January
2025/1/25-/1/29 Ice thickens on streams
January 25th, 2025 – January 29th is Winter – DAIKAN (Greater cold)-71st KOU “Ice thickens on streams”
This morning the radiation cooling was strong and it felt freezing. I love this cold ^^
River fog was seen on the Sai Rive and ice was formed on the shoreline.
The lowest temperature this morning was minus 2.9°C. That’s nice for ice to form.
The temperature of the stones may have been even lower. The waves repeatedly crashing on the shore touched the stones and the ice grew. This process continued throughout the night.
The forecast for the day is 7°C, but it’s very warm with plenty of sunshine, now. The ice will melt soon.
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2025/1/20-/1/24 HUKINOTOU bud
January 20th, 2025 – January 24th is Winter – DAIKAN (Greater cold)-70th KOU “HUKINOTOU (Butterburs) bud”
We have entered DAIKAN, the coldest days in the year. However, the highest temperature yesterday was only 10 degrees. In Shinshu, it is as warm as mid-March.
Perhaps lured by the good weather, HUKINOTOU (butterburs) bud starts to appear, that is a leadoff wild vegetable for coming early spring. FUKI-MISO (chopped HUKINOTOU bud stir-fried with MISO and oil) is fine with rice. It’s hard to describe the deliciousness of this slightly bitter taste😏 If you want to enjoy more the scent of the early spring, you can scatter raw HUKINOTOU bud on top of MISO soup.
It’s a taste unique to Shinshu, where people look forward to the arrival of spring.
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2025/01/15-01/19 Pheasants start to call
January 15th, 2025 – January 19th is Winter – SHOKAN (Lesser cold)-69th KOU “Pheasants start to call” The author sensed early spring as he heard the pheasants’ calls. Male pheasants use their distinctive cries to court females, so it is breeding season now. Spring is approaching.
There are perhaps four male pheasants on my walking area, each with a territory of about 300-400 meters.
I have only heard them call once this year yet. Is it too cold for courtship in Shinshu? After searching on line, the actual breeding season starts around April.
Actually, the pheasants around here seem to be singing all year round – are they fighting for territory or are they warning or letting them know something (me ^^;) is coming?
I’ve finally got the photo✌️ it’s a female pheasant.
Most of the time, they would appear so suddenly from the nearby bushes that I was so startled that I didn’t even have time to take out my camera.
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2025/01/10-01/14 Springs thaw
January 10th, 2025 – January 14th, 2025 is Winter – SHOKAN (Lesser cold)-68th KOU “Springs thaw.” This states that the tiny amount of water flowing from the frozen spring signals the very early arrival of spring.
Last week, the sun was out during the day and it was warm for several days. It seemed the “Springs thaw” season started a week early.
When the water moves, many things move. Of course, fish started to swim. My usual morning walk was bit long too, so that I could see the furry catkins of the pussy willow blooming.
However, contrary to 68th KOU “Springs thaw”, the cold weather is returning to its common at this time of year. There was a fine snow this morning. The smallness of the snowflakes tells us how cold it is. The high temperature today is expected to be 2℃.
In many ways, isn’t it natural to get cold at this time of year… right?
Cold and warm days alternate, and season is steadily approaching spring.
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2025/01/05-01/09 SERI flourishes
January 5th, 2025 – January 9th, 2025 is Winter – SHOKAN (Lesser cold)-67th KOU “SERI flourishes”
SERI (Japanese parsley) is a familiar plant to Japanese people as an early spring food ingredient (one of the seven herbs). It was already being eaten in the Nara period (8th century)
It is one of the first plants to flourish in the cold season before spring arrives, so people in the past ate SERI to try putting its vitality into their bodies. I found some wild SERI. It has a unique, refreshing scent. It’s still small, but the scent is more than enough to make me look forward to spring.
