Year of the Dog
戌 inu · Japanese 犬 · sign 11 of 12
The Dog is 戌, read inu, and it is the sign most consistently described in positive terms across sources — loyal, honest, protective, and inclined to worry.
Dogs sit either side of shrine entrances as komainu, the lion-dogs that guard the approach, and dog figurines are a standard gift for a safe birth. The eleventh month of pregnancy custom, obi-iwai, is held on a Dog day, because dogs are held to give birth easily.
Years of the Dog
Each year page gives the exact date the zodiac year began, the element that goes with it, and what it means if you were born in the weeks before that date.
The character readings above are traditional characterisations with a long history, not predictions. The arithmetic on this page — which animal, which element, which date the year turns — is exact and checkable. What the tradition makes of it is culture, and we report it as culture.