Gihō calendar facts for kids
The Gihō calendar (also called Gihō-reki or Yi-feng li) was a special way to keep track of days, months, and years in Japan. It was a type of lunisolar calendar, which means it used both the movements of the Moon and the Sun to figure out the dates.
History of the Gihō Calendar
The Gihō calendar was first made in China. It started being used there during the time of the Tang Dynasty, specifically in an era called Rintoku.
Later, this calendar system was brought to Japan from Korea. This happened during the Yi-feng era (between 676 and 678 AD), when Emperor Gaozong of Tang was ruling in China.
The Gihō calendar was very important because it fixed mistakes found in an older calendar called the Yuan-jia li (or Genka calendar). The Genka calendar had also been created in China. For a short time in Japan, people used both the Genka and Gihō calendars together.
Related pages
- National Diet Library, "The Japanese Calendar"
