十二支 - Junishi (the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac)

The twelve Chinese characters that represent the signs of the Chinese zodiac are called junishi in Japanese. The junishi originated in ancient China. People observed that the planet Jupiter takes twelve years to circle the heavens. They divided the orbit of Jupiter into twelve signs by continuously observing its direction and position for years. Then, they allocated twelve characters to the twelve signs. These twelve characters were used with the ten characters called jikkan to represent years, months, dates, time, and directions. Jikkan and junishi combined together are called eto in Japanese. When the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac were introduced to Japan, the Japanese allocated twelve animal names to the twelve signs. The twelve signs were designated ne (the Rat), ushi (the Ox), tora (the Tiger), u (the Hare), tatsu (the Dragon), mi (the Serpent), uma (the Horse), hitsuji (the Ram), saru (the Monkey), tori (the Bird), inu (the Dog), and i (the Boar). The junishi and the jikkan, which are called eto, are only used today to refer to the year, and therefore people immediately associate these twelve animals with the word eto.

子・丑・寅・卯・辰・巳・午・未・申・酉・戌・亥の12文字の総称。の起源は古代中国にさかのぼる。古代中国人は天空を12年で1周する木星の方角と位置を観察し、軌道を12宮に分け、それぞれに上記の12文字を当てはめた。このは、十干(じっかん)と呼ばれる10個の文字と組み合わされ、年・月・日・時刻・方角を表すために使われた(十干とを組み合わせたものを干支(えと)と呼ぶ)。は日本にも伝えられ、日本人は子(ね)・丑(うし)・寅(とら)・卯(う)・辰(たつ)・巳(み)・午(うま)・未(ひつじ)・申(さる)・酉(とり)・戌(いぬ)・亥(い)というようにそれぞれの文字に動物の名前を当てはめた。卯はうさぎ、巳はへび、亥はいのししを表す。現在の日本では、干支は年を表すためだけに使われており、干支と言えばの動物がすぐさま連想される。