10 ms·

Japan’s 72 Microseasons (2015)

121 points by tvararu 3y ago

athenot 3y ago
This is a very perceptive way to watch time pass when watching nature—and definitely useful when life revolved around things growing in the groud. I wonder how much drift there is on the dates given, or if local climate yields highly predicatable weather patterns. For example here in the South-East US, the "last frost" date can vary from mid February to late April but our weather patterns are higly variable.
- giraffe_lady 3y ago
  It's super local for sure. I doubt this one even applies effectively to all of japan. I found out about this a long time ago and have used it as a loose structure for coming up with my own similar thing based on my own area and observations. But at this level of granularity moving a couple hundred miles north/south or a thousand feet in elevation is enough to shift a lot of it around, both in timing and in most notable plant and animal life at the transitions. It's really more of a years-long exercise in observation, record keeping, poetry, and sense of place. I doubt there's a pre-made one that works as is for anyone.
- resolutebat 3y ago
  To me the entire calendar seems at least a month too "fast". For example: August 8–12 涼風至 Suzukaze itaru Cool winds blow When early August anywhere in mainland Japan more closely resembles Satan's armpit, with extreme heat and humidity and a distinct lack of cool breezes.
  - yamazakiwi 3y ago
    Yeah, I've seen snow in Tokyo but you go farther south and snow becomes very rare. So imagine mainland would vary a lot too.
  - glandium 3y ago
    It is worth noting that the day after December 2, 1872 was January 1, 1873. That's when Japan switched to the Julian Calendar. August 8 before that was... in September.
    - resolutebat 3y ago
      A-ha! Now those dates make more sense.
dwcnnnghm 3y ago
There’s an app for this [0,1]. It follows the calendar and shows you the current season, it’s haiku, seasonal foods, etc. It’s free to view the current season, but you can pay (one-time) to access to the entire calendar. The company that makes it [2] publishes a book as well, though last I checked, it was only in Japanese. They also have an app [3,4] for Nara, showcasing local activities in the area during each microseason. [0]https://apps.apple.com/lv/app/72-seasons/id1059622777 https://apps.apple.com/lv/app/72-seasons/id1059622777 [1]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.heibonsha.app.koyomi&hl=en_US&gl=US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.heibonsh... [2]https://www.kurashikata.com/72seasons/ https://www.kurashikata.com/72seasons/ [3]https://apps.apple.com/id/app/72-seasons-nara/id1163139998 https://apps.apple.com/id/app/72-seasons-nara/id1163139998 [4]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.heibonsha.app.nara_koyomi&hl=en_US&gl=US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.heibonsh...
- schroeding 3y ago
  At least for me, the Android app is completely free - all seasons have the pricetag "FREE". Is the need for in-app purchases geofenced or something? I'm not complaining, it's just a bit strange. :D
canvascritic 3y ago
I first learned about the microseasons during my second year in Japan when I was wandering thru Tokyo one day in February, and had an experience that introduced me to the bush warblers singing microseason. I was looking for this bookshop owned by an older woman named yumi, who supposedly had a collection of ancient poems and stories, many of which encompassed the lore of the 72 kō (I never did end up finding it, sadly I had to leave Tokyo the next day, but would be nice to know if someone here has heard of it / visited). while weaving through the backstreets of shibuya, i was entranced by a faint, melodious chirping that seemed out of place amidst the city's usual cacophony. Following the sound, i found myself before this dilapidated, ivy-covered wooden house. A hand-painted sign hung at the entrance. "Oshiro's birds" I think it said Anyway Oshiro was sitting outside and graciously welcomed me in. His living room was packed with birdcages, borderline horder situation. but everything was in beautiful condition, meticulously cleaned. Each cage was home to a bush warbler. the air was filled with their songs, transporting me miles away from the city, to misty mountains and serene valleys. Oshiro explained the Japanese microseasons to me, and told me about a centuries-old family tradition that centered one in particular. every year, around the onset of february, when the microseason announced the singing of bush warblers, he would embark on a pilgrimage into the mountains. there, he would sit for hours, sometimes days, listening, absorbing, and sometimes even conversing with these birds through his bamboo flute. It was a ritual passed down through generations in his family. I spent that afternoon with Oshiro, sipping on aged sake, as he told me about his strange (to me) ritual. He played his flute a bit, its notes intertwining with the bird songs, creating a symphony that felt as old as the mountains themselves. Each chirp, each note, was a story, a memory of ages gone by. as the sun set, casting a golden hue on the room, i realized i hadn’t just discovered a bird enthusiast. in Oshiro, i had met a guardian of time, a man who, year after year, preserved a slice of japan's essence, ensuring that even in the heart of its busiest city, the song of the bush warbler would never fade away. It is pretty beautiful how such small, centuries-old traditions seem to abound in Japan, where the condition of the west seems to be a state of persistent impermanence.
- andyjohnson0 3y ago
  That was beautiful. Thank you for posting it.
- 3y ago
stryan 3y ago
I haven't used the Japanese calendar but I've spent the last year or so keeping up with what the current solar term is in the Chinese calendar[0]. I highly recommend giving it a try some time; if you don't work outside it's easy to forget about the seasons in general let alone the many variations that can occur within them. I've found solar terms hit a nice sweet spot where they're large enough periods to not be overwhelming or hyper local, but still capturing the rhythms of life. [0] https://ytliu0.github.io/ChineseCalendar/solarTerms.html https://ytliu0.github.io/ChineseCalendar/solarTerms.html
highwind 3y ago
Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_term https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_term
- sixstringtheory 3y ago
