I have a question about a common Korean historical expression and whether it may be related to a broader Korean way of counting years.
In Korean, people often refer to the Japanese colonial period as “일제 36년” or “36 years of Japanese rule.” But the exact period was from August 29, 1910 to August 15, 1945, which is about 34 years and 11 months — closer to 35 years than 36.
This made me wonder whether the expression “36 years” comes from inclusive year-counting, in a way that is somewhat similar in logic to the traditional Korean age system.
For example, in Korean age counting, a baby can be considered 1 year old at birth, and then become 2 at the start of the next calendar year, even if only a short amount of actual time has passed. The logic is not based purely on exact elapsed time, but also on the calendar years involved.
Could something similar be happening with “일제 36년”?
If we count the calendar years inclusively:
1910, 1911, 1912 … 1945 = 36 calendar years
So even though the actual duration was about 35 years, the period touched 36 different calendar years.
Is this why “36 years” became the standard Korean phrase? Or is there another historical, linguistic, or cultural reason why Koreans commonly describe the colonial period this way?
I’m not asking this as a political argument. I’m more curious about whether “일제 36년” reflects a Korean-language convention, a historical slogan, or a form of inclusive year-counting similar in logic to traditional Korean age counting.
submitted by /u/SaltEnvironmental699
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