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I have this sentence from a text which mentions the death of two emperors, but I cannot find the meaning and pronunciation of 干支崩年 in it. The sentence is:

"古事記の干支崩年に従えば、応神天皇の崩御が西暦394年、仁徳天皇の崩御が西暦427年となり、その間が在位期間となる。"

I cannot find the expression 干支崩年 in the online dictionary. If I copy only the first 2 kanji it lists the reading of 干支 as "eto" or "kanshi" and the meaning as "sexagenary cycle; Chinese astrology". But together with 崩 and 年 it doesn't list anything.

Does anyone know of this expression?

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  • thanks for editing, i few points I messed up, but I don't agree with all the changes, thanks anyway.
    – Dajka Laszlo
    Commented Dec 11, 2012 at 23:30
  • fair enough, if you don't agree with any of my changes feel free to roll them back.
    – cypher
    Commented Dec 11, 2012 at 23:42
  • :D well most of them fair, I just can't get it how I overlooked them. Anyway now at least I realized how I can form my question through using quotation
    – Dajka Laszlo
    Commented Dec 11, 2012 at 23:54

1 Answer 1

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Looking at this article, it looks like (in this case at least,) the meaning of this compound has to do with describing the reigning period of particular emperors (in the Kojiki) by using the sexagenary cycle instead of giving a particular Western calendar year. Historians can then estimate emperor reign length against Western (or other) calendars by using this sexagenary cycle notation.

Also, the 崩年 compound itself can be read: ほうねん.

Interesting topic!

Reference:

  1. http://kodai.sakura.ne.jp/nihonnkennkokusi/2-1hougyo.htm
  2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagenary_cycle
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  • 2
    Thank you for your links and your answer it is very helpful!:) Japanese is a really exciting language, many times confusing but exciting and beautiful!
    – Dajka Laszlo
    Commented Dec 11, 2012 at 20:34
  • @DajkaLaszlo No problem! Yeah, that's a good description of the Japanese langauge :)
    – summea
    Commented Dec 11, 2012 at 22:27

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