What year is it when someone says this item is from Meiji year 37? Here is a listing of Japanese
historical time periods and their corresponding years going from left to right. Each time period is
named after current Emperor or Shogunate of the time.

So, for Meiji year 37, for example, you would start with 1868 and add 37 to come
up with the year 1905. But, since the Edo era also ended in 1868, you have to
subtract a year to get the correct year of 1904.