Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu (Happy New Year)!

When Buddhism arrived in Japan, the Japanese imported both the Buddhist teachings and the Zodiac calendar – the calendar is known as 干支(e to). The 12 animals of the Zodiac are known as 十二支(juni shi).

This video shows the origin of how these 12 animals were selected.

The Oriental zodiac is the classification scheme that assigns an animal to each year in a repeating twelve-year cycle.

Please use this video to practice listening read aloud at home. It is perfectly fine for you to simply listen to this video. The students will improve their listening skills through watching this video multiple times at home. You and your child may also read along with me by repeating, which will help them to improve their oral language. Thank you!