Japan's 72 Microseasons - The Koyomi Year in Review, Part 2
72 microseasons in 72 songs (continued)
And we’re back, after a slight commercial break. All the good music programs have an intermission, right? Did you stretch? Get a snack?
In the first half, we covered 36 of the 72 microseasons, going through the themes of the Spring and Summer kō. Next up we move from the heat of late Summer into Autumn and Winter. Let’s see how the mood shifts to match.
If you missed Part One of this musical venture, you can check it out here or just scroll through the official Spotify playlist at your own pace.
Headphones on! Let’s jump in.
第三十七候 涼風至
Kō 37: "Refreshing Breezes Blow"
Song: “Fūrin no Utau tai (The Wind Chime’s Song)” by Wagakki Band, 2015
紅（Red Team）
第三十八候 寒蟬鳴
Kō 38: "Evening Cicadas Sing"
Song: “Higurashi (Evening Cicadas)” by CHEESE CAKE, 2014
紅（Red Team）
第三十九候 蒙霧升降
Kō 39: "Thick Autumn Fog Descends"
Song: “Kiri no Naka (In The Fog)” by mitsume, 2016
白（White Team）
第四十候 綿柎開
Kō 40: "Cotton Flowers Fluff Up"
Song: “Kotton no Kisetsu (The Cotton Season)” by miwa, 2016
紅（Red Team）
第四十一候 天地始粛
Kō 41: "Things Begin To Cool Down"
Song: “Zanshō (Lingering Summer Heat)” by Yumi Matsutoya, 1990
紅（Red Team）
第四十二候 禾乃登
Kō 42: "Grain Fields Turn Gold"
Song: “Ine-age Uta (Ode to the Rice Harvest)” by Isamu Yashita, 19901
白（White Team）
第四十三候 草露白
Kō 43: "Silver Dew Glistens On Grass"
Song: “Asatsuyu no Hitomi (Beads of Morning Dew)” by Akiko Ikuina, 1989
紅（Red Team）
第四十四候 鶺鴒鳴
Kō 44: “Wagtails Sing Brightly”
Song: “Sekirei (Wagtail)” by GACKT, 2000
白（White Team）
第四十五候 玄鳥去
Kō 45: ”Swallows Fly Away”2
Song: “Tsubame ga Tobu Uta (Song For A Flying Swallow)” by Kotringo, 2013
紅（Red Team）
第四十六候 雷乃収声
Kō 46: ”The Voice of Thunder Quiets”
Song: “Raimei ga Naku Koro (Back When Thunder Rumbled)” by KOTOKO, 2010
紅（Red Team）
第四十七候 蟄虫培戸
Kō 47: “Insects Hole Up Underground”
Song: “Mushi no Yume (Insect Dreams)” by Ryohei Takenaka, 2021
白（White Team）
第四十八候 水始涸
Kō 48: “Rice Fields Are Drained”
Song: “Minori (The Harvest)” by Ichiro Toba, 2022
白（White Team）
第四十九候 鴻鴈来
Kō 49: “Wild Geese Come To Winter”
Song: “Fuyu no Gan (Winter Geese)” by Shinji Takamura, 1981
白（White Team）
第五十候 菊花開
Kō 50: "Chrysanthemum Flowers Bloom"
Song: “Nogiku Ichirin (A Single Wild Chrysanthemum)” by Hiroko Mita, 1983
紅（Red Team）
第五十一候 蟋蟀在戸
Kō 51: "Crickets Chirp At The Door"
Song: “Kōrogi no Uta (The Cricket's Song)” by Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi, 2001
白（White Team）
第五十二候 霜始降
Kō 52: “First Frost Falls”3
Song: “Shimohana (Frost Flower)” by ORβIT, 2024
白（White Team）
第五十三候 霎時施
Kō 53: “Light Rains Come and Go”4
Song: “Kosame Furu Michi (Light Rain on the Street)” by Noriko Awaya, 1953
紅（Red Team）
第五十四候 楓蔦黄
Kō 54: ”Ivy-Wrapped Maples Turn Gold”5
Song: “Momiji (Maple Leaves)” by Kurumi Kobato, 1988
紅（Red Team）
第五十五候 山茶始開
Kō 55: ”Camellias First Bloom”
Song: “Sazanka (Camellias)” by SHADY, 2020
白（White Team）
第五十六候 地始凍
Kō 56: ”The Soil's First Frosts”
Song: “Kōru Suna (Frozen Sand)” by Akino Arai, 1997
紅（Red Team）
第五十七候 金盞香
Kō 57: ”Fragrant Daffodils Flower”
Song: “Suisen (Daffodil)” by TAWINGS, 2019
紅（Red Team）
第五十八候 虹蔵不見
Kō 58: "Rainbows Hide in Gray Skies"
Song: “Yukidoke (Snow Thaw)” by GRAPEVINE, 2019
白（White Team）
第五十九候 朔風払葉
Kō 59: "Northern Winds Clear The Trees"
Song: “Kitakaze to Taiyō (Northern Winds and The Sun)” by Toshinobu Kubota, 1987
白（White Team）
第六十候 橘始黄
Kō 60: "Tachibana Citrus Trees Ripen"
Song: “Kankitsu Samba (Citrus Samba)” by BAKUDAN JOHNNY, 2014
白（White Team）
第六十一候 閉塞成冬
Kō 61: "Winter Descends Into Cold Skies"
Song: “Konayuki (Powdery Snow)” by Remioromen, 2006
白（White Team）
第六十二候 熊蟄穴
Kō 62: "Bears Hibernate In Their Dens"
Song: “Fuyugomori (Hiberation)” by Yoshihiko Asano, 1975
