Year of the Dragon
辰 tatsu · Japanese 竜 · sign 5 of 12
The Dragon is the only animal in the twelve that does not exist, and the only one that is unambiguously auspicious. In years of the Dragon, birth rates measurably rise in several East Asian countries — parents plan for it.
The Japanese sign is 辰, read tatsu. The East Asian dragon is a water creature, not the fire-breathing European kind: it lives in rivers and rain, and temple carvings show it with a pearl. Traditional readings give the sign ambition, presence and a low tolerance for being managed.
Years of the Dragon
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.