Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
8
Everyday Life in Edo
Life in the country was regulated by the seasons. In the already artificial life of the great
cities, the clock and the calendar held sway. The Gregorian calendar, which Japan, along
withmostoftherestofthecivilizedworld,usestoday,wasintroducedin1873,justafterthe
Meiji Restoration. Before then the lunar calendar was employed, the year being divided into
a mixture of months of 29 and 30 days. Thus, even if they had all been “great,” i.e. 30 days
long, there would have been some days missing from the solar year; with “small” months
included, it was even more necessary to make some adjustment, and this was done by the
insertion of an extra, or intercalary, month, to keep the year in step with the sun. Such an
intercalary was numbered the same as the month preceding it, but with a sign to show that
it was additional. Months were, and still are, identified by number (e.g. April is the fourth
month), although they did have semi-poetical names as well.
The calculation of the calendar was a matter for experts and was a secret that these
professionals jealously preserved. In general the New Year started at a date corresponding
to some time in February, which means that it was really at the beginning of spring, and
brought with it renewal and rebirth. One effect of the lunar basis for the calendar was that
each month started with the dark nights of the new moon, while the middle of the month
brought the time for moon-viewing, when it was at the full. The most celebrated moon of
the year was that in the eighth month, corresponding to the harvest moon of September: so
renowned was this that the mention of the moon in a poem is enough to indicate that its sea-
son is this month.
Years were identified by year periods. For example, the Genroku period began in 1688
andcontinueduntil1703,whenanotherperiodbegan.ThenamesoftheyearperiodsinTok-
ugawa times had no precise connotation, being generally felicitous in meaning, so that there
was a tendency to change them when things were going badly. The system has continued in
modern times, but now names are changed at the death of the Emperor.
Buddhism had a concept of a period of seven days, in connection with services for the
benefit of the dead, but the week was not a measure of time ordinarily; the month was di-
vided instead into periods of ten days, referred to as upper, middle and lower, and this sys-
tem continues in use, some shops still closing on the days of the month ending with the
