The Hinoe-uma (Fire Horse) superstition

1.What Hinoe-uma is

Hinoe-uma is number 43 in the sixty-year cycle. Its stem, 丙 (hinoe), is yang fire, and its branch, the Horse (午), is also yang fire: two of the same element, a combination called hiwa. So Hinoe-uma years were thought to burn with an especially fierce fire.

2.Where the superstition came from

In China there was a theory that years of 丙午 and 丁未 brought disaster to the state (set out by the Southern Song writer Chai Wang). In Japan, because both 丙 and 午 are fire, the year became linked with fires, and in the Edo period this turned into the belief that “a woman born in a Hinoe-uma year is fierce and shortens her husband’s life”.

The story of Yaoya Oshichi is said to lie behind it. Oshichi, a greengrocer’s daughter, set fire to her house in the hope of seeing her lover again and was burned at the stake. Her story became famous through Ihara Saikaku’s Five Women Who Loved Love (1686) and through puppet theatre and kabuki, and a later rumour that Oshichi had been born in a Hinoe-uma year (found, for example, in a 1757 collection of Edo tales) is thought to have strengthened the superstition. Her real birth year is not known. And of course, there is no basis for the idea that your birth year decides your character or fate.

3.The sudden drop in births in 1966

In 1966, the previous Hinoe-uma year, so many couples avoided having a baby that births in Japan fell to about 1.36 million, from about 1.82 million the year before: a drop of about 25%. It is a famous case of a superstition showing up in modern population statistics.

4.Hinoe-uma in 2026

The Hinoe-uma year runs from Risshun (4 February) 2026 to Setsubun in 2027. In Nine Star Ki it is a year with One White Water Star in the center. For each animal’s outlook, see the readings.

Modern fortune-telling takes a positive view of Hinoe-uma, as a high-energy year that stands for passion, drive and brightness.

5.FAQ

When is the Hinoe-uma year?

2026 (from 4 February 2026 to 3 February 2027) is a Hinoe-uma year. The next one is 60 years later, in 2086.

What are people born in a Hinoe-uma year like?

None of the superstition’s bad meanings hold. In fortune-telling, they are seen as bright, passionate and full of drive, like the sun.