Today begins a new microseason! If this is your first time joining us, scroll down past the forecast to read about what exactly a microseason is. For the rest of you, let’s jump in!
The Current Solar Term: Usui
The current solar term (節気, sekki) is Usui (雨水), the 2nd solar term, which means Rain Water. We are two thirds in! It started Feb 19th. We covered it last time so go read there if you want more info.
Usui lasts until March 5th.
The Current Microseason: Plants and Trees Begin to Bud
Today, Mar 1st, begins 草木萌動, the 6th microseason (候, kō) which is read sōmoku mebae izuru and means Plants and Trees Begin to Bud. This is the third microseason of Usui, which is itself the second solar term of spring.
Closer and closer to the heart of spring here, as new life continues to appear. There may still be cold weather, even snow, for the moment, but we will also start seeing some hints of green. In some areas, certain types of early cherry blossoms may even be starting to appear.
Seasonal Activity
The first day of March is known as Jōshi no Sekku 上巳の節句, festival of the Snake, so named because the first day in March was the first day of the snake in the old zodiac system. This is the day that would eventually evolve into Girl’s Day which is celebrated on March 3rd (I’ll have a post up about that on that day).
On the lunar calendar the first day of the third month would be about a month from now, but for many of Japan’s traditions (but not all!) they moved them when they changed to the Gregorian calendar.
Originally it was a purification ritual. People would rub their bodies with human figurines which would take on all evil spirits and bad karma, then they were cast off into the river or ocean.
Some time later the day was changed to the third day of the third month, a game was added to the purification ritual, and the event was renamed to “Party of the Meandering Stream” (曲水の宴, kyokusui no en).
In this game, participants would station themselves at various places along a winding stream (a common feature of late Nara-era and Heian-era gardens). A bowl with sake would be floated down the stream. Participants had to compose a poem before the bowl reached them. They would then drink the sake (purifying themselves), the bowl would be refilled and floated to the next person.
At some shrines in Japan on this day, this ancient game is replayed my people wearing traditional Heian-era clothes.
(I’ll have more info on this in a day or two when I make a post on what this day evolved into, Girl’s Day)
Here is a haiku for this microseason:
wazuraeba mochi o mo kuwazu momo no hana
I can’t eat any festival rice cakes…
peach blossom time
The peach blossoms don’t bloom yet for another month, so this haiku doesn’t entirely belong with this microseason, but on the old calendar another month would have been the third month, making their timing the same as Girl’s Day. For that reason March 3rd is associated with the flowers. There is even a company in Japan that has taken advantage of this and makes (very expensive) peach trees that do bloom around this time.
One of the traditional snacks for Girl’s Day is a special kind of mochi called hishi-mochi (菱餅). Bashō is expressing his disappointment that he can’t have any.
Will move this info to another post one of these days, but for now, briefly:
- Each month has two seasons, called solar terms (節気, sekki), giving us a total of 24 seasons. This gives the system its name, the 24 Sekki (二十四節気). I usually refer to this entire system as The Japanese Almanac. It is more than a little similar to the American Farmer’s Almanac.
- Each of these 24 seasons is further subdivided three more times, giving us a grand total of 72 seasons, or microseasons (候, kō).
- Each microseason is about 5 days. With time periods so short, they can get pretty specific about what in nature we might expect to be happening around now.
- The system was originally from China, but it was reformatted during the Edo Era (1603–1868) to fit better with Japan’s climate. I find it also fits fairly well with much of the Midwest in the Eastern half of the US. But if you live in a different area, your milage may vary.
- The entire system is based on the equinoxes and solstices, so it is fluid and the exact dates will vary by a day or two from year to year. Luckily there are a great many Japanese sources that do the astrological computations for us and tell us exactly when each one starts and ends every year.
The next microseason starts on March 6th. See you then for the next forecast!