How to read it

1944 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 19: 昭和19年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 19 + 25 = 44. On paper it is S19: 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 1944 turns 82 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 83.

1944 in the Chinese zodiac

1944 is the year of the Wood Monkey (甲申). The zodiac year began on 25 January 1944.

Other years

• 1939昭和14年
• 1940昭和15年
• 1941昭和16年
• 1942昭和17年
• 1943昭和18年
• 1945昭和20年
• 1946昭和21年
• 1947昭和22年
• 1948昭和23年
• 1949昭和24年

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