Sunday, April 18, 2021

The traditional Asian manner of counting one's age called 'kazoedoshi'(数え年)

What’s kazoedoshi(数え年)?

Photo by Jisun Han on Unsplash


  • Age counting method
  • When you’re born, you are 1 year old
  • When the new year comes, you turn 2 years old
  • ex. You’re born on the 31st of December in 2020, you will be two years old on the 1st of January in 2021.

  • History

  • Old custom from China
  • In 1902, the Japanese government made a law that set the rule "a man gets one year older at the last moment of the previous day of his/her birthday" ("man-nenrei"(満年齢) system)
  • However, Japanese people continued to use kazoedoshi
  • In 1950, the new law, which said "obey the 1903 law system, not kazoedoshi" took effect

  • Why?

  • Kazoedoshi includes the period of development in the womb
  • Some people say "the first number is one, not zero". For instance, the 1st day, the 1st grade, the 1st century, and so on.
  • Getting one year older on new year’s day for the viewpoint "elderly is respectable" in Buddhism and Confucianism
  • Some people say the reason why is the lunar-solar calendar which Japanese society used till 1872. The calendar has a "leap month" due to a complex calculation method (7 times in 19 years). Therefore kazoedoshi system is easy to count age. Source: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan(in Japananese) 

  • Still used in modern Japanese society

  • "nenki"(年忌); the anniversary of the death of family in Japanese Buddhism. The third anniversary is held in two-year-after of the family member death, the seventh anniversary is held in six-year-after of the death. All Japanese people hold nenki under kazoedoshi count.
  • "Shichigosan"(七五三) (Seven, five, three); festival in November for 3-year-old boys and girls, 5-year-old boys and 7-year-old girls at a Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple. Some people count their child’s age in kazoedoshi, others in man-nenrei
  • Embed from Getty Images

    In the world

  • In the past it was popular in other east Asian countries; China, Korean peninsula, Vietnam
  • South Korea is the only country that usually uses kazoedoshi system now