I know a number of people who enjoy studying Japanese visit this site occasionally, and while I like to talk about what I did in the past by commenting on other blogs, here I like providing obscure and impractical bits of knowledge.
It’s my opinion that almost any bit of information can be useful in conversation, or the proper digestion of popular media. Here’s one you might see on ads for green tea around this time of year (actually a bit earlier). Today I’ve translated a section out of 「季節の節目を祝うしきたり」/「Practices of Celebrating the Change in Seasons」 focused on 「八十八夜」, which some of you may know well already. I feel like it’s quite useful having this sort of mundane knowledge stored away, because you never know when it might come up in a conversation with a farmer somewhere or something. What, you don’t visit farms? I think I’ve already said too much about my weekends.
八十八夜 ５月二日頃
Hachijū-hachiya “The 88th Night,” typically around May 2
八十八夜とは、二月上旬の立春から数えて八十八日目のことです。この日を八十八夜と呼ぶようになったのは江戸時代のことで、新暦では五月二日頃にあります。
Simply put, Hachijū-hachiya is 88 days after the start of spring in early February. On the Gregorian calendar this night lands on May 2, and the use of the term Hachijū-hachiya has been around since the Edo period.
春から夏への季節の変わり目にあたり、また「八十八」という文字を組み合わせると「米」になることもあって、この日は農村の人々にとって特別な日でした。人々は八十八夜を目安に、苗代作りや種籾おろしなどの農作業に取りかかったといいます。東北地方を中心に、八十八夜に農作を願う祈願祭や祈祷、占いなどの行事が行われてきました。現在もその風習を残す土地は少なくありません。
Considering it takes place during the transition between spring and summer, and a certain arrangement of the characters 「八十八」 combine to form 「米」 (rice), this day is seen as quite special in agricultural communities. It’s said that Hachijū-hachiya is used as a sort of temporal reference for the preparation of seed beds, the physical spreading of seeds, and other such farming tasks. Largely focused in Tōhoku (the north-eastern region of Honshū), festivals of prayer, visits to diviners, and other such events were held on Hachijū-hachiya in the hopes of bringing about a rich harvest. To this day, there are many areas which still observe such traditions.
童謡『茶摘み』に「夏も近づく八十八夜」と歌われているように、八十八夜は茶農家にとっても重要な時期です。立夏まであと数日となりながら、遅霜が降りることがあるからです。茶の新芽は霜にあたると枯れてしまうため、人々は「八十八夜の忘れ霜」などといってこの時期を警戒しました。一方、八十八夜の日に収穫された茶葉は貴重品とされ、現在でも神棚に供える風習が各地に残っています。
“As summer draws near, it’s Hachijū-hachiya,” as is sung in the children’s song “Chatsumi / Tea-leaf picking,” Hachijū-hachiya is an critical time for the growers of tea (leaves) as well. It is just a few days prior to the start of summer, and still presents the possibility of the appearance of late spring frost. Since frost will ruin damage the new buds, at this time of year tea leaf farmers are on the lookout for the “forgotten frost of Hachijū-hachiya.” That said, the leaves harvested on Hachijū-hachiya are a hot commodity, and the use of such leaves as an offering made on the small shrines in households and offices (kami-dana) is still a well-observed custom throughout Japan.
また、漁村においても、八十八夜は季節の節目として人々の生活に浸透しました。瀬戸内海地方では、八十八夜から約一ヵ月間を「魚島」「魚島時」と呼び、一年で最も多くの種類の魚を水揚げできる時期だとしていたとのことです。
Furthermore, Hachijū-hachiya has permeated the daily lives of the people living in fishing towns and villages, as an indicator of the change in season. In the Seto Inland Sea region of Japan, the 1-month period following Hachijū-hachiya is known as “Uoshima,” the period in the year when the greatest variety of fish can be hauled in.
