The wind rose, blew, and only the question remained

While washing the dishes, I suddenly heard a line from the morning drama.
"Good morning."
It is from "Bakebake," which is currently airing.
The era is the mid-Meiji period.
For some reason, that one phrase left me with a slight sense of discomfort.
—Did people in that era really greet each other like this?
Once I started thinking about it, I couldn't stop.
When did the word "ohayou" start being used,
and with what kind of feeling?

And today is Risshun.
According to the calendar, it is the day spring begins.
Does spring begin?
Is it a beginning spring?
Is it the calendar that makes it begin?
As I researched, I came across an old phrasing.
Haru tachinu.
It is not "haru tatenu."
"Haru tachinu"—using the perfective auxiliary verb "nu."
It is not that people invite spring in.
By the time you notice, it has already begun.
Therein lies a reverence for nature.
Strangely enough,
while it is not impossible to say "natsu tachinu," "aki tachinu," or "fuyu tachinu,"
it is almost exclusively used for spring.
Perhaps it is because it is the season that was awaited.
Perhaps it is because it was the moment the world flipped.

Here, I suddenly remember.
Tatsuo Hori's "The Wind Has Risen" (Kaze Tachinu).
"The wind has risen, we must try to live."
The 1930s, a turbulent era heading toward war.
He did not depict the war directly.
Instead, he wrote about illness, love, and the finiteness of life.
Hori's "wind" was
an irresistible flow of the times, and fate itself.

But, when we hear "Kaze Tachinu," the first thing that comes to mind
might actually be this.
Seiko Matsuda's "Kaze Tachinu."
"The wind has risen, it is autumn now, from today I am a traveler of the heart
Goodbye, goodbye...
I feel like I can live on my own ♪"
The wind blowing here is not heavy.
Though there are partings, the subject is "I."
The wind is not fate, but a device to push one forward.
Even though it is the same phrase, it has become much lighter.

And, one more.
Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind."
The answer is blowing in the wind.
It continues to blow, without ever reaching anyone's hands.

Spring rose,
the wind rose,
and eventually, we came to be blown by the wind.

Words remain.
But the weight those words carry changes with each era.
The morning "Good morning" is surely the same.
It was once a greeting of "having survived the night,"
and now it is a signal to "start the day."
The wind is still blowing.
It is just that the shape of the answer has changed.