In Japanese, the month is known as nigatsu (Japanese: 二月) or traditionally kisaragi (Japanese: 如月). The earliest attestation of kisaragi is as a reading of 春分 in the Maeda manuscript of the Nihon Shoki:
春分に至りて始めて氷を散るなり
On reaching kisaraki, they began to distribute the ice.
Several etymologies have been proposed for kisaragi. According to the 12th century poet Fujiwara no Kiyosuke, the alternative spelling 衣更着, from 衣 (kinu, "robes, clothing") + 更 (sara, "again, more") + 着 (ki, "wearing"), points to kisaragi being a contraction of kinusaragi, referring to the many layers people wore in cold weather. However, some sources note that the spelling Japanese: 衣更着 only arose in the late Heian period, and propose other theories about its origin. Kamo no Mabuchi connected the name with plants budding. Another theory derives it from 気更に来る, referring to one's mood improving as winter ends. James Marshall Unger suggested that it may have been borrowed from the Korean word winter (compare Middle Koreankyezúlh), although Alexander Vovin had demonstrated earlier that the two words are not derived from a common ancestor. The spelling 如月 is borrowed from Middle Chinese.
In Okinawa, the season around the second and third lunar months, before the onset of the rainy season, is called urizun (うりずん). The name may derive from 潤い初め, meaning 'the beginning of moistening'.
Below is a list of the start and end dates of Èryuè in the Gregorian calendar. Because the 1-hour difference between China and Japan/Korea occasionally affects the date on which a new moon occurs, the dates below can differ from those of the Japanese and Korean calendars.
