[HN Gopher] Japan's 72 Microseasons (2015)
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Japan's 72 Microseasons (2015)
Author : tvararu
Score : 93 points
Date : 2023-08-24 11:01 UTC (11 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nippon.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nippon.com)
| jshprentz wrote:
| 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: _Vendemiaire_ (vintage), _Brumaire_ (winter cold), and
| _Frimaire_ (frost)
|
| Winter: _Nivose_ (snowy), _Pluviose_ (rainy), and _Ventose_
| (windy)
|
| Spring: _Germinal_ (germination), _Floreal_ (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
| itsthecourier wrote:
| In which microseason were you born?
| dwcnnnghm wrote:
| 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
|
| [1]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.heibonsh..
| .
|
| [2]https://www.kurashikata.com/72seasons/
|
| [3]https://apps.apple.com/id/app/72-seasons-nara/id1163139998
|
| [4]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.heibonsh..
| .
| schroeding wrote:
| 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
| highwind wrote:
| Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_term
| sixstringtheory wrote:
| 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
|
| 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.
| zokier wrote:
| While of course different, this still reminds me a lot of
| almanacs of yore, some of which were somewhat poetic in character
| at_a_remove wrote:
| 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.
| canvascritic wrote:
| 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 ko (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.
| gottorf wrote:
| > 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.
|
| Japan is a monoethnic nation. Much of the West isn't anymore
| for various reasons, to the degree where people engaging in
| "centuries-old traditions" are seen as weird or even racist.
|
| And in a different tack, there is the fascinating concept of
| "change merchants"[0] that may help better understand why
| everything seems to be swirling around so quickly.
|
| [0]: https://www.city-journal.org/article/change-merchants
| hinkley wrote:
| > monoethnic
|
| That is an uncomfortable conversation because it's not true
| but they pretend it is. Especially on the more peripheral
| islands. Okinawa, Hokkaido.
|
| It's a hilly archipelago nation. There are many traditions
| specific to one island and not held in common culturally with
| the rest of the Nihonjin.
|
| On the other hand, because their culture is "taller" instead
| of broad, I see many ways in which particular arts and crafts
| have a depth that European trade and craft cultures rival,
| but do not exceed. Calligraphy is just bonkers. Especially if
| you include the toolmaking.
| gottorf wrote:
| > That is an uncomfortable conversation because it's not
| true but they pretend it is.
|
| Of course, every group of humans is further divisible into
| smaller groups, so no group larger than the individual is a
| true mono-anything. But when the great majority of those
| within and without Japan agree that for all practical
| purposes Japan is occupied by the Japanese, I'm OK rolling
| with it.
|
| The same cannot be said of e.g. France, the US, or Brazil.
| America especially enjoys the phenomenon of the hyphenated-
| American.
| hinkley wrote:
| The Ainu are distinctly _not_ "Japanese" genetically.
| It's at least the difference say (pulling this out of my
| ass, may be better examples) between Germanic and Celtic
| peoples in Europe. Only they were too evenly matched
| geopolitically and so one never managed to erase the
| other. Roma and Hebrews on the other hand... probably
| more like the Ainu than not.
| gottorf wrote:
| I am aware of the Ainu, though I'm certainly not an
| expert on the topic. Wikipedia suggests that there may be
| 25k to 200k Ainu people in Japan, which would be 0.02% to
| 0.16% of the population; and supposedly the language is
| nearly extinct. So my point about Japan being monoethnic
| "for all practical purposes" still stands, as Ainu
| culture is not widespread enough to make a difference.
|
| I suspect the broader point you're trying to make is that
| the concept of Japan (or any other country) as a
| monoethnic country is in many ways manufactured by
| politicians and other powerful interests over time; and
| in many cases literally manufactured by genocide. And I
| grant you that's entirely true, potentially in every
| single "monoethnic" country. But, manufactured or not,
| there is a tangible difference.
|
| I myself grew up in a monoethnic country, with the
| presence of a unifying cultural common ground; for
| example, I could rely upon the fact that a popular
| television show was being watched by nearly everyone in
| the country, even in the remote corners. And that's just
| one minor example of what adds up to the sense that yes,
| this stranger next to me has had a similar life to me, at
| least in what we were taught in school, the media we
| consumed, the food we grew up eating, the behavioral
| customs we expect of each other, and so on.
|
| The absence of this unifying cultural common ground is
| the characteristic of a polyethnic country.
| hinkley wrote:
| > that there may be 25k to 200k Ainu people in Japan
|
| My point is that the Ainu people were... not consulted on
| whether that is a good number to have or not. You're
| seeing effect, not cause. To put it very, very
| delicately.
| getoj wrote:
| > every group of humans is further divisible into smaller
| groups
|
| Indeed, the Ryukyuans were divided into a whole kingdom
| with its own head of state and foreign policy, which
| didn't become "part of Japan" until the late 19th
| century. Hokkaido was "acquired" in the 1860s, along with
| its indigenous people. The dates and situations closely
| parallel Hawaii and Alaska. To say that they are Japanese
| because the Japanese government decided so is to ignore
| historical facts in favor of ideology.
