I hope this is the right place to ask such a question, my apologies if it is not.
I have an option for a date to be added onto an item I am purchasing and am planning to have this inscribed. “二千二十三癸卯年二月吉日”. I want the date to be written in a more traditional but yet modern way. Hence the 2023 but in kanji. I have been told that 癸卯 is not necessary but I wanted it to be included. I don’t want it to feel shoehorned though… Thanks for helping!
2 comments
…Yeah, this isn’t how any sensible person writes it.
To begin with, are you aware of the existence of the Japanese calendar? Because that would be the first point; we’re in 令和5年. In kanji it would be 令和五年, but it’s not something most people are too concerned about. But if it’s a traditional way you want to do it in, this is the *first* thing you should do. Trying to do 西暦 in kanji is pointlessly long.
I’m fairly certain *no-one* would add the thing with the sexagenerary cycle (honestly, I’d completely forgotten it existed, as it’s something that basically doesn’t come up, pretty much at all), nor would they ever write 吉日 in the date if the specific day is important to them (because it *isn’t* a date. It means ‘fortunate day’, and typically appears in this format when the writer wants to *obfuscate* the specific day)
If you want ‘traditional system but modern style’, just go with 令和5年2月○○日 where ○○ is the date.
And let me guess, from your profile, it’s a sword, isn’t it? Why would you inscribe a *date* on a sword? That’s the bit that confuses me the most. Inscriptions are usually either a maker’s mark, or a message meant to represent some kind of moral or virtue. A date is a date. It means nothing in the grand scheme of things.
If you want sexagenary year, then the custom is era name + year, so 令和癸卯 or 令和五年癸卯, but never with western year number.