This is my understanding of 神無月, Kaminazuki. I'm an American of European ancestry from New Jersey and I speak almost no Japanese, so it's likely that I'm mistaken about important details. I'd appreciate corrections, clarifications, or additional interesting information from anyone who has it to share.

Kaminazuki is a lunar month in the traditional Japanese calendar.

It's often translated as "October" because it is the 10th month, but because it is a lunar month, it can occur during October, November, and/or December of the solar calendar.

神無月, Kaminazuki means "Month of Gods". The character 無, "na" is functioning here as a possessive particle, but it also means "without" or "nothing", so there's a folk-etymology where Kaminazuki means "Month Without Gods".

The Kami, gods of Japan's native Shinto religion, tend to be local, each associated with a specific place. Every year, during Kaminazuki they travel to Izumo Ōyashiro, the Izumo Grand Shrine, one of the oldest holy sites in Japan.

Apparently this is like a holy trade convention where they discuss the upcoming year's marriages, deaths, births. You know, important god stuff.

I like to imagine them building consensus around the year's agenda, but also holding talks and workshops, joyfully greeting friends from other parts of Japan they haven't seen since last year, exciting conversations, the hallway track. A mix of fun con stuff and serious business.

In Izumo, the month is called 神在月, "Kamiarizuki", "Month With Gods" because so many Kami are present, so "Kaminazuki" as "Month Without Gods" does make sense elsewhere, since the gods are absent their homes.

I learned about Kaminazuki during a college course on Japanese history and culture and the name has really stuck with me. There's something haunting about the idea of this autumn month when the gods are away, gathered together, planning the future.

I found it surprisingly difficult to determine when precisely Kaminazuki occurs, but eventually found a reference on the Japanese Wikipedia.

2022-10-25 -> 2022-11-23
2023-11-13 -> 2023-12-12
2024-11-01 -> 2024-11-30
2025-11-20 -> 2025-12-19