Japanese Fortune Calendar

This guide to the Japanese zodiac gives a complete explanation of all 12 animal years.

Like people of the West, Eastern people have a zodiac. Unlike that of the West, however, the Eastern system has a cycle of twelve years instead of months. Each year of the cycle has its own particular animal symbol whose roots of meaning, origin, and influence stretch back to ancient India and China.

One of the traditional Japanese stories pertaining to this zodiacal system and how it started runs as follow...