小雪

小雪 — *lesser snow*. Around the twenty-second of November snow becomes possible rather than likely. In the mountains it has already started. In Tokyo it probably won't come for another month, and when it does the trains will stop.

The naming here is a pair: 小雪 now, 大雪 in a fortnight. Japanese does this repeatedly through the calendar — 小暑 and 大暑 for the heat, 小寒 and 大寒 for the cold. Lesser, then greater. The seasons come in two doses.

You have now met all three. 花見 for cherry blossom in spring, 紅葉狩り for leaves in autumn, and 雪見 for snow in winter. Same instinct each time: something is briefly beautiful, so you go and look at it on purpose, ideally with food and other people.

雪見 has its own props. 雪見障子 are sliding screens with a panel that lifts so you can watch the snow from inside without losing the heat, and 雪見酒 is drinking sake while you do it. There are stone lanterns made specifically to look good with snow settled on the cap.

Three seasons, three viewings. Summer's contribution is fireworks and insects, so it isn't left out.

The kana

A short row: only three.

や, ゆ, よ — y + a, u, o. There is no *yi* and no *ye* in modern Japanese, so the row simply skips them. Three characters instead of five, and nobody will ask you about the missing two.

These three come back later in a way worth knowing about now: written small, they hook onto other characters to make sounds like きゃ and しょ. You have already read one — 処暑 is しょしょ. That's for chapter twelve.