Fuyu & other japanese words for celebrating Winter
It is December; the beginning of METEOROLOGICAL winter.
Fuyu 冬— Winter
I left Tokyo before the winter season had settled, but I have returned to a cold London. Although Autumn is undoubtedly my favourite season, Winter holds such magic, incomparable in its romantic ideas across the world and its capacity for warmth-seeking and human connection.
As a language, Japanese is utterly imbued with references to the seasons — like its many words for Autumn, there are countless words for this beautiful, cold season.
The kanji for Winter, Fuyu 冬, is made of two pictographs — the upper depicts a leg pointed downward, whilst the lower shows the foot standing on top of ice crystals.
From references to snow formations to proverbs of kindness and encouragement, below are just a few words found in Japanese that speak to the experience of being in Winter, a celebration of white landscapes and hibernation.
Touki 冬季
‘the season of Winter’
Yuki 雪
‘snow’ — Japanese holds many word variations of ‘yuki’, ranging from the change in textures and seasons of snow to the more specific (and poetic) forms it takes:
Yuki-boshi 雪帽子
‘Snow hat’ —the little ‘hat’ that appears on objects when snow lands on top
Botan-yuki 牡丹雪
‘snow peony’ — snowflakes that appear like the large, soft petals of peony flowers (botan) when they drift from the sky above
Mochiyuki 餅雪
‘mochi snow’ — snow that forms soft and round like little balls of mochi dough
Yukigeshou 雪化粧
‘snow makeup’ — being covered with snow (a person, an object, a mountain)
Namida-yuki 涙雪
‘tear snow’ — a poetic term for snow that falls briefly and melts quickly, like tears.
Yukimi 雪見
‘snow watching’
Shinsetsuna kotoba hitotsu de san-kagetsu ni wataru fuyu no kikan 親切な言葉一つで三か月にわたる冬の期間
‘one kind word can warm for three winter months’ — a Japanese proverb of kindness for inner winters.
Gin-sekai 銀世界
‘silver world’ — a snow-covered landscape
Fuyu-kitari-naba-haru-tookaraji 冬来たりなば春遠からじし
’when winter comes, spring is not far’
Samui 寒い
‘cold’
Fuyu gomori 冬ごもり
‘winter hibernation’
Fuyugi 冬着
‘winter clothing’ — also, Atatakai fuku, the word for warm clothes
Toji 冬至
‘winter solstice’