If you have any awareness of the Chinese/Japanese zodiac, you probably know that there are twelve animals in a repeating 12-year cycle. You may even know the order of these. Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Wild Boar. The last Tiger year would have been 12 years ago, so 2010.
Tigers are said to be be very self-confident and easily take risks. As for Water Tiger, well water brings change. It also represents wealth. It is said to amplify the vital force, health, and essence of the Tiger's spirit.
This year affects each animal and element differently, and that is way beyond my knowledge, so go see an expert of you really believe in this stuff.
Anyway, I don't really believe much in this stuff, so I won't spend too much time on fortunes. I'd suggest you take it all with a grain of salt too, but you do you. I'm more interested in the mechanics of the system.
The system is actually a bit more complex than a simple 12 year cycle. I say a bit, but I mean a ton. The next step into this complexity that we want to step into may be the elements: water, earth, wood, fire, and metal. These all go together to create a large 60-year cycle. This is something of a special number in Japan. When you turn 60 it is said you are born again, having reached the exact same sign of your birth, and this is a cause for celebration. In Japanese it is called kanreki (還暦).
Technically Water Tiger doesn't start until Chinese New Year, which is Feb 1st this year, but since Japan now follows the Western calendar, most folks here who only casually follow the system consider the animal year as starting on Jan 1st.
The last Water Tiger year was 60 years ago, in 1962. That was the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Yicks! Let's hope we don't have a repeat of anything like that.
Anyway, so that is kind of the basic info. Water Tiger year, 12 years and 60 years. Most people's knowledge ends there.
Water Tigers are said to have especially good luck during the months of the water tiger, days of the water tiger, and hours of the tiger. Odds are there aren't very many water tigers reading, but if you were born in 1962, this is for you.
The hour of the tiger is easy, that's from 3 to 5am. Most of you will probably be asleep at that time, but... it's lucky! Maybe you'll have nice dreams during those two hours or something.
The month of the tiger is March, well at least in general. It actually varies year to year since it is based on the lunar calendar, but March is a good guideline. Months of the water tiger, then, would occur every five years. The last month of the water tiger was in 2017 and the next is in 2022. Lucky!
The day of the tiger is more confusing. I don't know how these days are figured. But I did look up the exact water tiger days this year. They are Feb 18, April 19, June 18, August 17, October 16, December 15. Of course since this system is based on the moon, the exact days would depend on where in the world you are. These dates are probably for Asia, so in America the days might be one before. But let's not worry about that.
Oh it really gets insane from here. We have the lucky directions, lucky numbers, lucky colors. There are general ones for the water tiger year and more specific ones for each sign. In Japan when you give birth traditionally you would go to shrine and have them check on the name for your child; the shrine then would compute all of these things and figure out how many strokes you want in your child's kanji. Many people still do this. When my wife was born the shrine told her parents not to even use a kanji for her name as it was unlucky for her.
Anyway, we'll stop there. If you really want more info, just do a google search for "water tiger 2022" and prepare to be overwhelmed with information.
Have a happy water tiger year!!
| David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. |
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