Suddenly, it’s got very cold and windy in London over the past couple of days, and I’ve even caught a bad cold! Normally though, I really enjoy autumn, as it’s a powerful season with such lovely colours. 

In Japan there are actually twenty-four solar terms, or versions of seasons - ideas that are still in use today. Like ‘Risshun’, which marks the beginning of spring, at the start of February, and ‘Geshi’, which signifies the summer solstice. It’s a system that divides the year into four seasons - spring, summer, autumn and winter - with each season subdivided into six parts, making a total twenty four seasons.  

Right now, we are in the season of ‘Soukou’, which means frost is falling. It is the sixth – and last - season of autumn. In ten days’ time, it will be ‘Rittou’, the beginning of winter. 

The seasons are deeply wound into our lifestyle in Japan, and are a profound part of the world of the tea ceremony. When creating a Haiku poem we have to use seasonal words such as autumn moon or harvest time etc. When choosing a particular kimono, it is selected because of the seasonal nature of the pattern. And the season is an important factor when picking out and using a tea bowl. Most famously, there is of course the season of Sakura, and the viewing of the cherry blossom. 

In the Japanese tearoom, we have two possible arrangements for heating water: the ‘ro’ (sunken hearth) and the ‘furo’ (portable brazier). Both kinds serve as a place to set a kettle and boil water, but they differ in how they are installed, and – importantly - the season in which they are to be used.

When practicing the tea ceremony, these arrangements change in accordance with the turning of the seasons. The ‘ro’ is used from November through April, while the ‘furo’ is used from May through October. This transition takes place once a year at a designated time, and the ‘ro’ can be used as a feature for the process of bringing fire into an interior space.