Year of the Rat
子 ne · Japanese 鼠 · sign 1 of 12
The Rat opens the cycle, and the story of how it got there is the one every Japanese child hears: the animals raced to the gods, the Rat rode on the Ox’s head and jumped off at the finish line. It is a story about cleverness beating strength, and it colours how the sign is read.
In Japan the sign is 子, read ne — the character means “child”, not “rat”, which catches learners out. Traditional readings give Rat years resourcefulness, thrift and a good eye for an opening. The direction associated with 子 is due north, and the hour is midnight, which is why the old name for that hour was the hour of the Rat.
Years of the Rat
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.