How to read it

1956 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 31: 昭和31年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 31 + 25 = 56. On paper it is S31: 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 1956 turns 70 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 71. That makes 2026 a celebration year: 70 is koki 古希, the “rare age” of a Tang-dynasty poem.

1956 in the Chinese zodiac

1956 is the year of the Fire Monkey (丙申). The zodiac year began on 12 February 1956.

Other years

• 1951昭和26年
• 1952昭和27年
• 1953昭和28年
• 1954昭和29年
• 1955昭和30年
• 1957昭和32年
• 1958昭和33年
• 1959昭和34年
• 1960昭和35年
• 1961昭和36年

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