| pezezin wrote:
| > 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.
|
| Orientalism at its finest...
|
| First of all, "the west" is not a single monolithic block, but
| dozens of countries, each one with its own peculiarities.
|
| Second, Western countries also have plenty of traditions, in
| the case of Europe going back centuries or even millennia. The
| thing is that the environment you grew up in doesn't seem fancy
| to you, it is just normal life.
|
| Third, some Japanese people care about traditions, some do not,
| same as Western people. Heck, to me it seems like Japan lives
| in a state of permanent consumerism, always catching the latest
| popular anime or idol group.
| andyjohnson0 wrote:
| That was beautiful. Thank you for posting it.
| muggermuch wrote:
| > 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.
|
| There was a lump in my throat as I read your comment out loud
| to my wife. Thank you for sharing this beautiful vignette!
| jdgc wrote:
| Shibuya itself has been totally ripped up and reconstructed
| over the past few years, and people are tripping over
| themselves to appeal to western sensibilities as much as
| possible. Please stop with the orientalist hyperbole
| hinkley wrote:
| The US and Europe have historical preservation societies.
| Some people like it, some are satisfied by it, some go
| farther afield. I don't think it's "orientalist" necessarily
| to be interested in historical preservation of other
| cultures.
|
| Is an interest [in] eastern philosophy orientalism?
|
| I once heard it described that Shintoism is the undercurrent
| in Japanese society and industry in the same way that
| Calvinism is the undercurrent in America. Few practice it but
| everyone knows it subconsciously. There are a couple of
| famous books that look at Zen through the lens of arts like
| garden design or archery. I see a similar pattern in Chinese
| crafts and martial arts, vis a vis daoism, Confucianism, or
| ch'an (zen).
|
| I'm sure someone not steeped in Christianity would see the
| same thing in our culture. But it's like asking a fish to
| describe water.
| [deleted]
| yamazakiwi wrote:
| In one of your previous comments you wrote: I've lived in
| Japan for many years and its essentially a western nation
| with a stronger social conformity / shame culture.
|
| I have also lived in Japan and I don't know how you could
| believe that is true. Westerners usually experience culture
| shock when visiting Japan.
|
| Japan is 98% Japanese by population.
| ajuc wrote:
| > 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.
|
| You own traditions often seem trivial and normal compared to
| foreign ones. Especially so anglosaxon ones because of all the
| popculture and merchandise. But they are just as bizzare and
| ingrained in culture when you look at them from a different
| POV.
|
| I'm from a western Slavic country - not that much different
| from western Europe. Yet Haloween, "telling the bees" or even
| baby gender reveal parties seem completely alien to me.
|
| On the other hand we have a barely christianized fertility
| ritual during which boys sprinkle girls with water :)
| dfxm12 wrote:
| Across cultures, I don't think we value celebration enough. I
| wish we didn't have to rely on traditions, new and old to
| have structured parties. But if it takes a gender reveal or a
| fertility ritual to get people to come together and have fun,
| great. You don't even have to explain to me why.
| kevinmchugh wrote:
| > baby gender reveal parties
|
| This is an extraordinarily recent phenomenon. There's
| probably no one who will read this thread who's gender was
| revealed at one of those parties. The oldest people who had
| their gender revealed at a party will be able to get their
| driver's license next year.
|
| A lot of people think they're strange!
| bobthepanda wrote:
| I think the most interesting thing is that the person
| credited with the first one regrets having it:
| https://theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jun/29/jenna-
| karvu...
| Klonoar wrote:
| [flagged]
| athenot wrote:
| 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.
| resolutebat wrote:
| To me the entire calendar seems at _least_ a month too "fast".
| For example:
|
| August 8-12 Liang Feng Zhi 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 wrote:
| 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.
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| 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.
| wzsddtc wrote:
| I could be wrong, but isn't this the Solar Seasons from China?
| 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.
| mempko wrote:
| 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.
| xwdv wrote:
| I don't get it, this sounds too specific to be useful or
| accurate. Is every season a metaphor?
| stronglikedan wrote:
| 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.
| palidanx wrote:
| 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-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).
| jhedwards wrote:
| 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
|
| 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.
| yamazakiwi wrote:
| From the article:
|
| The names were also originally taken from China, but they did
| not always match up well with the local climate. In Japan, they
| were eventually rewritten in 1685 by the court astronomer
| Shibukawa Shunkai. In their present form, they offer a poetic
| journey through the Japanese year in which the land awakens and
| blooms with life and activity before returning to slumber
| laserbeam wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 Tian Di Shi Su
| vs Tian Di Shi Su [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
| kstrauser wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| stryan wrote:
| 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
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(page generated 2023-08-24 23:00 UTC)