Before long, the winds of winter prepare their arrival. Less snow seems to fall each year, but the northern part of the archipelago and areas facing the Sea of Japan still get enough to make it necessary to shelter some garden trees from heavy snowfalls. Yuki-zuri rope work erected above pine trees helps prevent them from falling and their branches from breaking, while creating beautiful art forms at the same time. The yuki-zuri in Kanazawa, where snowfalls are heavy, are a well-known example. Boats set out for a different snowfall experience.

Yuki-mi zaké (snow-viewing saké offers another pleasure. Old houses have shoji (paper-covered sliding doors), but the paper prevents us from seeing outside. This can be dealt with by installing a pane of glass in part of the shoji, and concealing the glass with a partial shoji — when we want to view the garden and snow, we move the partial shoji away from the glass. This type of shoji is then called, appropriately, yuki-mi shoji.

Japanese lifestyles have changed with the times, but deep down there is still a fount of tradition and knowledge that we can draw on to fully enjoy the changing seasons. Sakura-gari, yuki-mi shoji and many other words expressing nature in transition are seasonal words called kigo.* These words add to the richness of the Japanese language, and because they cannot be copyrighted, anyone can use them in their own writing. Over the centuries, kigo have been used and refined and polished, and today they have a vibrancy and poetic charm that adds traditional color to our lives. Reference books called saijiki contain a collection of these words, listed under different classifications such as the time of the year, astronomy, geography, everyday living, cultural events, animals and plants. We poets like to think that saijiki are actually guides to the sensibilities and feelings of Japanese people. At any rate, learning new kigo will give you instant insight into traditional Japanese lifestyles.