Akemashite omedetou. Happy New Year.
It’s February, you’re right, but I’m not entirely wrong. The Lunar New Year in 2026 is on February 17th, so I should be close. Today, let me tell you about the year of the firehorse, why Januaries hate me, a cursed kimono, and a lovesick young girl who was burned at the stake.
Hey, hey, this is Thersa Matsuura and you’re listening to Uncanny Japan, the place where I talk about the more obscure and what I find extremely fascinating parts of Japanese culture. I’m also the author of the Book of Japanese Folklore, the Yōkai Oracle Deck, and coming in September of this year, a middle grade book called Legends of Japanese Mythology, Meet the Heroes, Spirits, Monsters, and Yōkai of Japanese Folklore.
That last one will be published by Wide Eyes Editions with the absolutely jaw-dropping illustrations of artist Tomii Masako. You can find it listed on Amazon already, so if you want to see what the cover looks like, you can do that.
It’s been a while, I’m really sorry about that. I’ve missed you all terribly, but did I mention that I’m getting the feeling that Januaries hate me? January 25 had me being rushed at 3 a.m. by ambulance to a hospital one city over for another deep vein thrombosis. A long hospital stay, a long learning to walk again, and that was harrowing.
Then this January has me very suddenly having to move out of this house and area I love so much. It’s heartbreaking, but I have found a place to land, my in-law’s 35-year-old home. It’s been unlived in for about seven years now, and my ex-husband and brother-in-law, understandably, don’t want to tackle it, but it really needs tackling.
My in-law’s, I have discovered, never threw anything away, and it’s quite the hoarder’s house with entire rooms, floor to ceiling, piled high with stuff. Well, I need a place to live, so I offered to help there, and helping them and they’re helping me, and I’ve been working on it for a couple months.
I still haven’t made it to a closet yet, but I did get two rooms cleared, and I fixed the toilet seat warmer, so huge progress there. I’m posting updates, photos, and videos of those adventures over on Patreon for patrons. If you’d like to join us, you too can experience some of the mystery, charm, and mind-boggliness happening as I sort through almost 40 years of stuff.
I’m finding some really emotional items, which I imagine are the icing, sprinkles, and cherry on top of the already overly emotional and chaotic cake that is my life at the moment. Speaking of chaos, let’s segue into the year of the firehorse. The basics.
So we all know there are 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac and calendar, a zodiac and calendar that is popular in many East Asian countries, including Japan. The animals go in order. Rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat in China, or sheep in Japan, monkey, rooster, dog, pig in China, or wild boar in Japan.
And we all know that these cycle through every 12 years. Now, add to them the five elements. Wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. These are then combined so you have one animal and one element each year.
12 times 5 will give you a 60-year cycle of unique years with unique characteristics. Which brings us to this year, 2026, the dreaded year of the firehorse. But let me say, it’s only dreaded in Japan, and I’ll get to why that is in a second.
First, generally, what kind of year is a firehorse year? Well, a horse year, like the horse itself, symbolizes movement, energy, independence, bold change, and strong drive. Add to that the characteristics for the fire element, intensity, transformation, and ignition. Together then, on the positive side, you’ll get something like 2026 will be a year of action, freedom, speed, passion, self-expression, breakthroughs, and breaking away from limitations.
The energy is predicted to be intense, dynamic, and forward-moving. There could very well be cultural shifts happening, radical change, also upheaval. Alrighty then, if January is any indication—I mean, my 2026 so far tracks perfectly with all of this— then I read the news and, well, you can’t help thinking, maybe the ancients were really on to something. So why does Japan consider this an inauspicious year, and why does the birth rate plummet during firehorse years?
It really does. It all started with a superstition in the Edo era, and that was simply that during a year of the firehorse, there would be more fires than usual, not too much of a stretch. You have to remember that back in the 1600s, 1700s, and early 1800s, everything was lit by candles and lanterns. Inside homes were cooking hearths with open fires and oil lamps in every room.
Now also remember that towns and entire cities were basically made of kindling. Houses and stores, temples and shrines had walls of wood and paper, roofs were often wooden shingles or dried thatch, and doors were simple sliding paper screens. What made it worse was that in highly populated areas, like the city of Edo, the houses were built shoulder to shoulder. If you walked into a dimly lit room and accidentally knocked over your Andon lamp, spilling the oil across the floor and possibly up a wood and paper screen, the whole house would very quickly go up in flames.
