Page:Things Japanese (1905).djvu/489

Rh The Japanese have also borrowed from Chinese astrology what are termed the jik-kan, or "ten celestial stems," a series obtained by dividing each of the five elements into two parts, termed respectively the "elder" and the "younger brother" (e and to). The following series is thus obtained:—

The two series—celestial stems and signs of the zodiac—being allowed to run on together, their combination produces the cycle of sixty days or sixty years, as sixty is the first number divisible both by ten and by twelve. The first day or year of the cycle is Ki no E, Ne, "Wood—Elder Brother, Rat;" the second is Ki no To, Ushi, "Wood—Younger Brother, Bull;" and so on, until the sixtieth, Mizu no To, I, "Water—Younger Brother, Boar," is reached, and the cycle begins again.

These things, especially the lunar calendar, still largely influence the daily actions of the people. The peasantry scrupulously observe the traditional times and seasons in all the operations of agriculture. For instance, they sow their rice on the eighty-eighth day (Hachi-jū-hachi ya) from the beginning of spring (Risshun), and they plant it out in Nyūbai, the period fixed for the early summer rains. The 210th. and 220th. from the beginning of spring (Ni-hyaku tōka and Ni-hyaku hatsuka, generally coinciding with our 1st and 10th. September respectively), and what is called Hassaku, that is, the first day of the eighth