February 06, 2014

Poseidon of the East (5)

Until fairly recently, the belief persisted in Japan that Japanese women came to term in ten months, not nine. The common explanation is that a pregnancy was traditionally counted from the week of the last period, and then in 10 lunar months of 28 days. A typical nine-month pregnancy comes to around 270 days, well within the margin of error.

On the other hand, the birds and the bees here don't have much to do with "normal" human physiology.

Kyoto became the capital of Japan in the 8th century. In 1868, the seat of government was moved to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo (the "eastern capital").

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