CJ TypeJun 14, 2025
“Rotten grass becomes fireflies” 腐草為螢 (くされた くさ ほたる と なる) is the 26th micro season in Japan, occurring right now, from June 11th to 15th. I’ve been working on typesetting these micro seasons on a chromatic calendar, using the Hiragana, Katakana (+limited Kanji) and Latin alphabet of my typeface Louvette Pixel. It’s very satisfying to see the color shift throughout the seasons #72MicroseasonsJapan #LouvettePixel #TypefaceDesign #Typography #TypographicCalendar #microseasons #Japanese #nihongo #日本語 #タイポグラフィ #フォント #デザイン #katakana #hiragana #kanji #font #typeface #design
David LaSpinaNov 30, 2023

I used to, many many years ago, post about the 24 sekki on my blog. For a long time I've considered doing so again, doing a microseason update every few days. It'd give me something to post about other than haiku.

But now I notice so many people already do. Though some of them (like spoon-tamago) hide it behind a paywall. Honestly, it makes me less excited about the idea now that it's become somewhat better known.

I may do so anyway.

#microseasons

Ko-Fan Chen 陳克帆Nov 25, 2023
#caturday #microseasons 小雪
Matt MaldreOct 18, 2023
The microseason "Crickets Chirp Around the Door" brings you a comedy-filled garden extravaganza. Rockstar crickets, musical insects, and dancing trees – it's a riot of laughter and nature's music!
#microseasons #72microseasons
https://www.spudart.org/blog/crickets-chirp-around-the-door-72-microseasons/
Crickets chirp around the door (72 microseasons) - Spudart

The latest microseason, "Crickets Chirp Around the Door," introduces us to a rockstar cricket who's taking the insect world by storm. Join the party in your garden and groove to the chirpy beats! 🎶🕺 #FunnyNature #RockstarCricket

Spudart
Dezene Huber 🌻Apr 19, 2023

I love the fact that 🇯🇵 has 72 #microseasons.

I was born during 朔風払葉 which is “north wind blows the leaves from the trees.”

Tons of #insect-themed microseasons too!

蟄虫啓戸 hibernating insects🐞 surface

菜虫化蝶 caterpillars 🐛 become butterflies 🦋

蚕起食桑 silkworms 👔 start feasting on mulberry leaves 🍃

蟷螂生 praying mantises hatch 🐣

腐草為螢 rotten grass becomes fireflies 🔥

寒蝉鳴 evening cicadas sing 🎶

蟄虫坏戸 insects hole up underground 😴

蟋蟀在戸 crickets 🦗 chirp around the door

https://www.nippon.com/en/features/h00124/

Japan’s 72 Microseasons

In ancient times the Japanese divided their year into 24 periods based on classical Chinese sources. The natural world comes to life in the even more vividly named 72 subdivisions of the traditional Japanese calendar.

nippon.com
Show threadeileen chengyin chowMar 7, 2023

“I prefer the time of insects to the time of stars."

-Wisława Szymborska, “Possibilities” trans. Stanislaw Barańczak and Clare Cavanagh

(my poet crush has the last word in the season of awakening insects)
#everynightapoem #驚蟄 #microseasons #poetry #translation #insects #szymborska

Show threadeileen chengyin chowMar 7, 2023

Recalling the Taoist parable
莊周夢蝶 “Zhuang Zhou Dreams of a Butterfly” — and the tradition’s fascination with ephemerality of life, often expressed by the life cycle of insects: “To be born with the morning and gone by dusk.” 「朝生暮死」

From Ch 2 of the Zhuang Zi:
#驚蟄 #microseasons #spring #translation #Zhuangzi #insects

Show threadeileen chengyin chowMar 7, 2023

March 6-10: we enter into the early spring season of #驚蟄 or “Awakening the Insects.”

Or in Japanese micro-seasons, “Hibernating insects surface.”

驚蟄：初候，桃始華；陽和發生，自此漸盛。二候，倉庚鳴；黃鸝也。三候，鷹化為鳩。鷹，鷙鳥也。此時鷹化為鳩，至秋則鳩復化為鷹。

#microseasons #seasons #spring #Japanese #Chinese #calendar #節氣 #insects

eileen chengyin chowJan 5, 2023

Today marks the beginning of the 23rd micro-season “Lesser Cold” 小寒 - entering the chilliest period of the year - so I started the day with a steaming bowl of broth 🍜
(the recommended goji berry lamb stew seemed a bit much for breakfast )

#二十四節氣 #雁北鄉 #小寒 #seasons
#microseasons #Chinese #food #lunarcalendar