"Reiwa" era translates as "Beautiful harmony"

The Foreign Ministry: "’ Reiwa ’refers to the beauty of cherry blossoms after a harsh winter, and is intended as the beauty of people when they bring their hearts together to grow a culture." According to rumors, the Japanese literary expert Susumu Nakanishi suggested the name.

Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Japanese government announces that the official translation of the name of the new imperial era "Reiwa", which begins May 1 with the enthronement of Crown Prince Naruhito is "Beautiful harmony".

The new era name (photo 1) consists of two characters: "Rei" which means "order", "command", but also "wish", and "Wa", which means "harmony" and "peace". It wants to be a definition for the future and will appear on coins, newspapers, driving licenses, official documents.

In recent days, experts and the media have offered a variety of interpretations about the meaning of "Reiwa". Some had expressed disappointment, as they translated the name with "pursuit of harmony", in the sense of "order" and "command", emphasizing the cold and authoritarian tone of the expression.

Yesterday, a Foreign Ministry official announced the official translation. Masaru Sato, vice-consul general and director of the Japan Information Center in New York, says that "'Reiwa' refers to the beauty of cherry blossoms after a harsh winter, and is intended as the beauty of people when they put their hearts together to grow a culture ”.

Debates over the name of the new era dominate Japanese television news and talk shows. According to rumors that appeared in the media, a government source admitted that Japanese literature expert Susumu Nakanishi (photo 2), professor emeritus of Japanese literature at Osaka Women's University, suggested the choice of the name "Reiwa". The 89-year-old academic was part of a group of experts questioned by the government. The term "Reiwa" comes from the "Manyoshu" (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves), the oldest anthology of Japanese poetry. Nakanishi is a well-known expert on the work.