YEAR OF THE TIGER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 April 1938, Page 12

YEAR OF THE TIGER

PROPHESY AND PROPAGANDA.

SOOTHSAYERS ON 1938. Diviners, soothsayers, and astrologers, of whom there are large numbers in Japan, always find an abundance of employment at the beginning of a new year (writes the Tokio correspondent of the “Observer”). The various implications of the zodiac sign which applies to the year must be studied and explained; and new year prophecies are much in demand. One thousand nine hundred 'and thirty-eight is the Year of the Tiger (the other 11 signs of the zodiac are the rat, the ox, the rabbit, the dragon, the serpent, the horse, the sheep, the ape, the hen, the dog, and the boar. That the association with the striped jungle beast is taken very seriously by the Japanese common people is evident from the fact that marriages showed a striking rate of increase last year, and are expected to decline in 1938. This is because of the saying that the tiger always finds his way home, and the consequent fear that brides who marry under the aegis of the tiger will be sent home to their families. The disposition of persons born in the Year of the Tiger, according to the rules of divination, is thoughtful and imperturbable. At the same time such persons are likely, to be selfish and to quarrel with persons who are superior to them. Special recommendations are laid down for the various age groups of ’ persons born in the Year of the Tiger. So persons who are 13, 49, and 85 are warned to be especially thoughtful, on pain of failing in whatever cney undertake. i Persons who are 25 and 61 years ' old are advised not to try their ■ strength to the breaking point. As ■ the Year of the Tiger returns after a 12-year cycle, persons who are 85, 73, 61, 49, 37, 25, 13, and one years of age are supposed to be under its auspices.

The beginning of the Year of the Tiger was also marked by the annual prediction of Japan’s king of soothsayers, Mr Donsho Kodama, who delivered his forecast before an attentive and distinguished audience in the Peers’ Club.

There is an American saying that the Supreme Court, in its decisions, follows the election returns; and Mr Kodama, in the year’s prophecy, did not seem to be uninfluenced by the winds of Government propaganda. At any rate he ventured some predictions which might well impress thoughtful Japanese as almost too good to be true. Among these may be mentioned his assurances that Japan’s financial system will function smoothly and without embarrassment, that foreign trade will increase, and that China, by next fall, will be disposed to maintain friendly relations with Japan. Other forecasts of the seer, such as rain and windstorms, seem to derive a certain confirmation from Japan’s climate.

Kodama’s efforts at divination extended to foreign countries; and here again his prophecies were not altogether without reference to Japanese hopes and predilections. Great Britain he saw as a tiger who fears to devour a man who has stepped on its tail. Fox’ the reassurance of the British public, however, he reported that signs in his mysterious book of divination indicate that Great Britain will not lose face, since it will recognise its blunders in the international field in good time. The Soviet Union, according to the Japanese diviner, is in the position of a man about to marry, but not fated to enjoy a happy home life. This is a reference to the supposed agreement between the Soviet Union and China. Mr Kodama saw Japan and America in the form of two men dividing money by a light in the dark. This he interpreted as a sign that some joint Japanese-American money-making enterprise would be undertaken. Divination in this case may have been assisted by knowledge of the Japanese effort to obtain American capital for the development of Manchukuo.