What is a calendar, really?

The twenty-four solar terms: 24 markers for reading a year.

The twenty-four solar terms (二十四節氣, nijushi sekki) are markers of the seasons that were born in China and also came to Japan. Based on the sun’s apparent movement over a year, they divide spring, summer, fall and winter into six each ── 24 turning points in all.³⁴

Risshun, Shunbun (春分, “spring equinox”), Geshi (夏至, “summer solstice”), Shubun (秋分, “fall equinox”), Toji (冬至, “winter solstice”).
These words, which may sound familiar, are each one of the twenty-four solar terms. A term comes around about every 15 days, and it can mean not only that one day but also the period until the next term.³⁴⁵

Kanro (寒露, “cold dew”), for example, is the time when cold dew forms on the grass. Kokuu (穀雨, “grain rain”) is a name tied to the spring rain that waters the grain.³

Once the meaning of a name is known, an ordinary rain or the morning dew becomes a clue for finding the season.

The twenty-four solar terms of the year

• 立春RisshunThe cold passes its peak, and signs of spring can be felt
• 雨水UsuiThe air turns mild, snow and ice melt into water, and snow turns to rain
• 啓蟄KeichitsuInsects that spent the winter in the ground come crawling out
• 春分ShunbunThe sun rises due east and sets due west, and day and night are almost equal
• 清明SeimeiAll things look full of life and clear
• 穀雨KokuuSpring rain falls and moistens the grains
• 立夏RikkaSigns of summer can be felt
• 小満ShomanAll things gradually grow and begin to fill heaven and earth
• 芒種BoshuRice and other grains (those with awns) are planted
• 夏至GeshiDaylight is at its longest
• 小暑ShoshoThe hot season sets in, around when the rainy season ends
• 大暑TaishoAround when the summer heat is at its height
• 立秋RisshuSigns of fall can be felt
• 処暑ShoshoAround when the heat eases
• 白露HakuroWhite dew rests on the grass
• 秋分ShubunThe middle day of the fall higan; day and night are almost equal
• 寒露KanroFall deepens, and cold dew forms on the wild grassesRead the Kanro page →
• 霜降SokoAround when frost falls
• 立冬RittoSigns of winter can be felt
• 小雪ShosetsuIt turns cold, and rain becomes snow
• 大雪TaisetsuSnow begins to pile up in earnest
• 冬至TojiThe day is at its shortest of the whole year
• 小寒ShokanThe start of kan, the cold season; the cold grows stronger
• 大寒DaikanThe cold reaches its height; the coldest time

The descriptions are from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Ephemeris Computation Office, 「こよみ用語解説 二十四節気」.

How did people long ago use the calendar?

They read the sky, looked at the flowers, and sowed their seeds.

Looking at the sky and the clouds without instruments, and reading the weather from experience. This is called kanten-boki (観天望気, “watching the sky, reading the weather”).¹¹
“A red sunset, fair weather the next day.” “A halo around the moon, rain.” A local meteorological observatory explains that some of these sayings have reasons behind them. Depending on the season and the place, though, they do not always hold.¹²

Flowers, birds and the snow on the mountains were signals, too.
“When the kobushi magnolia blooms, sowing in the rice seedbed begins.” “The cuckoo is calling, so sow the millet.” There are also places where people knew the time for sowing and rice planting from the shapes of the snow left on the mountains (yukigata, 雪形).¹³¹⁴

People long ago used both ── the turning points of the calendar, such as the solar terms and the zassetsu (雑節, “miscellaneous seasonal days”), and these signals from nature ── as guides for sowing and harvest.¹³

Watching nature change, and getting ready what will be needed next.
TANE thinks there is wisdom for daily life there that can still be received today.

There is no need to reproduce every method just as it was done long ago.
Starting from knowing “why was it done that way, at that time of year,” how about looking for a form that works in life today?

The same season, from more than one point of view.

Reading nature from the movements of the sun and the moon.
Tracing, through old writings and the observances of each region, the meanings people have entrusted to the seasons.

The Chinese classic 『黄帝内経』 (Huangdi Neijing), for example, records a view of caring for life (養生) that takes fall as the season of “gathering in,” and turns its eyes to how the heart is held as well. This is one way of thinking, in which the seasons and people’s lives have been read together.¹⁰

TANE KOYOMI also looks at traditional views of the body like this one, and at yin-yang and the five phases (陰陽五行), Kigaku (気学), astrology, and the myths and customs of each region.

We present each of them with its own background, without confusing what has been confirmed by science, what is recorded in old writings, and what is a reading handed down as lore or as symbol.

What cannot yet be explained and what does not exist are not the same thing. At the same time, the fact that something cannot be explained does not make it, right away, evidence of a mysterious force. What TANE wants to hold on to is standing between the two.

Read Our View →

How have people looked at the same nature, and what have they held dear?
Receiving those points of view, we go on looking for ways of taking them in that mean something to each of us.

Finding the seasons of your own land.

The words of the calendar and the scenery of the place where you are now are not always the same.

The twenty-four solar terms were born in the north of ancient China, and the climate their words describe does not necessarily match the climate of Japan today.⁴ How the season actually looks also changes with the region, the elevation, the distance from the sea, the weather of that year, and more.

The seventy-two ko, too, have a history: the words that came from China have been revised to fit the climate and the living things of Japan.⁶

That is why TANE does not want to make the calendar into a rule ── “from this day, this is how one must live.”

When Risshun comes, looking for swelling buds along the usual road.
When Risshu comes, turning the eyes to the evening light and the wind.
If no change can be found yet, that too is the season of the place where you are.

And then carrying those small observations into today’s choice of clothes, the table, the way the home is kept.

In your land, what is in bloom now?
What foods are on the stands, and how does the morning air feel?

Not fitting life to the calendar, but getting to know one’s own land with the calendar as a clue.
Knowing the calendar, and valuing one’s own senses. From both, finding the way of choosing that fits life now.

TANE KOYOMI does not teach the right answer about the seasons. It hands on small markers for noticing how nature and daily life are connected.

After getting to know the calendar, one thing in daily life today.

There is no need to do all of it.
A single cup of tea, a single act of care. We hope you will begin from wherever fits your life now.

For “I’d like to try it,” and for “I’d like to know more.”