Tracing Nature Through the Year: The Poetic Beauty of Japan’s 72 Micro-seasons

‘Spring – through

Morning mist,

What mountain’s there’

– Basho

The tradition of ‘Hanami’

The Japanese are renowned for their love of nature. This is epitomised by their annual national festival held simply in order to view the appearance of the first cherry blossoms in Spring. The tradition of ‘Hanami’ 花見 or ‘flower viewing’ is the Japanese custom of enjoying the transient beauty of flowers. This is associated with the Zen Buddhist theme of recognising that this life is impermanent and passes swiftly ‘like the clouds in autumn’, and will soon fade quickly like Spring flowers. The annual cherry blossom festival usually lasts for the entire month of April and includes evening events where the trees and their lovely blossom are illuminated. The flowering period usually starts around the April 5th and can last into May. The Japanese haiku poetry is also suffused with references to the natural world while their zen gardens and temples show a reverence for the inherent serenity which it invokes.

Japan’s 72 micro-seasons

Since ancient times, the Japanese have divided their year into twenty four periods, but the natural world comes to life in more vividly through their 72 micro-seasons. Using poetic references to note the changes occurring in nature, this traditional Japanese calendar marks the passing of the seasons by giving specific names to each miniature section of the year. Originally taken from classical Chinese sources, which are still well-known throughout East Asia, the year starts with Risshun ‘the beginning of spring’ in early February until the end of Winter called Daikan or ‘greater cold’ in January.

Each micro period lasts around four to five days each, and in their present form, they offer a poetic journey through the year in which the land awakens and blooms with life before returning to a state of hibernation with the arrival of winter. The entire calendar with each mini section can be found here.

In April, there are seven subdivisions:

March 31–April 4: Distant thunder

April 5-9: Swallows return

April 10-14: Wild geese fly north

April 15-19: First rainbows appear

April 20-24: First reeds sprout

April 25-29: Last frost, rice seedlings grow

April 30- May 4: Peonies bloom

Living in the Present

To relate to the progression of nature throughout the year in this way implies paying close attention to the minute changes happening around us, slowing down and becoming more attentive to the moment. It is possible to apply the same principles to wherever we live and in whatever situation, whether in the countryside or in an urban environment. There are always ways to connect with nature even in a city, by walking in parks, spending time in a garden or tending window boxes or pots. Using essential oils as part of our daily routine, is also a very effective way to engage our senses in the moment and to to connect us with the natural world. Since all essential oils are derived directly from botanical plants, it is possible to select specific aromatics which relate to the passing of the seasons and reflect our changing moods. All the citrus oils, for example, such as bergamot, grapefruit, lime or cedrat, create an uplifting, refreshing boost to the spirits used in baths or room vaporisers, while our diffusion blend ‘Brighten’ based on neroli oil, also reflects a Spring-like atmosphere, at the time when the new fresh, green shoots emerge after the darkness of Winter.

The Moods of the Seasons

I used to have a farmhouse near the Epynt mountains in Wales with a three acre garden to tend, where I wrote a daily diary recording all the tiny changes which were occurring in the garden. Much like the Japanese 72 poetic sketches, I found myself observing the seasons more closely: by simply tuning into the detail it gave me a greater appreciation of all the different moods of the seasons, even the cold wintry frosts or those days when it never stopped pouring with rain! In April, the gardens were always full of dark leaves violets, creeping purple vinca, primroses were emerging on the banks and delicate white wood anemones appeared beside the stream in the valley. My mature rosemary bush would also flower in the Spring (and again later in the summer so long as it was protected against the southern wall of the farmhouse) and would be covered in beautiful azure blue flowers in April. Rosemary is one of my favourite ‘pick-me-up’ oils for Springtime, and according to folklore, it is said that if a rosemary bush thrives beside the door of your house, the woman wears the trousers!

This year, I have watched the early blackthorn flowers fade and can enjoy the loveliness of the cherry blossom and the magnolia trees flowering all around in the parks and gardens. My peonies are pushing through the ground and showing a mass of buds already while white narcissus spread their sweet, almost narcotic scent in the damp, warm air. On my kitchen table, I have mass of Spring flowers blooming in pots – so many that it is is virtually impossible to eat off the table – the exquisite sweetly-scented jasmine (Jasminium Officinalis) and Madagascar jasmine (Stephanotis), together with some yellow cowslips and daffodils as well as highly-scented hyacinth flowers – a close relative of our native bluebell which will slowly turn our woodlands into a hazy blue sea. March has been usually rainy and cold this year but April promises some warmer days. My poetic phrase this early April period would be one of promise:

‘gentle rain, first bluebells appear’