Reiwa time

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Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga announcing the Nengo
Emperor Naruhito (2019)

Reiwa ( Japanese 令 和 ; officially used German translation: "beautiful harmony") is the Nengō (government motto ) of Tennō Naruhito and describes the period since May 1, 2019, which henceforth as the Reiwa time ( 令 和 時代 , Reiwa-jidai ) referred to as. Since then, the year 2019 has been called Reiwa 1 ( 令 和 元年 , Reiwa gannen ) in the Nengō calendar . The Reiwa period ends with death or abdication. The Reiwa period was preceded by the Heisei period .

background

Tennō  Akihito  addressed the Japanese people in a televised address on August 8, 2016 , indicating that he would abdicate for health reasons in the near future. Since the law on the imperial budget of 1947 did not provide for an abdication so far , the government drew up a bill that was supposed to make such an abdication possible and submitted it to the national parliament in May 2017 . After the law was passed the following month, it was decided in December 2017 that Akihito would abdicate on April 30, 2019 and Crown Prince Naruhito would ascend the chrysanthemum throne on May 1. When the new government motto was announced, the government initially considered summer 2018 in order to keep the preparatory phase as long as possible and the effects of the era change to a minimum. However, since it was feared that this would mean that the attention would deviate too much from the current Tennō to the future, the date of the announcement was decided in May 2018 for April 1, 2019.

To define the term, the government convened a "conference on the government motto " ( 元 eine に 関 す る 懇談 会 , Gengō ni kansuru kondankai ), consisting of nine experts from different areas, in strict secrecy on April 1, 2019 at 9:30 a.m. local time . Among them was z. B. the medicine Nobel laureate Shin'ya Yamanaka . There each member commented on six proposals drawn up by the government for the new motto.

The names were next to Reiwa

  • Eikō ( 英 弘 ), consisting of 英 ("beautiful", "glorious", rarely also "flower") and 弘 ("far-reaching", "spacious", "powerful"),
  • Kyūka ( 久 化 ), consisting of 久 ("long-lasting", "nostalgic") and 化 ("change", "transformation"),
  • Kōshi, Kōji ( 広 至 ), consisting of 広 ("spacious", "enormous") and 至 ("arrival", "destination", "high", "extreme"),
  • Banna, Banwa ( 万 和 ), consisting of 万 ("10,000", "large", "complete", "comprehensive") and 和 ("peace", "harmony", "Japanese")
  • and Banpō, Banhō ( 万 保 ) with 保 ("security", "assurance", "protect", "support")

to select.

The readings for these alternative names, however, were not announced, nor was the intended official meaning of the discarded names.

Then at 10:20 a.m. the presidents ( Tadamori Ōshima  and Chūichi Date ) and vice-presidents ( Hirotaka Akamatsu and Akira Gunji ) of the two chambers of parliament ( Shūgiin  and Sangiin ) were asked for their opinions. In a special cabinet meeting held from 11 a.m. to 11:15 a.m., the choice finally fell through a cabinet decision on the proposal of Reiwa .

etymology

The corresponding passage from Book V of Man'yōshū (framed in red) with the characters 令 and 和 used in Reiwa (framed in blue)

The term Reiwa was borrowed from Book V of the Japanese poem anthology Man'yōshū . This contains a section of 32 poems that were recited on the occasion of a celebration in Ōtomo no Tabito's house by his poet colleagues on February 4, 730. These "poems of the Ume " ( 梅花 の 歌 Ume no Hana no Uta ; Man'yōgana : 梅花 宴 ) are preceded by a foreword that illustrates the beginning of spring using the flowering of the Ume:

Kanbun

于 時 初春令月 氣 淑 風和梅 披 鏡 前 之 粉 蘭 薫 珮 後 之 香

Kanbun Kundoku

時 に 、 初春 の令月 に し て 、 気 淑 く 風和ぎ 、 梅 は 鏡 前 の 粉 粉 を 披 き 、 蘭 は 珮 後 の 香 を 薫 す。

toki ni shoshun no rei getsu ni shite, kiyoku kaze yawara gi, ume wa kyōzen no ko wo hiraki, ran wa haigo no kō wo kaorasu.

