How to read it

1947 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 22: 昭和22年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 22 + 25 = 47. On paper it is S22: 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 1947 turns 79 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 80.

1947 in the Chinese zodiac

1947 is the year of the Fire Boar (丁亥). The zodiac year began on 22 January 1947.

Other years

• 1942昭和17年
• 1943昭和18年
• 1944昭和19年
• 1945昭和20年
• 1946昭和21年
• 1948昭和23年
• 1949昭和24年
• 1950昭和25年
• 1951昭和26年
• 1952昭和27年

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