白（White Team）
第六十三候 鱖魚群
Kō 63: "Salmon Gather Back Home"
Song: “Shake Shake Shake (Salmon Salmon Salmon)” by Ayumikurikamaki, 2016
紅（Red Team）
第六十四候 乃東生
Kō 64: "The Heal-All Plant Grows Anew"
Song: “Ichiyō Raifuku (Spring Will Come)” by Minami Kizuki, 2017
紅（Red Team）
第六十五候 麋角解
Kō 65: "Moose Shed Their Antlers"
Song: “Shika to Uchū (Deer and the Universe)” by bonobos, 2011
白（White Team）
第六十六候 雪下出麦
Kō 66: "Wheat Sprouts Under The Snow"
Song: “Haru wo Matte (Wait For Spring)” by KANA-BOON, 2018
白（White Team）
第六十七候 芹乃栄
Kō 67: "Water Celery Flourishes"
Song: “Nanakusa (Seven Herbs)” by Giga Moeka, 2019
紅（Red Team）
第六十八候 水泉動
Kō 68: "Underground Springs Thaw"
Song: “Kibō no Izumi (Spring of Hope)” by Miharu Koshi, 2013
紅（Red Team）
第六十九候 雉始雊
Kō 69: "Pheasants Pipe Up"
Song: “Toki no Tabibito (Travelers of Time)” by Neontetra, 2020
紅（Red Team）
第七十候 款冬華
Kō 70: "Butterbur Flowers Bud"
Song: “Fuki-no-tō no Uta (Butterbur Flower Song)” by Masashi Sada, 2004
白（White Team）
第七十一候 水沢腹堅
Kō 71: "River Ice Thickens"
Song: “Kōri no Sekai (A World of Ice)” by Yosui Inoue, 1973
白（White Team）
第七十二候 雞始乳
Kō 72: "Hens Roost In Their Coops"
Song: “Niwatori no Uta (A Song for Chickens)” by C&K, 2013
白（White Team）
And there we have it! The Absolutely Official And Totally Final playlist for the 72 Microseasons of Japan. It was a lot of work, but someone had to do it.6
If a song seems like it doesn’t fit as well as you feel it should and you’re wondering why, it’s either Spotify didn’t have a better match, or I found one I liked that only kind of matched but wanted to include anyway.
So, what did you think? Discover anything new? Any favorites or interesting things that stood out? Even if you don’t speak a lick of Japanese, music is one of our most universal experiences as people, and this newsletter is about noticing and appreciating things as they are, even without necessarily understanding them fully.
To close out: a couple bonus tracks about the seasons in general. These won’t be on the playlist because I like having it be 72 tracks exactly, so you can consider these as Newsletter Exclusives™.
“Shiki no Uta (Song of the Four Seasons)” by MINMI, 2004
紅（Red Team）
“Nijū-yon Sekki Koi Uta (A Loving Ode to the 24 Sekki)” by angela, 2015
紅（Red Team）
See you next kō~
[Images & info by kurashikata.com, kurashi-no-hotorisya.jp, 543life.com, and Wikipedia except where otherwise noted]
This is an old folk song (民謡, minyo) from northern Japan, but I quite liked this cover by Isamu Yashita, who was a master of the traditional shakuhachi flute and specialized in folk songs
If you weren’t here for these newsletters, Kō 44-49 were combined into one, with original tanka poetry by yours truly to describe them instead of the usual deeper dives—no mistake in the repeated linked URLs of these five!
As with 44-49, the next six of these were also combined into a single newsletter, so they’ll all have the same link
Originally written around 1935 in Germany by composer Henry Himmel, this famous European tango song gained larger popularity when covered in French as “Il pleut sur la route”
Such tangos were popular in Japan at the time, so it was performed widely in nightclubs and eventually translated into Japanese as well—it is one of singer Noriko Awaya’s best known songs
Another well-known standard of Japan’s musical canon, “Momiji” has been part of NHK’s radio broadcast of classical music Minna no Uta (Songs For Everyone) since the ‘70s
This version was recorded by Kurumi Kobato, who also performed the singing voice for Snow White in the Japanese version of the Disney film
It’s not as if I just spent two weeks discovering a bunch of fun new music or anything