modern

時 は 初春 の令月 、 空 気 は 美 し く 、 風 は和や か で 、 梅 は 鏡 の 前 前 の 美人 が 白粉 で 装 う よ う に 花 咲 き 、 蘭 は 身 香 せ の う に に 飾 う に に に 飾 の る 衣 に に の う に に 飾 の う 衣 に に 飾 の 衣 に に

toki wa shoshun no rei getsu, kūki wa utsukushiku, kaze wa nago yaka de, ume wa kagami no mae no bijin ga oshiroi de yosōuyōni hanasaki, ran wa mi o kazaru koromo ni matou kō noyōni kaoraseru

German translation

“It was the beginning of spring in a beautiful ( 令 , rei ) month when the air was clear and the wind was harmonious ( 和 , wa ), when the ume bloomed in the beauty of a woman applying Oshiroi makeup and the orchids with their scent decorated ”.

For the first time, a Nengō was borrowed from a Japanese source, the poem being written in Chinese spelling ( Kanbun ) as was customary at the time . Traditionally, classical Chinese histories such as the " Five Classics " had been referred to.

After Masaaki Tatsumi ( 辰巳正明 ), a professor of Japanese literature, and Masaharu Mizukami ( 水上雅晴 ), professor of Chinese philosophy, there is a similar verse in Zhang Heng prose poem Gui tian fu from the 2nd century to Ōtomo no Tabitos time was well known and probably served as a template:

「于是 仲春 令 月 ， 时 和气 清。」

"Then comes young spring, in a fine month, / When the wind is mild and the air clear."

Nengō usually consist of two characters that are often reused. For example, 和 wa can be found in 19 other Nengō. 令 Rei is an exception here, as it is used in this way for the first time. Since the name of an era is reshaped from two existing characters, a new composite meaning is created. Thus 令 rei mostly in words like "order" ( 命令 meirei ) or "law" ( 法令 hōrei encountered and therefore often associated with the word fields "command" and "order"). 和 wa is usually with "peace" ( 平和 heiwa ) and "Japan" (for example in 和 独 関係 wadoku-kankei , German 'Japanese-German relations' ). The meaning of the Nengō must, however, be placed in the context of the poem passage, so one gets for example “good harmony” or “auspicious harmony” as the intended meaning.

On April 3, 2019, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the official English translation of Reiwa was "beautiful harmony". It responded to media reports that Reiwa was associated with "order" or "order". The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also stated that this translation was not legally binding and that “beautiful harmony” was more an official declaration or execution than an official translation. The Japanese embassy in Berlin used in their announcement about the name of the new Nengo "beautiful harmony" as translation and added that Reiwa holds the meaning "culture is founded and thrives when people bring their hearts together in a beautiful way".

Announcement

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga announced the Nengō on April 1, 2019 in the Prime Minister's office . In terms of the type of announcement, the procedure from 1989 was taken as a model, when the then chief cabinet secretary Keizō Obuchi had presented the motto Heisei in the form of Japanese calligraphy at a press conference. The Reiwa calligraphy was made by Osami Mozumi ( 茂 住 修身 , Mozumi Osami ), an official of the Cabinet Office . Unlike in 1989, when Obuchi had done the entire announcement, Prime Minister Shinzō Abe took over the explanation of the term in this case in another press conference.

Implementations

Information technology

When the new Nengo era was announced, the Unicode consortium reserved a code point (U + 32FF  ㋿ SQUARE ERA NAME REIWA) for a new glyph at an early stage . This ligature combines the two Kanji characters from Reiwa, 令 and 和 , into a single symbol. This means that this new character can be used in data processing. The new Unicode version 12.1.0 resulting from this change was published on May 7, 2019. Similar code points are also available for the Shōwa period (U + 337C  ㍼ SQUARE ERA NAME SYOUWA) and the Heisei period (U + 337B  ㍻ SQUARE ERA NAME HEISEI).

Since this is the first time it has been converted to a new era in the computer age, the Japanese IT industry faced similar problems as at the end of the 20th century . In a survey by the Ministry of Industry in February 2019, 20% of the companies questioned said that they had not yet completed the work to convert the systems to the Reiwa period.

