Light Rains Sometimes Fall: A British Year Through Japan’s 72 Seasons

Forsythia in the rain

A couple of weeks ago, we had a light (and chilly) rain during our morning walk on the trail. And we saw our first blooming forsythia of the season and a sure sign of Spring. It reminded us of a book we included in the Autumn 2023 issue of Nature Book Guide, Light Rains Sometimes Fall: A British Year Through Japan’s 72 Seasons by Lev Parikian, Elliott & Thompson, 2021, 352 pages.

It was the kind of rain Lev Parikian wrote about, “a mist-like mizzle, that almost doesn’t qualify as rain,” in today’s microseason he named “Blackthorn Sheds Blossom.” It has also been called a season of “Rainwater” and “Grass sprouts, trees bud.” And though we are experiencing the day in Illinois, not Japan or the UK, these season names are right on target.

We love a book that can nudge us into a new way of seeing or help us understand the shifts or changes or nuances of the seasons. This is that kind of book!

Entry for the first few days of March

This is what we wrote about it:

“In this most delightful of mind-benders, UK writer, composer, and birdwatcher Lev Parikian provides an alternative look at the seasons to discover “new ways to pay attention, and to give the natural world the respect it deserves.” His witty and joyous nature diary takes note of subtle changes in the natural world, and he uses ancient Japanese seasons—roughly five-day segments named around the natural cycles—to create new seasonal names. Suddenly, ancient Japan’s season in July, “Hawks Learn to Fly” becomes the season Parikian names “Acorns Fall to the Earth,” and January’s “Springs Thaw” becomes his “Rain Revives Mosses.”

Light Rains Sometimes Fall is a charming reminder that careful observation of the natural world can be an illuminating creative endeavor, as well as a scientific pursuit.”

Thank you, Lev Parikian, for helping us see and reframe our experiences of the seasons.

You can read the entire Autumn 2023 issue by clicking on the cover image below!

Cover of the Autumn 2023 issue of the Nature Book Guide