There Is More Than One Summer

Since moving to Denmark, I have become much more aware of the seasons.

Perhaps it is because of the light.

The sun stays with us for so long in summer, while in winter the days become surprisingly short. I notice the changing angle of the sun, the colour of the sky, and the small changes in the air.

It has made me think about the way I experienced seasons in Japan.

We have four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter.

But somehow, a season is not always just a season.

In Japanese, there are many small words for the different moments within a season.

For summer, for example, there is shoka, the beginning of summer.

Then seika, the height of summer.

Later comes banka, late summer.

And when summer is supposed to be ending but the heat is still there, we say zansho — the lingering summer heat.

I like this.

The season does not suddenly change from summer to autumn.

It seems to move gradually.

There is a moment when summer is just beginning.

A moment when it is fully summer.

And another when summer is slowly leaving, even though the heat remains.

Maybe this is why I find seasonal words so interesting.

They make me look a little more closely.

Since living in Denmark, I think I have started noticing these small changes more than before.

Maybe there are more seasons than we usually think.

Maybe a season is not a fixed period of time, but something that slowly arrives, stays for a while, and quietly changes into something else.