So far, only minor difficulties have become apparent and known when changing the time calculation. At ATMs of the convenience shop chain Lawson , depositors received a notification on April 28, 2019 that due to the upcoming Golden Week holidays , during which the change of throne also took place, the credit would not be credited until May 7, 1989. There the time calculation change between Heisei 1 (1989) and Reiwa 1 (2019) did not appear to have been carried out correctly.

The support of the new time calculation for the Japanese calendar was introduced in Windows 10 with the function update 1903 and as a patch retrospectively to Windows 7 and in macOS Mojave 10.14.5.

Conversion to the Gregorian calendar

Reiwa year 1 2 3 4th 5 10
Gregorian calendar 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2028

Web links

Commons : Reiwa time  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ a b de.emb-japan.go.jp - Decision on the new era name , accessed on April 8, 2019
  2. ↑ New era name likely a month before Naruhito ascends throne. In: Asahi Shimbun . May 18, 2018, accessed April 1, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Casey Baseel: Four new era names the Japanese government rejected before deciding on Reiwa. In: soranews24. April 2, 2019, accessed April 14, 2019 .
  4. ↑ 5 other candidates in era name shortlist revealed. In: Mainichi Shimbun . April 2, 2019, accessed April 8, 2019 .
  5. ↑ 新元 号 は 「令 和」 官 房 長官 が 公 表 . In: Nihon Keizai Shimbun . April 1, 2019, Retrieved April 1, 2019 (Japanese).
  6. ↑ Yoshihiro Kuromichi: introducing some Man'yōshū. Retrieved May 1, 2019 (Japanese).
  7. ↑ Details on Kusurishi. In: Kokugakuin University Digital Museum. Kokugakuin University, accessed May 1, 2019 (Japanese).
  8. ↑ Key discussion on the new "Reiwa" era: "I want to see the flowers bloom". In: Nikkei. April 1, 2019, Retrieved April 14, 2019 (Japanese).
  9. ↑ 新元 号 「令 和」 ＝ 出典 は 「万 葉 集」 、 国書 で 初 - ５ 月 １ 日 改元 . In: Jiji Tsūshinsha . April 1, 2019, Retrieved April 1, 2019 (Japanese).
  10. ↑ Satoshi Ozawa: 「日本 が 困難 な 時 、 万 葉 集 が は や る」 令 和 は 歴 史 的 転 換 . In: Asahi News Digital. April 1, 2019, Retrieved November 1, 2019 (Japanese).
  11. ↑ Reiji Yoshida: What's in a name? Reiwa reflects today's politics, Japan's cultural history and a social philosophy. In: Japan Times Online. April 2, 2019, accessed November 1, 2019 .
  12. ^ Liu Wu-chi: An Introduction to Chinese Literature . Greenwood Press, Westport 1990, ISBN 0-313-26703-0 , pp. 54 .
  13. ↑ Japan's govt. chooses 'Reiwa' as new era name. In: NHK World. April 1, 2019, accessed April 2, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Although the character does not appear in today's official name 日本 Nihon of the country, it is used as an abbreviation of the alternative (poetic) designation 和 国 Wakoku (literally "land of harmony").
  15. ↑ Japan assures world that Reiwa is all about 'beautiful harmony' and has nothing to do with 'command'. In: The Japan Times . April 3, 2019, accessed April 8, 2019 .
  16. ↑ 墨 書 「令 和」 は 茂 住 氏 の 筆 . In: Kyōdō Tsūshinsha . April 1, 2019, Retrieved April 1, 2019 (Japanese).
  17. ^ New Japanese Era. Blog Unicode Consortium, September 6, 2018, accessed on April 12, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Unicode12.1.0. The Unicode Consortium, accessed on May 10, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Unicode Version 12.1 released in support of the Reiwa Era. Blog Unicode Consortium, May 7, 2019, accessed on May 10, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Maiko Eiraku: Celebrations and challenges in welcoming the new era - NHK NEWSLINE - News - NHK WORLD. Retrieved May 2, 2019 .
  21. ↑ ATMs in Japan are saying they'll transfer your money back in time to 1989. SoraNews24, April 30, 2019, accessed on May 3, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Overview of Windows updates for the new Japanese calendar - KB4469068. In: microsoft.com. Microsoft, accessed October 24, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Download macOS Mojave 10.14.5 Combo Update. In: apple.com. Apple Inc., accessed October 24, 2019 .