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!
Today, Dec 17, begins 鱖魚群, the 63rd microseason (候, kō) which is read sakeno uo muragaru and means Salmon Gather. This is the third microseason of Taisetsu, which is itself the third solar term of winter.
This is when the salmon migrate upriver to spawn. This has long been a reminder of winter.
This is held at Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo from Dec 17th to the 19th. There are a lot of shops open, many of them selling some kind of hagoita. They are decorated in numerous ways: from kabuki figures, women in kimono, and other more traditional things to popular anime characters or even public figures who were in the news this year.
Hagoita (羽子板) are a kind of wooden paddle. They are used to play a traditional New Years game called hanaetsuji which is similar to badminton. Hagoita are also said to ward off evil, making them popular to buy and to gift around this time.
Here is a haiku for this microseason:
This haiku is pretty straight forward. Yakushi-e is typically a woodblock print of a kabuki actor. Trditionally these were common images to see on hagoita.
Will move this info to another post one of these days, but for now, briefly:
The next microseason starts on Dec 22. See you then for the next forecast!
| David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. |
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