Risshu (First Day of Autumn) | The seasons move before we notice

Today, the 7th, is 'Risshu,' the first day of autumn according to the twenty-four solar terms. On the calendar, autumn begins today. Even when I hear that and look out the window, it is hard to find anything that feels like autumn. In Hokkaido, areas experienced intense heat, with Tsubetsu on the Okhotsk Sea side recording a high of 36.9 degrees Celsius. It was a day where one would struggle to find a place for the word 'autumn'.

Even so, when I drove through the foothills of Mount Yotei early in the morning, deep fog was hanging in the air. The mountain, which usually towers over the landscape, hid its form behind the white veil, and the trees and fields lost their outlines. I crossed the Niseko Panorama Line and drove south along the Sea of Japan from Iwanai. Once the sun rose higher, it was summer itself, but by the roadside, Japanese pampas grass was quietly growing its plumes.

'Though the coming of autumn is not clearly visible to the eye, I am startled by the sound of the wind.'

This is a poem composed on the day of Risshu by the Heian-period poet Fujiwara no Toshiyuki. One cannot clearly see with the eyes that autumn has arrived. Yet, one knows of its arrival through the sound of the wind. It seems that people over a thousand years ago felt a similar sense of bewilderment on the day of Risshu.

At the turn of the seasons, there are times when we feel something that is hard to put into words. It is not the temperature, nor is it the scenery. It is the air the moment you step outside in the morning. The touch of the wind coming through the window. The way the sun tilts. Such small differences accumulate, and one day, you suddenly realize, 'The season has changed.'

The wind cannot be seen by the eye. That is precisely why people know of its existence by watching the swaying of tree leaves and the way the grass bends.

There are also changes in our lives that cannot be seen by the eye. Even if it seems like nothing has changed from yesterday, our ways of thinking and our feelings are moving little by little without us knowing. Change is not something that begins suddenly one day, but rather something that has been progressing even before we notice it.

If you look only at the heat of the day, autumn is still far away. However, the calendar points to the next season a step ahead.

Even if it is not clearly visible to the eye, there are things you can understand if you listen closely.

Risshu. Autumn arrives first from within the wind.