How to read it

1936 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 11: 昭和11年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 11 + 25 = 36. On paper it is S11: 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 1936 turns 90 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 91. That makes 2026 a celebration year: 90 is sotsuju 卒寿, because the short form of 卒 looks like 九十.

1936 in the Chinese zodiac

1936 is the year of the Fire Rat (丙子). The zodiac year began on 24 January 1936.

Other years

• 1931昭和6年
• 1932昭和7年
• 1933昭和8年
• 1934昭和9年
• 1935昭和10年
• 1937昭和12年
• 1938昭和13年
• 1939昭和14年
• 1940昭和15年
• 1941昭和16年

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