Seasons
Sakura
It is said that the reason why Japanese people love cherry blossoms so much is not only for their beauty in full bloom, but also for their ``transience,'' as they disappear in just a few days. In Japan, there is an aesthetic sense known as ``Mono no awareness,'' which is a feeling of beauty and sadness in things that change. We see the brilliance of life in the falling cherry blossoms. Cherry blossoms are beautiful clocks that teach us the idea of life and death, that life is also a fleeting moment of brilliance.
Spring in Japan is also the season of farewells and encounters. The fiscal year for Japanese schools and companies begins in April. The cherry blossoms that endure the long and harsh winter and bloom all at once are also a fanfare to celebrate new beginnings in life, such as graduation, admission to school, and employment. It has a graceful appearance at the edge of dispersal and a strength that blooms beyond the winter. This cherry blossom, which has both "death and rebirth", continues to stir the souls of Japanese people.
Mujo (MUJO)
While Western civilization, symbolized by stone architecture, placed value on ``eternity'' and ``unchangeability,'' Japanese culture is premised on ``impermanence,'' or the Buddhist fact that ``all things change and nothing lasts forever.''
The background to the formation of this unique view of life and death lies in Japan's geographical environment, with its dramatic changes in the four seasons. Just like cherry blossoms in spring and colored leaves in autumn, the beauty of the natural world is always changing and never stays the same. In this environment, Japanese people have accepted the fact that events always have an end (time limit), and have therefore developed a sense of value that the moment in front of them is rare.
Rather than rejecting change, we accept change itself as a natural law. This sensibility that finds beauty in transience is not pessimism, but a realistic way of thinking to recognize the present, which will never return.
72 Seasons
The Japanese divided the four seasons into smaller parts and named the changes in nature that occur every five days. ``Thawing the spring breeze'' and ``Laughing for the first time with a peach''. This calendar, which is based on the movement of the sun, has been used as an agricultural indicator for determining the timing of sowing and harvesting, and as a lifestyle guide for seasonal events. Sensitivity to slight changes in temperature, the smell of the wind, and the budding of flowers and plants. It is a systematization of the rich sensitivity of the Japanese people who sense the slightest changes in nature, and is a practical compass for living in harmony with nature and the rhythms of the earth.
Yukimi
There is a culture in which people not only look at the flowers, but also enjoy the cold, snowy scenery as ``Yukimi'' (snow viewing), drinking sake and appreciating it. This obsession is also reflected in Japan's unique architectural style. In Japanese houses, there is a fitting called ``yukimi shoji'', in which only the lower half of the shoji is made of glass, and is used only for viewing the accumulated snow while sitting in the room. Snow, which absorbs sound and dyes the world a solid white color, is a symbol of purification that cleanses everything on earth. Rather than lamenting the inconvenience of the cold, use the window frame as a picture frame and enjoy the scenery as if it were an ink painting. The ancient Japanese way of spending winter turns even the harshness of nature into art.
Remnants (NAGORI)
The origin of the Japanese word "Nagori" is said to be "Nami-nokori". Like the seawater and foam that remain on the beach after the waves have receded, these words express regret for the presence and afterglow that remains after a season has passed.
When Japanese people appreciate ingredients and seasons, they divide them into three periods. ``Hashiri'' celebrates the arrival of the season, ``Shun'' celebrates the peak of the season, and ``Nagori'' regrets the end of the season. For example, the autumn leaves blooming on the trees are beautiful, but when the carpet of fallen leaves scatters and dyes the ground as a remnant of autumn, you can feel the last flames of the fading autumn and the footsteps of winter.
In other words, value lies not only in the peak season, but also in the deep flavor of ingredients that are about to finish, and the beauty of maturity in the landscape after they are gone. Rather than mourning the passage of time, it is a sophisticated sense of beauty that allows us to cherish all of it.
