How to read it

1966 minus 1926, the year Shōwa began, plus one, gives 41: 昭和41年. The shortcut Japanese people use: add 25 to a Shōwa year and you have the last two digits of the Western year — 41 + 25 = 66. On paper it is S41: 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 1966 turns 60 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 61. That makes 2026 a celebration year: 60 is kanreki 還暦, a full turn of the sixty-year cycle.

1966 in the Chinese zodiac

1966 is the year of the Fire Horse (丙午). The zodiac year began on 21 January 1966.

Other years

• 1961昭和36年
• 1962昭和37年
• 1963昭和38年
• 1964昭和39年
• 1965昭和40年
• 1967昭和42年
• 1968昭和43年
• 1969昭和44年
• 1970昭和45年
• 1971昭和46年

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