A year organized by seasons
In Japan, the passing of the year is marked less by a single list of public holidays than by a layered set of seasonal events. Some belong to shrines and temples, some to families, some to whole neighborhoods, and some are simply moments when many people pause to look at something: a tree in bloom, a full moon, the first snow. Together they form a yearly calendar that is shared widely but never identical from place to place.
This article gives an overview. Each event mentioned here has its own history and regional variation, so treat the dates below as typical rather than fixed.
Two calendars, one year
For many centuries Japan followed a lunisolar calendar adapted from China, in which months followed the moon and extra months were occasionally added to keep the seasons in step. In 1873, during the Meiji era, the government switched to the Gregorian calendar. Many festivals moved to the matching dates on the new calendar, but the seasons they celebrated did not move with them.
The result explains several puzzles. Tanabata, for example, was an event of the old seventh month, which falls later in the summer than July 7 does today. Obon is held in mid-August in much of the country but in July in some regions. A festival that once fit its season neatly may now feel a month early or late, and communities have chosen different solutions.
The older calendar also divided the year into twenty-four solar terms, each lasting roughly two weeks and named for a change in weather or nature, such as the start of spring or the time when insects emerge. These terms, and the finer divisions sometimes called micro-seasons, still appear in almanacs and in the language of tea masters, cooks and poets.
The five seasonal festival days
Under the old system, certain dates in which the month number matched the day number were treated as turning points. They are often called the five sekku. Their traditional forms were roughly:
| Date | Name | Familiar associations |
|---|---|---|
| January 7 | Jinjitsu | A rice porridge with spring herbs |
| March 3 | Joshi | Dolls displayed for girls |
| May 5 | Tango | Carp streamers and iris leaves |
| July 7 | Tanabata | Wishes on paper strips |
| September 9 | Choyo | Chrysanthemums |
Not all of these are equally prominent today. The March and May events are widely observed in homes, Tanabata remains popular, and the September one has largely faded from daily life.
Winter into early spring
The year begins with Oshogatsu, the New Year, the most important family occasion of the year for many households. Preparations start in late December, and the first days of January involve special foods, greeting cards and a first visit to a shrine or temple. Because New Year is a time when many people travel home, transport is famously busy.
In early February comes Setsubun, traditionally the day before the start of spring on the old calendar. Beans are thrown to drive out bad luck, a ritual that belongs to a wider group of family-centered observances, including those held for children in November.
Late winter is also plum season. Plum blossoms open before cherries, and many people regard them as the first visible sign that the cold is ending.
Spring
March 3 is the dolls’ festival, and the spring equinox period is when many families visit graves. Then comes the best-known seasonal gathering of the year, blossom viewing. Cherry blossoms open over several weeks from south to north, and the pastimes around them are a custom of their own. Seasonal sweets, particularly wagashi sweets in soft pinks and greens, appear in shops at this time.
Early May has a cluster of holidays often called Golden Week, including Children’s Day on May 5, when families with sons have traditionally flown carp-shaped streamers.
Summer
Early summer is the rainy season, followed by heat that has shaped a whole group of customs aimed at cooling the body and mind: wind chimes, shaved ice, light cotton clothing such as yukata robes, and evening events. July and August are the peak of matsuri, the local festivals that bring floats, drums and portable shrines into the streets. Many towns also hold fireworks festivals on summer evenings.
Mid-August is Obon, when ancestral spirits are traditionally welcomed home, lanterns are lit and communities dance together. It is both a religious observance and a family reunion.
Fall
September brings the harvest moon, traditionally admired with rice dumplings and pampas grass, and the equinox period when families visit graves again. Fall is also the season of harvest festivals at many Shinto shrines, where communities give thanks for the year’s crops.
By late October and November the color change moves south through the mountains and then the cities. Viewing red maple leaves is the fall counterpart of blossom viewing, though a slower and quieter one. On November 15, families traditionally take children of certain ages to a shrine for Shichi-Go-San.
Cooks and tea hosts pay close attention to the changing season too. The idea of eating what is at its peak is described in more detail in the discussion of seasonal ingredients, and a formal kaiseki meal usually reflects the exact week of the year.
The year’s end
December is for finishing things: cleaning the house, settling affairs and sending greetings. On New Year’s Eve, many temples ring a large bell repeatedly as midnight approaches, and many households eat buckwheat noodles. The calendar then turns to Oshogatsu again.
The same ideas under the dates
Looking across the year, a few themes recur. One is attention to transience: blossoms and leaves are admired partly because they do not last, a mood that the concept of mono no aware is often used to describe. Another is the close link between everyday life and nature, sometimes summarized as a love of nature, though it would be a mistake to suppose every person in Japan holds one attitude. A third is the way language itself carries the year. In poetry, a single word can signal the season to a reader, a habit explored in the article on seasonal words.
Variety and change
It is worth remembering that no single calendar applies everywhere. Northern Hokkaido and subtropical Okinawa have different climates, so blossoms, snow and harvests do not arrive together. Different regions favor different dates, foods and customs. Younger generations in cities may observe only some events, and some festivals have been revived or reinvented in recent decades. The calendar is better understood as a living set of habits than as a fixed rulebook.