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Affiliation: KARASU CHANNEL
Traditions studied: 12+ (Western astrology, Four Pillars of Destiny, Nine Star Ki, tarot, runes, palmistry & physiognomy, name numerology, numerology, feng shui, Vedic astrology / Zi Wei, Onmyodo, spiritual reading, and more)
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Read about Chinese Zodiac
About this reading: The twelve zodiac animals (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar) form a counting system born in ancient China for years, months, days, and hours, which arrived in Japan along with the calendar and became a familiar way to mark one's birth year. Originally just a numbering system, each sign was later paired with an animal and used to talk about personality and compatibility. It's still woven into everyday Japanese life, from New Year's cards to 60th-birthday celebrations.
Note that this reading changes years on January 1. If you were born between January 1 and about February 3, schools that change the year at Risshun (around February 4) would read you as the previous year's animal, so it's worth looking at that sign as well.
Lore column: Why Is There No Cat in the Zodiac? The Fate of the Animal Left Out
A short read on the legends and strange tales around this reading, with this site's own view.
Across Japan, similar folktales explain why the cat has no place among the twelve zodiac animals. A god announced that the first twelve animals to arrive with New Year's greetings on the morning of January 1 would become guardians of the years. The cat forgot the date and asked the rat, who deliberately gave a day that was one day late. The cat missed out and has chased rats ever since. Another version, told in Okinawa and elsewhere, has the rat riding on the ox's back to the gate and leaping down at the last moment to take first place.
In Vietnam, meanwhile, the cat replaces the rabbit in the zodiac. Explanations vary: cats were prized in rice-farming villages for catching the rats that raided the fields, or the Chinese word for rabbit sounded close to the Vietnamese word for cat. The cat shut out in Japan found its seat in the calendar somewhere else.
In Japan, however, the cat was also an animal tied to death. The kasha, a demon said to snatch corpses away from funeral processions, came to be imagined in the shape of a cat.
As we see it here, it hardly seems a coincidence that the cat, locked out of the calendar, found its place at the border of the other world. This is speculation, but people tend to push what cannot be counted, what does not fit a frame, toward the side of night. Onto the animal that fell outside the twelve slots, people may have projected an unspoken grudge and a sense of the uncanny, and stood it beside the dead.
In-depth article:We have an in-depth article covering this reading's origins, how to interpret it, and our own analysis.
The Twelve Zodiac Signs (Junishi) Explained: Why Twelve Animals Mark Your Birth Year, Theories of Origin, and Your Guardian BuddhaAdd this to your favorites to find it again anytime from your My Page.