The Japanese Art of Living Seasonally: An invitation to celebrate every day

by Natalie Leon

Written by Japanologist Natalie Leon, this beautiful guide unlocks the secrets of Japan's seasonal culture to help you relish the seasons wherever you are.

Since the Heian period, nature has permeated every aspect of Japanese culture in myriad ways; the Japanese literally eat, sleep and wear the seasons, from kimono motifs to seasonal sweets and annual festivals dedicated to the moon's beauty or the blooming of flowers. This celebration of nature leads to a deep awareness of the seasons, called kisetsukan .

In this book, Japanologist and seasonality expert Natalie Leon explains the hidden depths of kisetsukan and shares how seasonal living can be incorporated into our own lives. Through 12 key concepts, such as shun , focusing on eating seasonally, Kasane , the language of colour, and mottainai , zero-waste living, this treasure trove of folktales, recipes and activities is an invitation to mark and appreciate each passing


Increase your personal harmony, creativity and happiness by savouring the seasons, no matter where you are.

Genres: Nonfiction, Japan, Self Help, Nature, Audiobook, Japanese Literature

352 pages, Hardcover

Published May 14, 2024

About the author

Natalie Leon is a Japanologist, freelance writer and student of Chanoyu, the Japanese tea ceremony.
She has an academic background specialising in Japanese art history and traditional culture, including an MA in Japanese Studies from SOAS, London.

Her first book, The Japanese Art of Living Seasonally, is a love letter to seasonal Japan. It brings together a collection of Japanese traditions, rituals and philosophies to inspire and demonstrate that it is possible to find a harmonious balance between our hectic modern lifestyles and our natural inclination to connect with nature wherever we are.

Over the past eight years, Natalie’s quest to uncover Japan’s seasonal culture has led her to fabled temples, moss-covered gardens and hidden tearooms. She has attended a fox wedding in
Kyoto, foraged for wild mountain vegetables in Yamagata, hunted for autumn leaves in Osaka,
slept in a Buddhist monastery on Koyasan, celebrated spring with countless cherry blossom
viewing picnics, handpicked yuzu in Kochi and experienced an earthquake in Kumamoto.

Natalie loves to travel, and you’ll often find her hunting for treasure at flea markets, walking in
ancient woodlands, visiting local art galleries, studying the Way of Tea, working on her tiny
garden or whipping up something seasonal in the kitchen.

Natalie is currently based in London, England, where she surrounds herself with nature in myriad ways, inspired by Japan’s 72 micro seasons and annual festivals.

You can often find Natalie on Instagram, sharing her seasonal adventures in Japan and at home.

Follow Natalie on Instagram @_Natalie_Leon

Reviews

[Raakel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Japanese Art of Living Seasonally is a wonderfully refreshing, inspiring and charming book about how the Japanese enjoy different seasons.

The book contains Japanese hygge, experiencing the beauty and uniqueness of different seasons, enjoying nature, drinking tea, decorating, crafting, celebrating, honouring traditions and seasonal mindfulness activities, all described in great detail based on Japan's 72 micro-seasons.

I enjoyed the dreamlike and breathtakingly inspiring images and ideas that came to mind while reading it. Spring picnics that last until late at night under blossoming cherry trees that are decorated with lights and the autumn moon-gazing ritual.

The book also includes some lovely seasonal Japanese poems, seasonal activity suggestions and words that can help you notice the beauty of the nature in new ways.

Here are some lovely Japanese words about blossoming cherry trees:

Ame no sakura: Raindrops falling on cherry blossom petals
Hanagasumi: Cherry blossom haze
Yukizakura: Cherry blossom petals on freshly fallen snow

The Japanese Art of Living Seasonally invites you to observe, feel and celebrate seasons and micro-seasons in a really beautiful and mindful way. I’m glad I read this book in spring as spring is the most loved season in Japan with its new beginnings and sakura.

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything Japanese: from cooking to kimonos, from seasonal celebrations to ikigai and shrin-yoku. In short, a small breviary for all those who would like to incorporate a little bit of Japan into their lives. Lovely.

Tutto quello che é giapponese: dalla cucina ai kimono, dalle celebrazioni stagionali all'ikigai, passando dallo shrin-yoku. Insomma un piccolo breviario per tutti coloro che vorrebbero inserire un po' di Giappone nella loro vita. Molto carino.

I received a complementary advanced digital review copy in exchange for a honest review.

[Alyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to read this again in print. Lovely book. Learned a bunch of words that I read aloud with a crappy accent and scared my dog.

Here are two favorite words:

"Komorebi: Rays of sunshine filtering prismatically through the leaves of trees."

"...mottainai, meaning 'what a waste.'

[Sarah M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute! Can’t wait to have my own Hanami party next spring!

I would recommend reading this physically though - I listened to this on BorrowBox and I think I would’ve appreciated it more/gotten more out of it had I been able to underline and make notes!

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up from the library as a change of pace, not really having any expectations other than to learn a little about another culture. I loved it. Informative, gently written, packed full of natural and artistic references, it ally is a lovely introduction to Japanese culture.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fairly comprehensive (historically), yet rudimentary (in terms of prose) account about a lot of good the Japanese do well: living day to day, mastery over a single thing, honouring culture and change, etc.
I am a beginner Japanese speaker currently and I figured this would help augment that experience but I was let down.
The book is split into twelve sections, talking about clothes, flower arranging, tea making, the food culture and a few more.
The food section I found fascinating. Same goes for the zero waste living and way of water. The rest? Not so much.
I consider myself a fairly spiritual person but I found this almost ‘self help-y’, rather than informative for the reader who wants to immerse deeper into the way of life of the Japanese.
One fundamental change I would make it adding the Kanji to every subtitled section as well, rather than just the romaji. That would add tons of immersion and actually would have added a whole star.
Natalie Leon clearly knows her stuff: it’s just not how I would have arranged it and that’s okay!
I thank NetGalley for this ARC, in response to an honest and fair review.

