Components

Point of interest: 命日 vs 月命日

POI
命日 vs 月命日
136 words
The commemoration of death is an important part of Japanese culture, and two key types of date are commonly involved.
Most commonly encountered is the
めいにち
命日
, the anniversary of the date of death. This occurs once a year, and is essentially the inverse of a birthday. It would be common to perform a お
はかまい
墓参
り, a visit to the grave of the deceased person.
Somewhat less common is the
つきめいにち
月命日
, the day of month that corresponds to the date of death, but in every other month. In other words, if a person passed away on the 1st January, the 命日 would be the 1st of January of each succeeding year, whereas the 月命日 would be the 1st of February, 1st of March etc. A 命日 occurs once a year, whereas a 月命日 occurs 11 times a year.

Kanji used in this point of interest

メイ   ミョウ    life; fate   いのち life   
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ニチ   ジツ   sun; day   ひ    -か    
ボ   はか grave   
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サン   まい to visit, go, come   
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ガツ   ゲツ   つき month; moon   
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