4月吉日

English translation: a lucky/auspicious day (yet unspecified day) in April

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Japanese term or phrase:4月吉日
English translation:a lucky/auspicious day (yet unspecified day) in April
Entered by: Katalin Horváth McClure

15:41 Apr 16, 2012
Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - History / Old calendar
Japanese term or phrase: 4月吉日
I'm not very familiar with the old calendar. This is from a wedding invitation, and this the date given: 平成24年4月吉日. I can't find a good explanation online, so if you're familiar with this, please let me know. Thanks.
Glenn Patteson (X)
United States
Local time: 10:09
a lucky day (yet unspecified day) in April
Explanation:
http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q121...

According to the explanation given at the above URL, they use it on wedding invitations when they do not want to specify the exact day yet. You can expect another follow-up when they tell you the exact date.

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Note added at 27 perc (2012-04-16 16:09:05 GMT)
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One thing is interesting though, if it is 平成24年4月吉日, then it is this year, this April.

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Note added at 32 perc (2012-04-16 16:13:42 GMT)
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I investigated this a bit further.
Out of the 6 lunar days, "taian" is considered the most auspicious, the best for weddings.
In 2012 April, the following days are "taian":
April 5, 11, 17, 23 and 29.
http://www.seiyaku.com/customs/rokuyo.html

I hope this helps.
Selected response from:

Katalin Horváth McClure
United States
Local time: 10:09
Grading comment
Thanks!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4a(n) auspicious (lucky) day for the month of April
Jason Kang
4a lucky day (yet unspecified day) in April
Katalin Horváth McClure
4English
Daisaburo Takada
3 -1April 29, 2012 (for example)
MariyaN (X)
1April 2012
Maynard Hogg


  

Answers


21 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
a(n) auspicious (lucky) day for the month of April


Explanation:
A typical expression in wedding invitation. You can see several pages in Google.


Jason Kang
Canada
Local time: 07:09
Native speaker of: Native in KoreanKorean

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  MariyaN (X): http://tinyurl.com/6tb8lc3
30 mins
  -> Thanks

agree  yumom
11 hrs
  -> Thanks!

agree  MalteLaurids
12 hrs
  -> Thanks!

agree  Vladyslav Golovaty: an auspicious occasion! おめでとう
19 hrs
  -> Thanks!
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23 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
a lucky day (yet unspecified day) in April


Explanation:
http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q121...

According to the explanation given at the above URL, they use it on wedding invitations when they do not want to specify the exact day yet. You can expect another follow-up when they tell you the exact date.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 27 perc (2012-04-16 16:09:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

One thing is interesting though, if it is 平成24年4月吉日, then it is this year, this April.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 32 perc (2012-04-16 16:13:42 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I investigated this a bit further.
Out of the 6 lunar days, "taian" is considered the most auspicious, the best for weddings.
In 2012 April, the following days are "taian":
April 5, 11, 17, 23 and 29.
http://www.seiyaku.com/customs/rokuyo.html

I hope this helps.

Katalin Horváth McClure
United States
Local time: 10:09
Native speaker of: Native in HungarianHungarian
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Maynard Hogg: "they do not want to specify the exact day yet"? You're confusing the date on the invitation with the date of the wedding/reception. The latter is specified right down to the time.
1 day 6 hrs
  -> From the question asked, it does not appear to be "specified right down to the time", otherwise the asker wouldn't have asked it. I don't think a wedding invitation itself has a date, the wedding does - but it is unspecified.
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39 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
English


Explanation:
I agree with "an auspcious day" in April.

Daisaburo Takada
Japan
Local time: 23:09
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
April 29, 2012 (for example)


Explanation:
To translate it as "lucky day" would be perfectly correct, but since there is an actual date behind it, it may also be necessary to include that actual date in the English version of the invitation - otherwise it may look a little weird to an English reader and would not actually inform the addressee about the date of the event.
Here is a calendar for 2012 with all lucky days (大安 being the luckiest): http://wedding.yahoo.co.jp/manual/manual/rokki/2012.html

Here is a good (in my opinion) explanation regarding lucky days: http://kaishain.jp/dictionary/calender.html

And here is one more: http://allabout.co.jp/gm/gc/210049/
Note the 「大安が休日と重なる日ともなると、結婚式のラッシュ。 」 - this is why I presume the date in the invitation you translate may be April 29 - in case the ceremony is going to take place in April 2012(平成24年) - since it's going to be the only 吉日 in April that will also be a day off (Sunday).

MariyaN (X)
United States
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian, Native in UkrainianUkrainian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Maynard Hogg: You're introducing information that is not in the original text.
1 day 5 hrs
  -> Please, see my explanation. Also, please note the "(for example)" part in my answer.
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1 day 7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 1/5Answerer confidence 1/5
April 2012


Explanation:
Since the exact date is deliberately left unspecified in the original Japanese, the safest way to leave out the day part in English.

Maynard Hogg
Canada
Local time: 07:09
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Katalin Horváth McClure: At my answer, you said "the date of the wedding/reception ... is specified right down to the time", and now you are saying it is "left unspecified". So which one is it?
1 hr
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