  Very cool, thanks for the link. I have a project idea to build a sundial of sorts that can incorporate this type of info for our location. I googled the term in the center of that diagram, Nakshatra, and it's a term from Indian astronomy for the same concept: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nakshatras https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nakshatras I wonder if these were independently derived, or if there was some cultural cross-pollination between China and India? Seems plausible since they're right next to each other.
mempko 3y ago
Global Warming will (and probably already has) completely ruined that calendar. The problem with creating such optimizations is over fitting (every ML person here should understand this). And since now the underlying system (the climate system) is changing rapidly (causing change in underlying probability distributions), you can throw this calendar out.
kstrauser 3y ago
Things like this remind me of the bizarre notion that only Japan has four seasons. I’ve been surprised by how many times I’ve heard that from people who seemed to sincerely believe it. I give that as much credence as, say, “only Missouri has grass”.
- pezezin 3y ago
  I have also heard it, and it is quite weird. - Them: oh, your country also have four seasons? - Me: Of course, Spain and Japan are on the same latitude, why wouldn't we have seasons? - Them: eeeeeeeeeeeeeeh! Seriously, the average Japanese person lives in a bubble, they have very limited knowledge of what goes on outside their islands.
wzsddtc 3y ago
I could be wrong, but isn't this the Solar Seasons from China? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_term https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_term Though I would not be surprised as it has been very interesting to see Japan and Korea preserving many of the traditional east Asian cultures a lot better than China itself.
jhedwards 3y ago
I know this is kind of silly, but it annoys me a bit to see this portrayed as some creative innovation of the Japanese on top of some ancient Chinese system, when it's really just a simplification of the Confucian text Yue Ling: https://ctext.org/liji/yue-ling https://ctext.org/liji/yue-ling The Yue Ling is a beautiful text, and it speaks to an aspect of Confucianism which I find fascinating, which is the idea that the ideal scholar-official should have a deep understanding of both climate and ecology. It's also fascinating how Japan imported and creatively re-interpreted this text, but it's originally of Chinese creation.
- laserbeam 3y ago
  Although the origins of the text matter for presentation, my only thought when reading this text was "man, I wish my flavor of European culture had this as well and I wish it were taught in school at some point".
  - jerf 3y ago
    It may not have exactly this, but it probably has more than you realize. The rush of the 20th and 21st century has crowded out a lot of stuff. The western world has a rich poetry and literature tradition. Given how severed we are from all of it nowadays you may well find you still get that foreign culture frisson from digging into it.
    - civilitty 3y ago
      The Japanese version looks quite a bit more grounded in naturalism than the Chinese version, or at least TFA's translation does (i.e. August 28–September 1 天地始粛 vs 天地始肅 [1]). "Heat starts to die down" is not exactly precise but better than "Heaven and Earth begin to Withdraw" and "Cotton flowers bloom" is definitely a lot better than "Eagles worship the Birds". I'm not the GP but I definitely want a calendar made up of details like this, regardless of it's literary quality. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chushu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chushu
      - 3y ago
xwdv 3y ago
I don’t get it, this sounds too specific to be useful or accurate. Is every season a metaphor?
- stronglikedan 3y ago
  Perhaps not as useful as it once was, but I would imagine very useful back when most people lived off the land, so to speak.
itsthecourier 3y ago
In which microseason were you born?
zokier 3y ago
While of course different, this still reminds me a lot of almanacs of yore, some of which were somewhat poetic in character
- a_bonobo 3y ago
  Australia has many different seasons depending on the area's climate, which all define what is possible to eat: Noongar people from South-west Australia and Yolnu people from Northern Arnhem land have six seasons, Anangu of central Australia have ~five seasons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australian_seasons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australian_seasons
jshprentz 3y ago
It is interesting to compare the Japanese micro seasons with the 12 month names in the French Republican calendar [1]. The French month names derived from Latin or Greek words, translated here to English. Autumn: Vendémiaire (vintage), Brumaire (winter cold), and Frimaire (frost) Winter: Nivôse (snowy), Pluviôse (rainy), and Ventôse (windy) Spring: Germinal (germination), Floréal (flower), and Prairial (meadow) Summer: Messidor (harvest), Thermidor (summer heat), and Fructidor (fruit) In Britain, a contemporary wit mocked the Republican Calendar by calling the months: Wheezy, Sneezy, and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy, and Nippy; Showery, Flowery, and Bowery; Hoppy, Croppy, and Poppy. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar
at_a_remove 3y ago
I'm not sure about seventy-two of them, but there do seem to be brief little shifts in the climate here. A time to expect lightning bugs, that sort of thing. "Fall" seems grossly inadequate at times.
palidanx 3y ago
Funny this got posted, because I just read about the 72 seasons in Nancy Singleton Hachisu's new vegetarian cookbook. https://www.amazon.com/Japan-Vegetarian-Nancy-Singleton-Hachisu/dp/1838666273/ https://www.amazon.com/Japan-Vegetarian-Nancy-Singleton-Hach... Oddly enough the more I think about it, Vancouver, Canada has seem parallels to Japan in terms of some of the produce (matsutake mushrooms and burdock root).
lukas099 3y ago
Anyone can get to know their own locality on this intimate level. I've been spending more time in my yard, and it's really incredible seeing the waves of new plants and animals arising and dissipating over the months. Yesterday I was watching the birch tree behind my back porch losing its leaves (much earlier than most of the trees around). The lawn has large colonies of plants that I didn't see a single specimen of last year. Different insects, mammals, invertebrates, and fungi all show up too.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
JoeDaDude 3y ago
On a somewhat related note, the short film "The 72 Seasons" of Makoto Shinkai" showcasing many excerpts from his animated films. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHPy7r2RDVE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHPy7r2RDVE
ChatGTP 3y ago
There are no microseasons anymore, it's just hot now.

