diff --git a/ext/date/date_core.c b/ext/date/date_core.c
index 3b18bbd5b1..dbc7c29446 100644
--- a/ext/date/date_core.c
+++ b/ext/date/date_core.c
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 
 #define USE_PACK
 
-static ID id_cmp, id_le_p, id_ge_p, id_eqeq_p;
+static ID id_cmp, id_le_p, id_ge_p, id_eqeq_p, id_to, id_by;
 static VALUE cDate, cDateTime;
 static VALUE half_days_in_day, day_in_nanoseconds;
 static double positive_inf, negative_inf;
@@ -6153,20 +6153,37 @@ static VALUE d_lite_cmp(VALUE, VALUE);
 static VALUE
 d_lite_step(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE self)
 {
-    VALUE limit, step, date;
+    VALUE limit, step, hash, date;
 
-    rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "11", &limit, &step);
+    RETURN_ENUMERATOR(self, argc, argv);
 
-    if (argc < 2)
+    argc = rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "02:", &limit, &step, &hash);
+
+    if (!NIL_P(hash)) {
+	ID keys[2];
+	VALUE values[2];
+	keys[0] = id_to;
+	keys[1] = id_by;
+	rb_get_kwargs(hash, keys, 0, 2, values);
+	if (values[0] != Qundef) {
+	    if (argc > 0) rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "to is given twice");
+	    limit = values[0];
+	}
+	if (values[1] != Qundef) {
+	    if (argc > 1) rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "step is given twice");
+	    step = values[1];
+	}
+    }
+
+    if (NIL_P(step)) {
 	step = INT2FIX(1);
+    }
 
 #if 0
     if (f_zero_p(step))
 	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "step can't be 0");
 #endif
 
-    RETURN_ENUMERATOR(self, argc, argv);
-
     date = self;
     switch (FIX2INT(f_cmp(step, INT2FIX(0)))) {
       case -1:
@@ -9664,6 +9681,9 @@ Init_date_core(void)
 			       date_s_test_unit_conv, 0);
     de_define_singleton_method(cDate, "test_all", date_s_test_all, 0);
 #endif
+
+    id_to = rb_intern("to");
+    id_by = rb_intern("by");
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/test/date/test_date_arith.rb b/test/date/test_date_arith.rb
index 96622ba065..b37a6f4ed3 100644
--- a/test/date/test_date_arith.rb
+++ b/test/date/test_date_arith.rb
@@ -245,21 +245,53 @@ def test_step
     end
     assert_equal(4, i)
 
+    i = 0
+    p.step(q, by: 2) do
+      i += 1
+    end
+    assert_equal(4, i)
+
+    i = 0
+    p.step(to: q, by: 2) do
+      i += 1
+    end
+    assert_equal(4, i)
+
     i = 0
     p.step(q) do
       i += 1
     end
     assert_equal(8, i)
+
+    i = 0
+    p.step(to: q) do
+      i += 1
+    end
+    assert_equal(8, i)
+
+    assert_raise(ArgumentError) { p.step(q, to: q) { } }
+    assert_raise(ArgumentError) { p.step(q, 1, by: 1) { } }
+    assert_raise(ArgumentError) { p.step(q, foo: nil) { } }
   end
 
   def test_step__noblock
     p = Date.new(2001,1,14)
     q = Date.new(2001,1,21)
+
     e = p.step(q, 2)
     assert_equal(4, e.to_a.size)
 
+    e = p.step(q, by: 2)
+    assert_equal(4, e.to_a.size)
+
+    e = p.step(to: q, by: 2)
+    assert_equal(4, e.to_a.size)
+
     e = p.step(q)
     assert_equal(8, e.to_a.size)
+
+    e = p.step(to: q)
+    assert_equal(8, e.to_a.size)
   end
 
 end