Health and Sports Day

Health and Sports Day was the 1966–2019 name of a Japanese holiday now called Sports Day. The current name took effect on January 1, 2020, after a 2018 amendment to the holidays law.

The Cabinet Office publishes the holiday among the National Holidays under the Act on National Holidays, Act No. 178 of 1948. It is 1 of 16 national holidays covering all of Japan, with no sample, no survey, and no regional breakdowns.

The day is a legal status for one day, not a measure of fitness, sports participation, health, or market performance. Its legal purpose is enjoying sports, fostering respect for others, and aspiring to a healthy and vibrant society.

The holiday occurs once each year on the second Monday of October, the Monday falling between 8 and 14 October. It needs no fieldwork and keeps no release hour or time zone, since the publisher posts only the calendar date.

The Cabinet Office posts the holiday list for the announced years, and each year's list appears in February of the prior year. A machine-readable CSV file covers the years since 1955, and nothing is ever revised because only new laws change anything.

The page lists the 16 holidays with dates, meanings, and extra-day notes, plus the Act text from Article 1 to Article 3. Every national holiday is a public day off. If one falls on a Sunday, the next non-holiday weekday becomes a day off. A weekday sandwiched between two holidays also becomes a day off.

Sports Day itself never shifts under these rules because it is always a Monday.

Three legal elements alone define the holiday.

• Date rule: Sets the holiday as the second Monday of October.

• Purpose statement: Gives the legal meaning: enjoying sports, respecting others, and a healthy, vibrant society.

• Holiday effect: Makes the day a public day off and sets the Sunday and sandwich rules for surrounding days.

The holiday was created in 1966 as Health and Sports Day on the fixed date of 10 October. The date honored the opening of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics on 10 October. From 2000 it became the second Monday of October under a 1998 amendment.

A 2018 amendment renamed it Sports Day from 2020. Its purpose changed from enjoying sports with a healthy mind and body to enjoying sports, respecting others, and seeking a healthy and vibrant society. The last observance under the former name fell on 14 October 2019.

In 2020 alone a special Olympic law moved the holiday to Friday, 24 July 2020. October held no holiday that year, and Monday, 12 October 2020 was an ordinary working day. It moved again to 23 July 2021, and normal observance resumed on Monday, 10 October 2022.

1. Legal base: The Act states that Sports Day is the second Monday in October. There is no estimation, no weighting, and no seasonal adjustment.

1. Second Monday: This means the Monday falling between 8 and 14 October, the date of the first Monday of October plus 7 days. In symbols: w is the weekday of 1 October with Monday as 0 and Sunday as 6. The first Monday F equals 1 plus the remainder of 7 minus w, and the date D equals F plus 7.

1. Override check: The special law applied only in 2020 and 2021. It moved the day to 24 July 2020 and 23 July 2021; every year since 2000 follows the normal rule.

1. Surrounding days: Article 3 rules cover days around other holidays, and no adjustment ever moves Sports Day itself because it is always a Monday.

Take 2022: 1 October was a Saturday, so w equaled 5 and the first Monday was the 3rd. The result, 10 October 2022, matches the publisher table.