121 points by tvararu 3y ago

This is a very perceptive way to watch time pass when watching nature—and definitely useful when life revolved around things growing in the groud. I wonder how much drift there is on the dates given, or if local climate yields highly predicatable weather patterns. For example here in the South-East US, the "last frost" date can vary from mid February to late April but our weather patterns are higly variable.

giraffe_lady 3y ago
It's super local for sure. I doubt this one even applies effectively to all of japan. I found out about this a long time ago and have used it as a loose structure for coming up with my own similar thing based on my own area and observations. But at this level of granularity moving a couple hundred miles north/south or a thousand feet in elevation is enough to shift a lot of it around, both in timing and in most notable plant and animal life at the transitions. It's really more of a years-long exercise in observation, record keeping, poetry, and sense of place. I doubt there's a pre-made one that works as is for anyone.
resolutebat 3y ago
To me the entire calendar seems at least a month too "fast". For example: August 8–12 涼風至 Suzukaze itaru Cool winds blow When early August anywhere in mainland Japan more closely resembles Satan's armpit, with extreme heat and humidity and a distinct lack of cool breezes.
- yamazakiwi 3y ago
  Yeah, I've seen snow in Tokyo but you go farther south and snow becomes very rare. So imagine mainland would vary a lot too.
- glandium 3y ago
  It is worth noting that the day after December 2, 1872 was January 1, 1873. That's when Japan switched to the Julian Calendar. August 8 before that was... in September.
  - resolutebat 3y ago
    A-ha! Now those dates make more sense.

dwcnnnghm 3y ago

There’s an app for this [0,1]. It follows the calendar and shows you the current season, it’s haiku, seasonal foods, etc. It’s free to view the current season, but you can pay (one-time) to access to the entire calendar. The company that makes it [2] publishes a book as well, though last I checked, it was only in Japanese. They also have an app [3,4] for Nara, showcasing local activities in the area during each microseason. [0]https://apps.apple.com/lv/app/72-seasons/id1059622777 https://apps.apple.com/lv/app/72-seasons/id1059622777 [1]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.heibonsha.app.koyomi&hl=en_US&gl=US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.heibonsh... [2]https://www.kurashikata.com/72seasons/ https://www.kurashikata.com/72seasons/ [3]https://apps.apple.com/id/app/72-seasons-nara/id1163139998 https://apps.apple.com/id/app/72-seasons-nara/id1163139998 [4]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.heibonsha.app.nara_koyomi&hl=en_US&gl=US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.heibonsh...

