Seventy-two Microseasons

According to the traditional Japanese almanac, the year is divided into four major seasons, 24 sekki (solar terms), and 72 kō, or micro-seasons. Each kō lasts only five days and is associated with specific seasonal rituals, foods, flowers and festivals.

(Nigel Slater, Forget the four seasons: how embracing 72 Japanese ‘micro-seasons’ could change your garden (and your life), The Guardian),

When I learned about 72 Microseasons, I wanted to see if it would work in our ecosystem, especially, as in the natural world things do seem to change roughly every five days.

And, honestly, who wouldn’t want to try something where the (sekki) run from Rishun (beginning of spring) in early February until Daikan (greater cold) and the kō have names like Bush warblers start singing in the mountains. The 72 Microseasons are just one approach to nature journalling I’ve been trying.

I started on August 23, 2024, and plan to keep it up for a whole year.

Have a look at some of my pages below