Japanese Rokuyō Lucky Days: Taian, Butsumetsu and Tomobiki Explained

The core idea: six days, each with a forecast

The rokuyō run in a fixed loop: senshō, tomobiki, senbu, butsumetsu, taian, shakkō, and back to senshō. Each name is a forecast about timing. Two days are good in the morning or the afternoon but not both, one is good all day, one is bad all day, and two turn on the hours around noon. See each day as a small weather report for decisions and the customs around weddings and funerals stop looking arbitrary.

The cycle is separate from the seven-day week, even though both use the kanji yō (曜), and it has nothing to do with Buddhism, despite names like butsumetsu. Around the office and at home, it comes up like this.

UnihongoCulture and etiquette

明日あしたって大安たいあんだっけ？Is tomorrow a taian day, again?

The six days and what their names literally say

Each name is two kanji, and reading them literally explains most of the customs. Calendars print only the kanji; the readings below are the most common.

Senshō and senbu are mirror images: act early on one, wait on the other. Tomobiki originally meant a draw, a day when nobody wins, and only later picked up the reading 'pulls a friend along', which is where the funeral taboo comes from. Butsumetsu is usually explained as a respelling of an older name meaning roughly 'things perish'; it does not mark the Buddha's death. Shakkō's red suggests fire and blood, so people who follow it take care with flames and blades.

Weddings: why taian books out and butsumetsu is cheaper

A wedding is the event people most often plan around rokuyō. Taian is the classic choice, so taian weekends in spring and autumn book up first. Tomobiki is popular too, read as pulling friends into your happiness, though a strict reading avoids the hours around noon. Butsumetsu is the day most couples avoid, which is exactly why many venues discount it.

More couples now choose butsumetsu on purpose for the price or the free date, and many guests never notice. The usual obstacle is family: one parent or grandparent who cares can decide it for you. At the reception, a speech often opens with honjitsu wa ohigara mo yoku, 'on this fine day', where higara, literally 'day pattern', means a day's standing on the calendar. Here a couple talks to a venue planner, and a guest begins a speech.

Funerals and tomobiki

Tomobiki is the one day with a funeral taboo. Its literal reading, 'pulls a friend', suggests the deceased might take a friend along, so funeral ceremonies are usually not held that day. Many crematoria have traditionally closed on tomobiki, which settles the matter in practice, although some cities have started opening on tomobiki to cope with demand. The wake, otsuya, is generally held as normal, and in some areas a small doll is placed in the coffin to go in the friend's place.

Butsumetsu, despite its name, is no problem for funerals, and some Buddhist schools, notably Jōdo Shinshū, ignore the rokuyō altogether. If you are involved in arranging a funeral, the funeral company will raise the question; staff put it gently, like this.

Openings, moves and new cars

Beyond weddings and funerals, rokuyō guides beginnings. Shops and restaurants tend to open on taian, builders often schedule the ground-breaking ceremony, jichinsai, for a taian day, and car dealers are used to customers asking for delivery, nōsha, on taian. Some couples also register their marriage, nyūseki, on taian. People who follow the finer points use senshō mornings and senbu afternoons for things that cannot wait, and avoid starting anything on butsumetsu. A shop owner, a car buyer and a couple at home:

Beyond the basics: reading rokuyō on a calendar, and why it jumps

On a wall calendar the rokuyō usually sits in small type inside each square. Some calendars print only taian, often in red, or mark it with a symbol; others leave the cycle off entirely, and planners and phone apps offer it as an option. Some also print the old lunar date, marked kyū (旧), and that is the key to the jumps.

The cycle is tied to the old lunisolar calendar. On the first day of each lunar month it restarts at a fixed point: senshō in months one and seven, tomobiki in two and eight, and so on to shakkō in six and twelve. So on a modern calendar the loop runs smoothly for about a month, then skips a name or two. In September 2026, taian on the 10th is followed by tomobiki on the 11th, the first day of the eighth lunar month. For any lunar date, add the month and the day and divide by six: a remainder of 0 is taian, 1 shakkō, 2 senshō, 3 tomobiki, 4 senbu, 5 butsumetsu.

UnihongoCulture and etiquette

カレンダーに六ろく曜曜が書いかいてありますね。The calendar has the rokuyō printed on it.

How seriously people take it today

It depends on who you ask. Surveys still find a majority saying they consider rokuyō when setting a wedding date, and funerals follow it closely, partly because crematorium schedules force the issue. Yet many people, especially younger ones, check it only because a parent, grandparent or venue raised it, or to avoid seeming careless to guests. Older generations and rural areas tend to care more; city couples on a budget often care less.

There is principled opposition too. Many public bodies leave rokuyō off the calendars they print, calling it superstition, and some human-rights groups argue that it feeds discrimination. So the safest attitude for a newcomer is the local one: do not raise it yourself, but when a plan involves other people's families, quietly check the calendar. People talk about it like this.

Common mistakes newcomers make with rokuyō

Thinking butsumetsu is a Buddhist memorial day. The kanji mean Buddha and extinction, so newcomers assume a religious meaning. It is a fortune label and nothing more; Buddhist teaching does not recognise it.

Setting a family event without checking. Relatives who care will rarely object directly. Before fixing the date of a wedding party, a baby's first shrine visit or anything funeral-related, look at the calendar or ask whether anyone minds.

Joking about a couple's butsumetsu wedding. They may have chosen it for the price or had no choice. Treat the date as unremarkable.

Confusing rokuyō with the days of the week. Both use yō and sit side by side on the same calendar, but getsuyōbi is Monday while taian can fall on any weekday.

Assuming everyone either believes it or laughs at it. Most people sit in between: they doubt that a date causes luck but respect relatives who think otherwise. Two lines keep you on the right side.