schroeding 3y ago
At least for me, the Android app is completely free - all seasons have the pricetag "FREE". Is the need for in-app purchases geofenced or something? I'm not complaining, it's just a bit strange. :D

canvascritic 3y ago

I first learned about the microseasons during my second year in Japan when I was wandering thru Tokyo one day in February, and had an experience that introduced me to the bush warblers singing microseason. I was looking for this bookshop owned by an older woman named yumi, who supposedly had a collection of ancient poems and stories, many of which encompassed the lore of the 72 kō (I never did end up finding it, sadly I had to leave Tokyo the next day, but would be nice to know if someone here has heard of it / visited). while weaving through the backstreets of shibuya, i was entranced by a faint, melodious chirping that seemed out of place amidst the city's usual cacophony. Following the sound, i found myself before this dilapidated, ivy-covered wooden house. A hand-painted sign hung at the entrance. "Oshiro's birds" I think it said Anyway Oshiro was sitting outside and graciously welcomed me in. His living room was packed with birdcages, borderline horder situation. but everything was in beautiful condition, meticulously cleaned. Each cage was home to a bush warbler. the air was filled with their songs, transporting me miles away from the city, to misty mountains and serene valleys. Oshiro explained the Japanese microseasons to me, and told me about a centuries-old family tradition that centered one in particular. every year, around the onset of february, when the microseason announced the singing of bush warblers, he would embark on a pilgrimage into the mountains. there, he would sit for hours, sometimes days, listening, absorbing, and sometimes even conversing with these birds through his bamboo flute. It was a ritual passed down through generations in his family. I spent that afternoon with Oshiro, sipping on aged sake, as he told me about his strange (to me) ritual. He played his flute a bit, its notes intertwining with the bird songs, creating a symphony that felt as old as the mountains themselves. Each chirp, each note, was a story, a memory of ages gone by. as the sun set, casting a golden hue on the room, i realized i hadn’t just discovered a bird enthusiast. in Oshiro, i had met a guardian of time, a man who, year after year, preserved a slice of japan's essence, ensuring that even in the heart of its busiest city, the song of the bush warbler would never fade away. It is pretty beautiful how such small, centuries-old traditions seem to abound in Japan, where the condition of the west seems to be a state of persistent impermanence.

andyjohnson0 3y ago
That was beautiful. Thank you for posting it.
3y ago

stryan 3y ago

I haven't used the Japanese calendar but I've spent the last year or so keeping up with what the current solar term is in the Chinese calendar[0]. I highly recommend giving it a try some time; if you don't work outside it's easy to forget about the seasons in general let alone the many variations that can occur within them. I've found solar terms hit a nice sweet spot where they're large enough periods to not be overwhelming or hyper local, but still capturing the rhythms of life. [0] https://ytliu0.github.io/ChineseCalendar/solarTerms.html https://ytliu0.github.io/ChineseCalendar/solarTerms.html

highwind 3y ago

Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_term https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_term

sixstringtheory 3y ago
Very cool, thanks for the link. I have a project idea to build a sundial of sorts that can incorporate this type of info for our location. I googled the term in the center of that diagram, Nakshatra, and it's a term from Indian astronomy for the same concept: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nakshatras https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nakshatras I wonder if these were independently derived, or if there was some cultural cross-pollination between China and India? Seems plausible since they're right next to each other.

mempko 3y ago

Global Warming will (and probably already has) completely ruined that calendar. The problem with creating such optimizations is over fitting (every ML person here should understand this). And since now the underlying system (the climate system) is changing rapidly (causing change in underlying probability distributions), you can throw this calendar out.

kstrauser 3y ago

Things like this remind me of the bizarre notion that only Japan has four seasons. I’ve been surprised by how many times I’ve heard that from people who seemed to sincerely believe it. I give that as much credence as, say, “only Missouri has grass”.

pezezin 3y ago
I have also heard it, and it is quite weird. - Them: oh, your country also have four seasons? - Me: Of course, Spain and Japan are on the same latitude, why wouldn't we have seasons? - Them: eeeeeeeeeeeeeeh! Seriously, the average Japanese person lives in a bubble, they have very limited knowledge of what goes on outside their islands.

