How to read it

1921 minus 1912, the year Taishō began, plus one, gives 10: 大正10年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 11 to a Taishō year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 10 + 11 = 21. On paper it is T10: forms print the era options — 明・大・昭・平・令, or the letters M T S H R — beside the date box, and you circle one and write the number. Someone born in 1921 turns 105 in 2026. In kazoedoshi 数え年 — the traditional count that starts at one at birth and adds a year every New Year — they are 106.

Other years

• 1916大正5年
• 1917大正6年
• 1918大正7年
• 1919大正8年
• 1920大正9年
• 1922大正11年
• 1923大正12年
• 1924大正13年
• 1925大正14年
• 1926昭和元年

Every year of the Taishō era → · How the Japanese calendar works, and every year 1868–2050