What Are Microseasons?

An Ancient Way to Inhabit the Year

An answer to the question: What catches my attention today? All photos taken with my iphone.

The idea of microseasons comes from ancient Chinese farming culture dividing the year into 24 seasons, each with a poetic name according to the Sun’s position and its effect on the agriculture of that region.

Some time later, this way of marking time was adopted in ancient Japan, where each season was subdivided into three parts, creating a total of 72 seasons lasting about five days each.

In 1685, the Japanese court astronomer, Shibukawa Shunkai, rewrote the names of the tiny seasons to more accurately describe Japan’s climate. I think he must have appreciated a great deal about the passage of time and humans’ deep connection to the natural world. The names he chose are simple and lyrical.

I think microseasons are a useful idea for people who love to take daily walks, but who might find ourselves a bit bored by the same landscape day after day.

The microseasons offer an illuminated map of the year as we savor time in small 5-day increments. It’s a joyful habit that becomes second nature with regular practice.

I’ve been challenging myself to more accurately notice subtle changes during each microseason on the local trails that I hike. This practice of looking closely has helped me to fall in love more deeply with the place that I call Home.

This system is ingeniously simple, and it’s a lovely way to inhabit the complexity of our human experience on a planet in continuous motion. Because, after all, our bodies and our lives are also in continuous motion.

Every time I go out for a hike, I am a slightly different version of the person I was yesterday, and I’m walking on a trail that has also undergone countless tiny changes in the last 24 hours.

There’s always something new to notice—something that I didn't see before: a quality of light, color, motion, or scent. A new plant, insect, or fungi. Always something new.

Let’s walk together,

—Ann