wzsddtc 3y ago

I could be wrong, but isn't this the Solar Seasons from China? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_term https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_term Though I would not be surprised as it has been very interesting to see Japan and Korea preserving many of the traditional east Asian cultures a lot better than China itself.

jhedwards 3y ago

I know this is kind of silly, but it annoys me a bit to see this portrayed as some creative innovation of the Japanese on top of some ancient Chinese system, when it's really just a simplification of the Confucian text Yue Ling: https://ctext.org/liji/yue-ling https://ctext.org/liji/yue-ling The Yue Ling is a beautiful text, and it speaks to an aspect of Confucianism which I find fascinating, which is the idea that the ideal scholar-official should have a deep understanding of both climate and ecology. It's also fascinating how Japan imported and creatively re-interpreted this text, but it's originally of Chinese creation.

laserbeam 3y ago
Although the origins of the text matter for presentation, my only thought when reading this text was "man, I wish my flavor of European culture had this as well and I wish it were taught in school at some point".
- jerf 3y ago
  It may not have exactly this, but it probably has more than you realize. The rush of the 20th and 21st century has crowded out a lot of stuff. The western world has a rich poetry and literature tradition. Given how severed we are from all of it nowadays you may well find you still get that foreign culture frisson from digging into it.
  - civilitty 3y ago
    The Japanese version looks quite a bit more grounded in naturalism than the Chinese version, or at least TFA's translation does (i.e. August 28–September 1 天地始粛 vs 天地始肅 [1]). "Heat starts to die down" is not exactly precise but better than "Heaven and Earth begin to Withdraw" and "Cotton flowers bloom" is definitely a lot better than "Eagles worship the Birds". I'm not the GP but I definitely want a calendar made up of details like this, regardless of it's literary quality. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chushu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chushu
    - 3y ago

xwdv 3y ago

I don’t get it, this sounds too specific to be useful or accurate. Is every season a metaphor?

stronglikedan 3y ago
Perhaps not as useful as it once was, but I would imagine very useful back when most people lived off the land, so to speak.

itsthecourier 3y ago

In which microseason were you born?

zokier 3y ago

While of course different, this still reminds me a lot of almanacs of yore, some of which were somewhat poetic in character

a_bonobo 3y ago
Australia has many different seasons depending on the area's climate, which all define what is possible to eat: Noongar people from South-west Australia and Yolnu people from Northern Arnhem land have six seasons, Anangu of central Australia have ~five seasons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australian_seasons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australian_seasons

jshprentz 3y ago

It is interesting to compare the Japanese micro seasons with the 12 month names in the French Republican calendar [1]. The French month names derived from Latin or Greek words, translated here to English. Autumn: Vendémiaire (vintage), Brumaire (winter cold), and Frimaire (frost) Winter: Nivôse (snowy), Pluviôse (rainy), and Ventôse (windy) Spring: Germinal (germination), Floréal (flower), and Prairial (meadow) Summer: Messidor (harvest), Thermidor (summer heat), and Fructidor (fruit) In Britain, a contemporary wit mocked the Republican Calendar by calling the months: Wheezy, Sneezy, and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy, and Nippy; Showery, Flowery, and Bowery; Hoppy, Croppy, and Poppy. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar

at_a_remove 3y ago

I'm not sure about seventy-two of them, but there do seem to be brief little shifts in the climate here. A time to expect lightning bugs, that sort of thing. "Fall" seems grossly inadequate at times.

palidanx 3y ago

Funny this got posted, because I just read about the 72 seasons in Nancy Singleton Hachisu's new vegetarian cookbook. https://www.amazon.com/Japan-Vegetarian-Nancy-Singleton-Hachisu/dp/1838666273/ https://www.amazon.com/Japan-Vegetarian-Nancy-Singleton-Hach... Oddly enough the more I think about it, Vancouver, Canada has seem parallels to Japan in terms of some of the produce (matsutake mushrooms and burdock root).

lukas099 3y ago

Anyone can get to know their own locality on this intimate level. I've been spending more time in my yard, and it's really incredible seeing the waves of new plants and animals arising and dissipating over the months. Yesterday I was watching the birch tree behind my back porch losing its leaves (much earlier than most of the trees around). The lawn has large colonies of plants that I didn't see a single specimen of last year. Different insects, mammals, invertebrates, and fungi all show up too.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

JoeDaDude 3y ago

On a somewhat related note, the short film "The 72 Seasons" of Makoto Shinkai" showcasing many excerpts from his animated films. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHPy7r2RDVE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHPy7r2RDVE

ChatGTP 3y ago

There are no microseasons anymore, it's just hot now.