Japanese Longevity Milestones Calculator
Enter a birthdate to instantly calculate the year (Western and Japanese era) of each traditional Japanese longevity celebration: Kanreki (60), Koki (70), Kiju (77), Sanju (80), Beiju (88), Sotsuju (90) and Hakuju (99).
Tips for Japanese longevity milestones
- Kanreki marks the completion of a 60-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac and the ten celestial stems, returning to the same sign you were born under. Gifting a red vest and hood symbolizes a symbolic "rebirth" as a baby.
- Koki takes its name from a line by the Tang-dynasty Chinese poet Du Fu: "living to seventy has been rare since antiquity."
- Beiju is named because the character for "rice" (米) can be broken down into strokes resembling "eighty-eight," while Sanju comes from a cursive form of the character for "umbrella" (傘) that resembles "eighty."
- The target year for each milestone can be calculated using either the traditional Japanese "kazoe-doshi" age (counting the birth year as age one) or the modern Western age, depending on the region or family. This tool uses the Western-age convention (birth year + milestone age).
Frequently asked questions
Side Note — the colors and origins of Japanese longevity celebrations
Each Japanese longevity milestone traditionally has an associated color. Kanreki is red, Koki, Kiju and Sanju are purple, Beiju is gold or yellow, Sotsuju is white or purple, and Hakuju is white — the color shifting as the milestones progress. Each color is said to carry meaning tied to warding off misfortune or symbolizing nobility.
Many of these names are tied to Chinese character wordplay. Kiju comes from the cursive form of the character for "joy" (喜) resembling the numbers "seventy-seven," while Sotsuju comes from an abbreviated form of the character for "graduate" (卒) resembling "ninety" — a distinctive feature of how these names emerged from the visual shapes of kanji.
The custom of celebrating longevity milestones is said to date back to the Heian period, when people held a "celebration of blessing" (ga no iwai) every ten years starting at age 40. The specific names used today — Kanreki, Koki, Kiju and so on — are believed to have become firmly established sometime after the Edo period.