Stacks Image 1806

Photo by Chris Lawton

A little over one year ago I discovered some little piece of trivia regarding how Japanese calendar works. Apart from the classical 12 months, and the 4 "classical" seasons, Japanese people divide time in 24 periods (called sekki) which in turn are subdivided again in three subperiods (collectively called 72 Kō). Both Sekki and Kō have a specific starting day and specific names, mostly describing events that would happen in that period of the year.

Example: June 16–20 / 梅子黄 (Ume no mi kibamu) i.e. Plums turn yellow

A few months after discovering this I started drawing - but it took me another year or so before realizing that I could use the theme of each of the 72 "microseasons" to draw... and also add a little calligraphic work to each one.



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