What Is A Fire Horse?

Although I'm not a believer in astrology, I'm more than willing to admit that it's fun. No matter your opinion on the topic, you probably also know your birth sign, at least according to the western paradigm. You know, Capricorn, Pisces, Libra, that sort of thing.

Some people also know their birth sign in Chinese astrology -- mine is a horse. Others are dogs, goats, tiger, dragons, and other animals. What you may not know is that there are special personalities associated with each of the signs. 1966 was a Horse year, and it was a special kind of horse -- a Fire Horse, called "hinoeuma" in Japanese. (The Chinese astrological system is also in use in Japan and Korea as well, although each country puts a slightly different spin on it.)

Japanese women who were born that year (and the previous Fire Horse year, 1906) battle superstitions about themselves all the time. Fire Horse women are called dangerous, headstrong, and are seen as deadly to men. This may sound quaint to western ears, but the 1906 Japanese herd was subjected to poverty and starvation because they could not marry. The 1966 herd has it a bit easier, but they still fight superstitions. Chinese tradition also sees the Fire Horse as a special sign entailing either spectacular good luck, or terrible bad luck; they consider that nothing about the Fire Horse occurs in moderation. However, I've never heard of any particular problem encountered by Fire Horses in China, much less Fire Horse women.

Since I am also a fire horse, I'd heard about this superstition in a casual sort of way, and my reaction was more or less, "Oh, isn't that neat." I was unaware until very recently that this is not merely a quaint old belief from the middle ages, but that Japanese hinoeuma women battle these beliefs even today, all the time. The western woman who identifies herself as a Fire Horse may do so in casual conversation and expect her listeners to smile politely and perhaps make a remark like, "Isn't that charming?" or "I wonder what my birth animal is?" The Japanese woman who identifies herself as a Fire Horse in conversation is making a much more serious statement.

This page explains a bit about the Fire Horse superstition and Chinese astrology for the curious westerner who might not have known about this otherwise. Any Japanese hinoeuma is welcome to provide feedback if I've made any mistakes.

Chinese Astrology for the Western Skeptic

Most people are pretty familiar with the astrological signs most often used in the west -- how the sign under which you were born depends on the month you were born in, the rough order in which they proceed, that sort of thing. Some people might even know the personalities supposedly associated with the signs by believers in astrology -- that Virgos tends to be anal retentive, Leos love attention, and Pisces would forget their heads if they weren't attached.

The Chinese zodiac works a little differently. There are twelve animals in the zodiac, but they don't depend on the month you were born in. They are correlated instead with the year of your birth -- roughly the beginning of February in one year to February of the next is one sign. Since there are twelve animals, the cycle takes twelve years before starting over. I was born in 1966, and hence I am a Horse. My dad was born in 1929 which makes him a Snake, and my mom is a Dog since she was born in 1934.

The animals are, in order: mouse/rat, ox/cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and boar. These animals were chosen from the myths surrounding the Buddha's time on Earth. When he departed the Earth, these twelve animals came to say goodbye to him. Other myths state that they were the animal forms into which the Buddha was successively reincarnated.

There are distinct personalities associated with each among believers. For example, dogs are seen as loyal, tigers are courageous, and monkeys are fun-loving and merry.

The Chinese zodiac isn't just about the animals, though. There is another cycle laid on top of this one that is associated with the five elements in Asian philosophy. Just as there are four "elements" (earth, air, fire, and water) in the west courtesy of Greek philosophy, Asian philosophy also has their basic "elements," five of them: earth, wood, fire, metal/gold, and water. Each birth year has its own element associated with it as well as an animal, and these can combine in any way. 1929 is not only a snake year, but an earth snake year. 1934 is not only a dog, but a wood dog. Since there are 12 animals and 5 elements, that makes 60 combinations.

And both 1906 and 1966 are fire horse years, called hinoe-uma in Japanese. Since fire is already voracious and powerful, the combination of the fire and the power of the horse is seen as an almost uncontrollably independent mixture by many believers in Chinese astrology.

So what's with Fire Horses?

Fire Horses are seen as outgoing, people-loving, ambitious, rebellious, and independent. They are supposedly freedom-loving and impossible to contain.

These all sound like perfectly fine qualities to the westerner, especially to Americans, since our culture prizes individualism, but in other societies, these are not necessarily good qualities. They are especially disliked in women; wives are supposed to be submissive and dependent, not ambitious or headstrong, and that belief is not uncommon in Western cultures, either.

While ambition and independence are prized as ingredients for success nowdays, they were never seen as ideal female qualities. The proper woman was seen as submissive, quiet, and dependent, not rebellious and strong. This prejudice against fire horse women kept the 1906 herd wracked by poverty in Japan, since no one would risk marrying a woman with these qualities. Now over 90 years old, many of the surviving hinoeuma women are poor and homeless. While the 1966 herd isn't this disadvantaged, they do battle these stereotypes every day.

Thankfully, the attitudes are changing somewhat. The Japan Hinoeuma Association, formed by six courageous fire horse women, is an organization dedicated to bettering the fate of the roughly 1,300,000 fire horse women who were born in Japan. It's interesting to note that the birth rate for that year is down a half million as compared to the previous and succeeding years. Such was the prejudice against the fire horse women that parents who had girls that year often delayed registering their births to keep them from having to deal with the stereotypes.