Since there was no fire break between the houses on either side, you’d burn down your neighbor’s houses, and their neighbor’s houses too. There were over 1,798 fires in the Edo era, 49 of which were considered great fires. Fires were so common that a saying was born, “yaketara mata tateru. ” If it burns down, we’ll build again.
It expresses both the helplessness and the hopeful resilience of the Edoites. Don’t forget that Edo sat in a basin and had very strong seasonal winds, so depending on the timing, entire neighborhoods or more would be destroyed in an instant. Fires were terrifying things. An example of this happened in 1657.
This was the year of the Great Fire of Meireki, which burned for three days, destroyed roughly 70% of Edo, and killed over 100,000 people. It was reported that the rivers were clogged with bodies. There’s a legend about this fire that’s really interesting. It has a second name, the Great Furisode Fire.
A furisode is a kimono that has very long sleeves and is worn by young unmarried women. The story goes that this devastating fire was caused by a cursed furisode kimono. And here’s how it happened. The kimono was believed to be cursed because it belonged to a young woman who died before she even got to wear it.
It was passed on to another young woman who also died before she was able to wear it. It changed hands a third time, and again a young girl perished before she even put it on. It was then that the kimono was deemed cursed and given to a monk to dispose of properly. Only the kimono wasn’t finished killing people.
The monk was burning it as one does cursed things, but suddenly a big gust of wind kicked up and set the temple on fire. From there, the entire city burned for three days. All that to say that fires were extremely dangerous and scary, and there used to be a superstition that the year of the fire horse brought more fires than usual. So be careful.
And all that is well and good. But how did Japan go from there to the idea that any woman born in the year of the fire horse would have a strong and disagreeable temperament? She’ll shorten the life of her husband and/or destroy her entire family. And let’s just keep going with this superstition and say that maybe she might outright kill her husband.
Well, that comes from an actual sad story about a young girl born in 1666. And sometimes it’s said 1667. She’s known as Yaoya Oshichi. Literally, Green Grocer Oshichi.
She was the daughter of a vegetable and fruit seller. Her story goes that in 1682, she fell in love with a temple page whom she met at the family temple during one of the many great fires that happened at the time. The poor girl wasn’t able to see him again. And after a year of missing him terribly, she came up with a plan.
Not a terribly good one. She thought that if she started another fire, perhaps she could meet him again. Not a good idea. She was caught and she was put on trial.
At this time, knowing someone’s exact age wasn’t as easy as it is now. Records weren’t very strict. Since a child of 15 and under could not get the death penalty, the judge asked her her age. He phrased it something like, “You must be 15 years old, aren’t you?
” Well, the Green Grocer’s daughter didn’t understand that he was trying to help her. All Oshichi had to say was that yes, she was 15 and she would have been spared. But instead, she said no, she was 16. He tried again, stronger this time.
“You’re 15 years old, are you not? ” Honest girl that she was, she said no. She was in fact 16. Deemed an adult, Oshichi was burned at the stake.
Now, make the leap that Oshichi was born in 1666, the year of the fire horse. It became a belief that girls born in this year, once every 60-year cycle, would be unlucky. Oshichi’s story has lived on in stories, novels, kabuki, and bunraku puppet plays. For me personally, I’m feeling the year of the fire horse profoundly.
It’s said that you should take action on long-held goals, embrace change, and trust your inner momentum. But take care not to burn out or to be too impetuous. Don’t think of it as a year of reckless speed, but consistent and purposeful motion, stepping forward with confidence and courage. It’s a year to be bold, but to also take care of yourself.
That said, I’m in the middle of a big move, and after I record this, I’m going to disassemble this recording booth and rebuild another along with my life. If you’re going through any difficult times, as I’m sure we all are, let’s take some strength from the fire horse and some wisdom from the people of Edo. “Yaketara mata tateru. ” If it burns, let’s rebuild.
(Sigh) I’m still posting over on Patreon and putting up chapters that I’m reading of the Pillow Book. I’m giving myself another month to get settled into the new place, and then I will be back recording every other weekly episode here, starting in March, I promise. Everyone, please stay safe and well, and I will talk to you again real soon. Bye bye.
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