令和 / Reiwa

「令和」將於2019年5月1日開始取代「平成」成為新的日本年號。 新年號是在日本最古老的和歌集-「萬葉集」當中，與「梅花」有關的32首和歌的序言中引用而創作出的詞句。如同梅花在春天盛開般，飽含著希望日本國民們都能百花齊放的心願。與「梅花」相關的觀光景點也立刻受到了矚目。

Reiwa, the name of the new era, was announced on April 1st, and takes effect from May 1st, with the coronation of the new emperor. The name consists of two kanji characters, Rei and Wa. Rei stands for admirable or superb, and Wa stands for harmony. Some foreign media has reported that Rei means ‘order’ but this doesn’t really touch on the nuance of the meaning. Reiwa was taken from Manyoshu, the oldest book in Japan, which is a collection of 4500 poems from the 8th century. Rei and Wa were in the introduction part of 32 poems about Japanese plum (ume) blossoms. The name promotes each person in Japan living peacefully with glory as the plum flowers bloomed. Places related to ume are already becoming a focus for tourism.