Microseason: Cool Breeze Arrives

AUTUMN

HINT OF AUTUMN

COOL BREEZE ARRIVES

7 - 11 August

Koyomi, the historic microseasonal calendar, is central to my study of Time. Each research theme I have explored over the past decade, has been selected because it is absolutely imperative to Japanese living. And the sense of time is perhaps the most poignant.

⁡Koyomi is a playful story that tells the tale of the natural world across 72 mircoseasons. This agricultural calendar that is derived from the Chinese microseasonal calendar that made its way into Japan a couple thousand years ago. Over the centuries it’s been revised to reflect the terroir of mostly Honshu, the largest island of the country. It serves as the North Star for professionals across each sector of Japanese living - textile, food, home. Whether farming, fermentation, fishery, pottery, dyeing, or architecture, koyomi proves to be a powerful navigator, leading us toward more logical decision making - making processes in each field ever-more sustainable as they choose to work in accordance to the rhythm of the natural world, and not against it.

The seasons are broken down into the four classic seasons that are recognized globally (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter). And those four seasons are broken down further into 24 subseasons. And those subseasons are broken down even further into 72 microseasons. It is these 72 microseasons in particular have been rather heavily edited bit by bit over the centuries to reflect the seasonal markers that are unique to Japan’s climate and culture, and incorporates Japanese sentiments and sensibilities in observing the natural world. The latest version of the Japanese microseasonal calendar was published as recently as 1874.

72 microseasons means that the seasons change approximately every five days. It isn’t that there are three months of Spring and then suddenly one day the seasons swaps to Summer, but rather that with each passing day we inch closer and closer to Summer. Koyomi simply tells that tale.

In Japan, we inherently understand time to be simultaneously ephemeral and eternal. The seasons change every five days and thus each season is precious. A fruit may be most delicious during that specific time. Or we may only hear a certain bird singing their tune during these five days. The rich ripeness of that fruit, or the sweet melody of that bird signals to professionals that it’s time to sow or sew or dye or dry.

Time is not something that one can “race” or “beat”, as we do not move in the same direction as time. It simply washes over us like oncoming river rapids. We are simply challenged to observe and leverage this experience.

⁡The movement of the sun and the moon, the ebb and flow of the ocean, and evolution of shadow and light, are all experiences of time.

⁡Even the traditional Japanese color palette is a visual depiction of the ever-evolving shades of the natural world across a single day, a microseason, or a year.

Believe it or not, today marks the beginning of Autumn. The days are still massively hot in Kyoto, but during the wee hours of the morning, there are definitely inklings in the air signaling that Autumn has indeed begun. If we lend our awareness, the message lies in the wind.

Photo credit: Tomohiro Ueno

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Microseason: Sound of Evening Cicada