Ã÷¤±¤Þ¤·¤Æ¤ª¤á¤Ç¤È¤¦¤´¤¶¤¤¤Þ¤¹£¡ (Akemashite omedet¨ gozaimasu!, Happy New Year!) It¡¯s 2024, the year of the ³½ (tatsu, dragon) ¡ª the lone mythical creature among the Ê®¶þÖ§ (Âᨱ²Ô¾±²õ³ó¾±, 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac).
The reason why the fictional dragon made the cut into the Ê®¶þÖ§ is a mystery, but the prevailing belief goes that is because it has a profound connection to us.
The variety of the kanji characters representing dragons partly explains their popularity. While the kanji ³½ (shin, tatsu, toki, hi) is generally used for the description of the Ê®¶þÖ§, two other characters ¡ª ýˆ (°ù²â¨±, °ù²â¨, tatsu) and ¸o (°ù²â¨±, °ù²â¨, tatsu) ¡ª also signify dragons. Although the kanji ýˆ represents the old form and ¸o is the more broadly employed version today, both are still standard and frequently used for boys¡¯ names (ýˆÆ½ [¸é²â¨±³ó±ð¾±], ¸oÒ² [Tatsuya]) and those of sumo wrestlers (³¯Çàýˆ [Asash¨°ù²â¨±], ØN•Nýˆ [H¨sh¨°ù²â¨±]).
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