[Linds · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off, this is a lovely book with lots of information and is obviously well researched.
My disappointment is that I was hoping for suggestions about how to incorporate elements of Japanese culture into my everyday UK life and there were really very few.
My other complaint is that it really needed lots of photos. There’s not much point describing, for example, Japanese sweets to an audience that has never seen anything like them - I spent so much time looking for images online that it detracted from the reading experience.
I didn’t finish the book.

[Alice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt disjointed - it’s comprised of tons of short blurbs about everything Japanese without much connective tissue (from festivals to tea). I couldn’t really take this seriously since it felt like half a book report on Japan, and half just page fillers (ie how to make tea, as in…boil water and pick you tea).

[Ink · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Japanese Art of Living Seasonally is a lovely book that is well-researched. It documents carefully the ritual, tradition and key elements of the 72 microseasons observed in Japan in an accurate and succinct way

The layout is light and accessible and it is a good book to journey through the seasons with. There is so much in here to learn and do that it is a real delight to become immersed in. Leon writes very well and clearly knows their subject matter very, very well, writing with insight and empathy

I really enjoyed this in-depth review of living seasonally and it is certainly a book to keep for daily reference

Thank you to Netgalley, Watkins Publishing and Natalie Leon for this wonderful ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and informative book covering all aspects of Japanese seasonal culture. Natalie Leon encourages us to reconnect with nature and live more mindfully, using our curiosity to enjoy the wonder of the world around us. The book is structured around 72 micro seasons.
It contains lots of interesting facts and snippets from Japanese culture, as well as ideas on how to maximise your engagement with the natural world. This is the sort of book you can dip into at any time, with 12 themed sections including clothing, tea, moon watching and flowers.
A lovely relaxed piece of reading.
I received a free review copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for mu honest and unedited review.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars from me. It's quite obvious (even before I looked at the extensive bibliography) that Leon has done her research. The book is an aggregation of all that she learned and has very little in the way of originality other than the rather limpid ideas she has for celebrating. But as a compendium, it is useful though an index would have been quite helpful as some concepts come up in different locations.
This is a nice enough reference book and would be a good gift for a budding Japanologist. A reader who came to Japan via manga might find this a useful way to obtain more background very easily instead of wading through the source material listed in the bibliography.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. New Japanophiles should find it useful.

[Tanzey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a detailed informative and useful book for those interested in Japanese traditional culture. Each aspect ( clothes, tea, flowers, festivals, food etc) are explored through the year and the continual mantra is to observe seasonal changes with care and to respect and reuse in everyday life. There were tips along the way for incorporating these ideas into our everyday life. The major negative is that I found the tone a bit smug ie this is what I do and thus you can too. It’s also somewhat repetitive.

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

The audiobook was a great introduction to Japanese traditions and special relationships with nature. Listening to the Japanese words was a treat and quite meditative. I ended up looking up many images to imagine what I was listening to. Very enjoyable overall but I wish there was a coffee table book full of imagery available as a companion book. ;) I am now waiting for my order of Hinoki Cypress essential oils to arrive to immerse myself in the scents of a Japanese forest… And Japanese matcha is on my wish list.

[KimmyB Fitness · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn’t what I expected. I learnt a few things about Japanese culture and there’s definitely some things that can be taken away from this but the layout was not reader friendly. It comprised of multiple short paragraphs. At times, I felt as though I was reading a dictionary.

[Elsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Natalie enchants me with the way she writes and transports me into a poetic world filled with deeply meaningful traditional Japanese culture.

I recommend her book to people who want to learn to take things slow and to add precious seasonal moments as way to enrich every single day.

[Natassja Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wonderful resource. I found it all very interesting and will recommend it to anyone interested in alternative ways of living,

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

A very rare DNF from me. Not what I was hoping it to be.

[ReadingSloph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alright, lots of good information. Lots of neat, fun facts.

[Jenny-Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting enough but not at all what I expected.

[Johanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comprehensive and beautifully illustrated. Made me want to eat my way through a year’s worth of sweets.

[L.C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

1st

[Kiki · Rating 5 out of 5]

You won't be disappointed, this is an absolutely fantastic book and so very beautiful too!

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Some interesting content no doubt. However, the structure was highly questionable - jumping in and out of a micro-season format to talk about Kimonos, Tea, Recipes etc. Going through chronologically would have been easier to follow and also have made its usefulness as a reference book more pronounced.

[ElizabethLibbyH · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was so interesting! I love seeing different points of view and how people live differently than others. I felt like the explanations made sense and were explained in a way I could understand. I received an advanced review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily and honestly.

[Mags (mbooksbycandlelight) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is lovely. It has lots of interesting and fascinating information, and I learned many new things, but I found it a little dense and even boring at times. I think if you’re one of those people who are obsessed with Japanese culture you’ll love it. I just had a mild curiosity, so this ended up being a middle of the road read for me.

I received an eArc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Isabella · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 or 4 Not sure
I did like this audiobook. The writer has obviously done lots of research and reads with enthusiasm with examples from their own life. Interesting that Japan has 72 microseasons. Lovely hearing about the importance of different flowers, trees and plants across the year.

I am not sure why not higher. There was some repetition but I guess maybe you could read different chapters independently.