The Year of the Fire and Horse made its presence known in Japan today.

On Thursday the country celebrates a national holiday called Coming of Age Day, which honors those who have reached their 20th birthday within the last year. A keeper of Government statistics, the Management and Coordination Agency, announced today that 1.4 million young men and women qualified for the occasion, all born between Jan. 16, 1966, and Jan. 15, 1967.

It was the lowest annual total since the holiday was begun in 1949. The sharp drop of 400,000 from a year ago demonstrates the resilience of certain superstititions in modern Japan.

In 1966, relatively few Japanese wanted to have children because the zodiac signs had cautioned against it.

Japan follows the Chinese cycle that assigns one of 12 animals to each year. This, for example, is the Year of the Rabbit. Each year is also named for one of five elements - wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Together, the two systems offer 60 possible combinations.