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The characters/ideograms mean, “60th birthday.” The first character means, “send back; return,” the second character means, “calendar; almanac.”
The completion of the twelve-year cycle of the zodiac no less than five times. It is that threshold to indicate entering what I call the “Winter Years” or rather a signal of the approach of old age. It is not an excuse mind you but simply a notification of the many changes that have occurred and will continue to occur to your mind, body and spirit.
From the Encyclopedia of Shinto: “When a person lives to see their sixty-first calendar year, they have lived through the entire sixty-year cycle of the traditional eto (ten stems and twelve branches) calendar and returned to the same "year" and horoscope sign in which they were born.”
In shintoism one who manages to achieve this feat celebrates by receipt of a red cap, a seat cushion, and a vest called the “Chanchanko,” similar to the one they received as a newborn. It is about renewal, a rebirth to one’s birth year sign.
Note that there are also signs/symbols of greater ages such as, “longevity celebrations for turning "seventy" (koki [古希]), "seventy-seven" (kiju [喜寿]), "eighty" (sanju [傘寿]), "eighty-one" (hanju), "eighty-eight" (beiju [米寿]), "ninety" (sotsuju [卒寿]), "ninety-nine" (hakuju [白寿]), "one-hundred" (jōju), "one hundred and eight" (chaju [茶寿]), and "one hundred and eleven" (kōju).”
Bibliography:
Nobutaka, Inoue. “Kanreki.” 24 February 2007. http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=1040
Clarke, Michael. “Kanreki … time to start over.” 19 May 2015 at 22:55hrs written Saturday, 16 May 2015. http://shinseidokandojo.blogspot.com/2015/05/kanrekitime-to-start-over.html
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