecdote saying, “On the day he became Prime Minister（sori）, as soon as he came home he said ‘I am sorry（sori）,’ and joked around.”
2. The origin and creator of “Heisei”
(1) Origin
Since ancient times, many of Japan’s era names have been taken from characters in classical Chinese texts. So what is the meaning and origin of the current era name “Heisei”?
In a speech, then Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita explained the meaning of “Heisei” by saying, “It is imbued with the meaning of achieving peace both at home and abroad, and in heaven and earth, and is the most appropriate era name for the new era to come.”
He concluded by saying, “I sincerely hope that the new era name will also be widely accepted by the people and take deep root in the lives of the Japanese people.”
Before the era name “Heisei” was officially decided upon, there were many candidates, but in the end it was narrowed down to three: “Heisei,” “Shubun,” and “Seika.”
However, when “Shubun” and “Seika” are written as the initial letter of the alphabet, they become “S,” which cannot be distinguished from the abbreviation of “Showa,” so “Heisei” was decided upon.
The origin of the name “Heisei” comes from “Peace within and peace without” in the Records of the Grand Historian’s Annals of the Five Emperors, and “Peace on earth and peace in heaven” in the Book of Documents by Yu Mo, meaning “peace will be achieved both within and without the country, and in heaven and earth.”
(2) Creator
The name “Heisei” was proposed by Tatsuro Yamamoto, a scholar of Oriental history and professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo.
However, from what I have heard, it was Masahiro Yasuoka（安岡正篤）, a well-known scholar of Yangmingism, who first proposed the name.
After the war, he was a person who had a great influence on politicians and influential business people, including successive prime ministers.
In his later years, Yasuoka also made headlines by “marrying” the fortune teller Kazuko Hosoki （細木数子） (1938-2021) (Yasuoka had dementia at the time of submitting the marriage registration, so the Yasuoka family filed a lawsuit to invalidate the marriage, and Hosoki ended up divorcing Yasuoka).
However, since Yasuoka passed away in 1983, it may have been considered inappropriate to use a deceased person’s proposal as the “new era name,” and so Yamamoto’s proposal was chosen instead.
3. What will the new era name be? The selection process and its impact on practice
(1) Timing of announcement of new era name
By the way, what people are wondering right now is, “What will the new era name be after Heisei? And when will it be announced?”
Regarding the new era name, it is still just speculation, but it seems that several candidates have been put forward.
British people who like to gamble may be gambling on the name of the new Japanese era. However, since it is only two kanji characters, it may be difficult for foreigners to choose.
Regarding the timing of the announcement of the new era name, the government initially stated that it would “continue preparations with the assumption that it would be announced on April 1, one month before May 1, 2019, when His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince will ascend to the throne as the new Emperor,” but as of now, it appears that the timing of the announcement has not yet been decided.
However, as this will affect many aspects of people’s lives, including the printing of calendars and planners, changes to the date column on contract forms, and changes to the date displayed in the era name in Excel on computers, it would be good to see the change announced as soon as possible, ideally within October.
Unlike previous era changes that occurred upon the death of the Emperor, the abdication date has been decided in advance, so there should be no problem even if it is six months in advance.
In this particular case, even though the abdication was decided in advance, the new era date was decided on May 1st, not January 1st, which is a rather odd date, so considering the printing of calendars and diaries, I think it is necessary to announce it by October at the latest. Even then, it may not be possible to make it in time and they may have to deal with it by issuing “additional stickers.” It seems that updating the computer system will also be a huge burden.
(2) Selection process and creator of the new era name
It is not clear who proposed the new era name, and how it will be decided, but several scholars well versed in Chinese classics will propose candidate characters for the era name, and after multiple selection meetings, a familiar character that has not been used before will be selected. The new era name has probably already been “decided.”
(3) Impact on practice
By the way, in the workplace, it seems that the uniquely Japanese “Era name” is no longer used, and the trend is toward “unifying with the Gregorian calendar.” Older documents and contracts use the “Era name” notation, but recently it seems that many companies have unified to the Gregorian calendar.
The reason is that if “Showa”, “Heisei”, “new era name” and the “Western calendar” are mixed, it becomes unclear whether the era name displayed as “18” means “Heisei 18” or an abbreviated notation of the Western calendar “2018”.
Even if such a mistake is not made, it is troublesome to have to read the Western calendar and the Japanese calendar interchangeably.
If you absolutely must use the era name, I think it’s appropriate to write it in parentheses, such as “2018 (Heisei 30).” Young people these days often say their birthdate in the Gregorian calendar, such as “born in 1990,” so I don’t think they’ll mind.
Also, in the “date display” of Excel on the PC I use at work, it may be “user-defined” but when you enter the date in the Gregorian calendar, it is converted to the Heisei era when you enter the date in the “era display” (gg/mm/dd).
I am worried about when Microsoft will make the new era compatible. I don’t remember well about the Heisei era, but it seems they made a smooth response.