Eto Calculator — Japanese Zodiac Animal & 60-Year Kanshi Cycle
Find the Japanese zodiac animal (jūnishi) and full sexagenary eto (like 丙午 hinoe-uma) for any year, plus every recent year that shares the same animal.
🔒 Runs entirely in your browser. Your input and output are never sent to a server or stored — fully private.
The full eto combines ten heavenly stems (十干) with twelve animals (十二支) into a 60-year cycle — 1984 was 甲子 (kinoe-ne), the start of the cycle. Ages shown are reached on this year’s birthday. Click a value to copy.
About this tool
This eto calculator gives the Japanese zodiac for any year: the familiar 12 animals (ne the rat through i the boar) and the full 60-year cycle that combines the ten heavenly stems with the twelve branches — 2026, for example, is hinoe-uma (丙午). It also lists other years that share the same animal, with the ages people born then turn this year. Useful for New Year cards, checking someone's birth-year animal, or exploring why kanreki (the 60th birthday) marks a full cycle. Everything is computed locally in your browser.
Frequently asked questions
What is the 60-year cycle (jikkan-jūnishi)?
The full eto pairs one of ten heavenly stems (kinoe, kinoto, hinoe…) with one of twelve branches (the animals). Ten and twelve line up again only after their least common multiple, 60 years — so each combination, like hinoe-uma, occurs once per 60-year cycle. That is why a 60th birthday is called kanreki, "the calendar returns": you are back at the eto of your birth year.
Does the zodiac year start on 1 January?
In modern Japan, yes — the animal changes with the calendar year, which is what this tool shows and what New Year cards follow. Historically (and still in Chinese custom) the zodiac followed the lunisolar new year, in late January or February, and some fortune-telling traditions use the solar term risshun instead. So a January birthday can have a different animal depending on the convention — worth knowing when comparing with Chinese horoscopes.
Is anything I enter sent to a server?
No. The eto is pure arithmetic on the year number (the cycle is anchored so that 1984 is kinoe-ne, the start of a 60-year cycle), computed by JavaScript in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded or stored, and the tool keeps working offline once the page has loaded.