![]() ![]() “Solar Terms”) relative to their position on earth’s orbit. Shiryū is followed by five other “occasions” which together make up the “ Nijyūshi (24) Sekki” (二十四節気), the division of the solar year into 24 equal sections. These are: Risshun (立春 beginning of spring), Rikka (立夏 beginning of summer), Risshū (立秋 beginning of autumn), and Rittō (立冬 beginning of winter). In addition to Nishi-Nibun, there is Shiryū (四立), the first day of each season. Be sure to mark your calendars for that! The 24 Mini-Seasons of Japan In the same way that a reset is needed for Risshun, in the year 2092, Shunbun will also be shifting to March 19. “Shunbun” (春分 Vernal Equinox Day) is traditionally celebrated on March 20. Thus, every four years from now until 2100, Setsubun will occur on February 2. ![]() “Setsubun” generally refers to the day before the first day of spring ( Risshun). In the years 2021 to 2100, Risshun will fall on February 3 for every year following a leap year (as illustrated in the chart above). “Risshun” (立春) is the name used in the old Japanese calendar to mark the beginning of spring. Hakoda-sensei illustrates this phenomena using the following chart: And even with the implementation of a leap year, we’ve created an orbital deficit of 45 minutes (11.25 x 4) over four years. So to reach this 6-hour mark, we must account for an extra 11.25 minutes. To be more exact, it takes the Earth an additional 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45 seconds for it to revolve completely around the sun. It was mentioned earlier that the days lost due to the drift was 0.242189 days, which is approximately 6 hours. We can crack this mystery by looking at the exact calculations. But if this were completely true, then why did Setsubun occur one day earlier? It goes back to the once-in-124-years event mentioned at the start. Leap years are supposed to help fix this issue. For those of us that dwell in the Northern Hemisphere, we’d be celebrating the New Year in a T-shirt. Without the presence of leap years, summers and winters would be flipped in around 700 years. The leap year is designed to offset this deviation. When we multiply this over 4 years, we end up drifting apart by nearly an entire day (6 hours x 4 years = 24 hours). This 0.242189 days lost in a year is equivalent to approximately 6 hours. The following diagram can be found on the website for the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.Īs the figure shows, the calendar year is slightly shorter than the actual time it takes for the earth to revolve around the sun, leading to an incremental drift. ![]() The movement of the Earth on the orbital plane is what decides Nishi-Nibun. Although not as common, equivalent season adjectives exist for summer and winter too. In English, the two solstices maintain their seasonal names (summer & winter), whereas the equinoxes use the adjective “vernal” and “autumnal”. These four cross-quarter days are known in Japan as Nishi-Nibun (二至二分) and means quite literally, “the two solstices (至) and the two equinoxes (分)”. The solstices are when the Sun reaches its greatest distance from the equator, resulting in either the longest or shortest day of the year. This results in a near-equal length of daylight and darkness. To start, we must recognize that the seasons are based off of the Earth’s orbit around the sun, with the equinoxes marking the days when the Sun is exactly above the equator. In the process, he also sheds some light on “ Nijyūshi (24) Sekki”, the ancient Japanese calendar which divides the year into 24 mini-seasons. Hakoda-sensei blends astronomy and etymology as he describes why different dates are allocated to Setsubun and other seasonal holidays. Click here to read the original article in Japanese.įor the first time in 124 years, the Setsubun (節分) tradition of throwing beans and yelling “Demons out! Good fortune in!” occurred not on February 3 – when Setsubun is normally celebrated – but on February 2. The following article is based on the online series, " Jissen! Tsutawaru Eigo Training" by Katsuyoshi Hakoda (Instructor and Coordinator of English Language Education, AEON). ![]()
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