Calendar Day

What Is Calendar Day?

December 3rd is "Calendar Day" (Karenda no Hi) in Japan. It commemorates the moment when December 3 of Meiji 5 (1872) became January 1 of Meiji 6 (1873) with the adoption of the solar Gregorian calendar. The day was established in 1988 by the National Uchiwa, Sensu and Calendar Council together with the National Federation of Calendar Publishing Cooperatives, and it is registered with the Japan Anniversary Association. Every year on this day, a ceremony reporting the new calendar is held at Meiji Jingu.

The Meiji Calendar Reform: Under a Month's Notice

The imperial rescript on the reform was issued on the 9th day of the 11th month of Meiji 5. Grand Council Proclamation No. 337 declared that "the coming December 3 shall be January 1 of Meiji 6." Less than a month passed between the announcement and the switch, and the disruption was considerable. That year, December lasted only two days -- the 1st and the 2nd -- and then the new year arrived.

• Proclaimed: 11th month, 9th day of Meiji 5, as Grand Council Proclamation No. 337
• The switch: December 3 of Meiji 5 became January 1 of Meiji 6, leaving that December just two days long
• Salaries: officials were told that no salary would be paid for the two-day December
• One explanation: Meiji 6 would have had an intercalary sixth month, making a 13-month year; according to Okuma Shigenobu's memoir, the reform spared the government the pay for that extra month and for December of Meiji 5

Traces of the Old Calendar Today

The lunisolar calendar did not simply disappear. Rokuyo -- the six-day cycle of auspicious and inauspicious days, including taian and butsumetsu -- is still printed on most Japanese calendars and consulted when setting the date of a wedding or a funeral. Many regions hold Tanabata and Obon in August, a month "late" by the new calendar, and communities in Okinawa and elsewhere still celebrate the lunar New Year. The 24 solar terms, including risshun, geshi and toji, still turn up in weather reports and the news. Two senses of time run on top of each other in Japanese life.

The Pamphlet That Explained It All

With the public bewildered by the abrupt switch, Yukichi Fukuzawa published "Kaireki-ben" ("An Explanation of the Calendar Reform") in 1873. Issued by Keio Gijuku, the slim volume set out in plain language why a solar calendar, how the length of a year is fixed, and how leap years work. It sold extraordinarily well -- Fukuzawa himself wrote that something like a hundred thousand copies circulated at once. Other explanatory books followed. That a change of system immediately required a literature explaining it says a good deal about how disorienting the reform was.

Tips for Marking This Day

• Pick next year's calendar, checking the writing space and whether it prints rokuyo or lunar dates
• Start preparing the corporate calendars and New Year cards you send to clients and family
• Swap your desk calendar for next year's and write in the office holiday closures
• Compare how next year's public holidays fall on your phone calendar and on paper

The December That Lasted Two Days

A calendar changed on under a month's notice, and a December that ended after two days -- today that would be front-page news. December 3 is a reminder that the dates we take for granted were set by somebody's decision.