Diagram of the Juunishi Time and Directional Systems

Table of Japanese Years

The following table is based upon the Japanese system derived from the Chinese legend. There are four eras that these years take place over. These are the Heisei era (1989 through the present), the Showa era (1926 - 1988) the Taisho era (1912 - 1925) and the Meiji era (1900 - 1911).

Animal	Years
Rat (nezumi)	1900, 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948,  1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008
Ox/Cow/Bull (oushi)	1901, 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009
Tiger (tora)	1902, 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010
Rabbit (usagi)	1903,  1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011
Dragon (ryu)	1904, 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 19 64, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012
Snake (hebi)	1905, 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013
Horse (uma)	1906, 1918, 1930,  1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014
Sheep (hitsuji)	1907,  1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015
Monkey (yamazaru)	1908, 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016
Chicken (ondori)	1909, 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017
Dog (inu)	1910, 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018
Boar (inoshishi)	1911, 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019

    As explained above, each animal in the Juunishi represents a person with a specific personality. Although this does not always seem correct, and you can get a more specific profile of yourslef if you also know the element that your year represents, it's still fun to compare these profiles to yourself, and the characters in the series.
   
    The Rat - Nezumi
You are charming, creative, generous, energetic and quick-witted. You are good at saving money and are honest and frugal. You appear soft and serene on the outside, but you have a quick temper, however, you can forget past grudges and form relationships with people you once opposed. You seem to fall into bad relationships, and are most susceptible in your middle ages, however, you have the ability to overcome weakness, and lead a stable and peaceful life.

    The Ox - Oushi
You are stubborn, patient, strong, practical and reliable. You seem to get angry over unimportant things, which can be detrimental to your relationships. You never form strong bonds between family members and are most susceptible during your childhood years. Although when at work you seem to be less progressive, you have high endurance and stick to a task once it is started. You work hard at whatever you do which allows for prosperity in the end.

    The Tiger - Tora
You are brave, loyal, sociable, active, enthusiastic, and self confident. You have a good sense of judgement, and are generally the person who steps up and takes care of things in times of trouble. You are stubborn, which may get you into arguments with superiors, but you are popular amoung peers because of your moralistic nature. You may experience some failure in your finances, but you have a competitive and enterprising nature which will lead you to eventual success and security.

    The Rabbit - Usagi
You are witty, happy, artistic, clever and well-respected. You have good relationships because of your peaceful and caring nature, but your tendancy to talk to much can get you into trouble. You have many likes and dislikes and are successful because of your fickle nature. You often cannot concentrate on one thing, but once your weaknesses are overcome, you are able to lead a peaceful and comfortable life that is envied by others.

    The Dragon - Ryu
You are healthy, energetic, ambitious, honest and stubborn. You have a winning spirit that supports you through trials, however, also causes problems when you lash out without considering the entire issue. You have a ver changeable fate, which brings fourtune and loss in waves. By making good use of your charitable qualities, and overcoming your negative ones, you can ultimately lead a very productive and fulfilling life.

    The Snake - Hebi
You are quite, agile, refined, wise and fashionable. You may appear soft on the outside, but your determined nature allows you success in projects that you undertake. You progress rapidly because of yor methodical approach to things, but are slow to trust people, which is detrimental to relationships including in family and in marriage. You often over-think matters, which can cloud judgement and lead to missed oppourtunities, however, learning from your mistakes can allow you to overcome this.

    The Horse - Uma
You are elegant, charming, honest and independant. You are admired for helping others, and you enjoy doing it, however, you tend to speak your mind which can make you enemies, even amoung those that you have helped. You have difficulties concentrating on one thing, and so you often have little to show for all the work you do. However, you have a positive outlook and are able to easily overcome hardships which brings about unexpected success. Good fourtune will come to you in the opening years of old age.

    The Sheep - Hitsuji
You are caring, creative, helpful, trusting and artistic. You are honest and have a charitable nature. You are religious, but no stranger to hardships and your timid nature makes you wary of others and the cares of the world. If you work at overcoming your weaknesses, you will reciee help from elders. Up to the age of 50, your troubles are many, but after that point, you are able to lead a peaceful, pleasant and long life filled with happiness.

     The Monkey - Yamazaru
You are inventive, versatile, curious, clever and quick. Your inquisitive and enterprising nature brings you great success in early life, however this is dampened by your tendancy to talk too much. You trust others quickly, which can occasionally bring dissapointment, however, if you can overcome this tendancy to act blindly, you will be able to preserve the good fortune of your middle ages and live a comfortable life.

    The Chicken/Rooster - Ondori
You are hardworing, fussy, stylish, determined and confident. You are able to quickly learn about the world which allows you to easily adapt to society and earn success at a relatively young age. However, this leads to a desire for luxury and pften excessive pride, which, when combined with your fickle nature, can lead to repeated failures in later life. You never bond very closely with your parents, so you most likely leave home earlier than most. You are no stranger to good fortune during your middle age years, but the most important good luck to secure will occur at the onsent of old age.

    The Dog - Inu
You are loyal, outspoken, protective, excitable and watchful. You have a high level of self-esteem because of your honest nature and strong ssense of duty. You are also very opinionated and uncomprimising, making you appear obstinate. You may appear stiff on the outside, but you surprise many people with your high quality work and unexpected wisdom. You are lucky to recieve advice and help from elders, which can lead to good fortune throughout your life, but, if ignored, can also lead to many hard times.

    The Boar - Inoshishi
You are trusting, reliable, intelligent, loyal and kind. You are patient and very ambitious which brings success early in life, but you are also inflexible and stubborn, which can make it difficult to keep that success. A large fault that seems to hinder you throughout your life is your lack of generosity and charity. Also, you face many hard times when it comes to residence during your middle age years, and you will most likely end up living far from your birth-town. However, if you heed the advice of your elders, and learn to accept help from others to overcome your faults, you are able to make the best of your good fortunes.