How would you talk about relative time in the past?

I'm not sure if I'm overcomplicating this. I'm talking about events in the past, and I want to use relative time markers within that time frame. For example, "the day after that", or "the day before that", or "a year later". I'm not sure if I can use 明日【あした】, 昨日【きのう】 and 来年【らいねん】, because as I see it, I would be referring to the present timeline, the next day/previous day/next year for me. Is this so, or am I overcomplicating it?

Is there a separate set of words for talking about relative time in the past, or is this something that is simply understood from context?

Answer

There are a few ways to express this.

You can use 翌{よく} as in:

翌年{よくとし}（orよくねん）

翌月{よくげつ}

翌週{よくしゅう}

翌日{よくじつ}

These means year, month, week, day, following a particular point in time.

Other ways are to use 次の〇 or 前の〇 as in:

次{つぎ}の年{とし}　or 前{まえ}の年{とし} （前年{ぜんねん} for more of a 熟語{じゅくご} feel）