When is “88 nights”? Where do you count from? –Weathernews

2022/05/02 05:02 Weathernews

♪ Eighty-eight nights when summer is approaching
Young leaves grow in the fields and mountains
What you see is Chatsumi, isn’t it?
Akane Dasuki ni Suge no Kasa

This is No. 1 of the song “Tea Picking”. Many of you may have heard of it once, but do you know when “88 nights” is?

The words that describe the seasons include “24 solar terms” and “five festivals”, but other days that are the turning points of each season are called “Zassetsu”. Setsubun, equinoctial week, and earthenware are included in the miscellaneous clauses, and 88 nights are one of them.

We asked Arahataen Co., Ltd. (Makinohara City, Shizuoka Prefecture), which has been manufacturing, selling, and wholesale tea for many years, to tell us what kind of day 88 nights are.

Where do you count from 88 nights?

“Eighty-eight nights are 88 days after the beginning of spring. After eighty-eight nights, the fields and rice fields are no longer frosted, and full-scale summer begins. In Japan, this is the day. I have used the day as a guide to start farming in early summer, such as planting rice and picking tea. “(Arahataen)

Speaking of which, the 210th day, which is said to be the day when typhoons often come in autumn, is also a miscellaneous clause expressed by the number of days counted from the beginning of spring. In the lunar calendar, the beginning of the year was the beginning of spring, so it seems that the seasons far ahead were properly counted from the beginning of spring.

Since the beginning of spring this year (2022) was February 4, 88 nights will be May 2. By the way, next year will be May 2nd, and next year, May 1st will be 88 nights.

Let’s hear the significance of 88 nights in a little more detail.

“Agricultural work that starts waiting for 88 nights includes rice planting, sowing vegetables, planting seedlings, picking tea, etc. If it does not frost, there is no need to worry about damage to seedlings and shoots, so farmers all at once. We will start farming in early summer. Eighty-eight nights were an important day for the old Japanese who lived a life centered on agriculture. “(Arahataen)

The deep relationship between 88 nights and tea

The lyrics of the tea-picking song seem to differ depending on the region, but the lyrics of the second song of the Ministry of Education are like this.

♪ Hiyori, the continuation of today
Sing while picking somewhere in your heart
Pick it up, pick it up, you have to pick it up
If you pick it up, it won’t be Japanese tea

From these lyrics, you can really see how hand-picking is done, but is it still being hand-picked?

“Hand-picking is laborious and time-consuming, so machine-picking has become the mainstream, but there are still many tea gardens that hand-pick the best tea around 88 nights. People pick sprouts of tea leaves. If you pick them one by one while looking at them, you can make good quality tea because old leaves and stems are hardly contained.

Ichibancha is the first tea to be harvested in a year, so it is also a tea with an exceptionally high content of theanine, which is an umami ingredient. “(Arahataen)

The reason why tea around 88 nights is valuable is that it is hand-picked and contains the most umami ingredients in a year.

The tea picked at 88 nights is a lucky charm

Tea picked around 88 nights has long been considered auspicious. What is the reason for this?

“First of all, it has been said that the figure of eight is wide and auspicious, and that the eighty-eight nights where the eights overlap are even more auspicious. It expresses the heart of the Japanese people who value.

It is also said that “drinking 88 nights tea will extend your lifespan” and “drinking 88 nights tea will keep you healthy for a year”.

This is not only auspicious because it was picked on the day of 88 nights, but also due to the custom of respecting the first thing.

In Japan, it has long been said that eating something that started to appear in that season will extend the lifespan by 75 days, which is called the “first 75 days”. The first product was full of vitality, and it was thought that eating it would allow us to take in that energy. “(Arahataen)

Why is the tea at this time delicious?

“Ichibancha is tea picked from mid-April to mid-May. Second tea is two months after the end of the first tea harvest (mid-June to mid-July), and third tea is from 2 to the end of the second tea harvest. It will be three weeks later (mid-July to late August).

The most delicious sprout of 88 nights contains plenty of theanine, which is an umami ingredient. This theanine changes to catechin, which is a bitter component, when exposed to ultraviolet rays. Therefore, the tea picked around 88 nights when the ultraviolet rays are still weak is a delicious tea with less bitterness and astringency. “(Mr. Arahata)

At this time of year, please try the delicious freshly picked tea.

Reference materials, etc.

Interview cooperation: Arahataen Co., Ltd. (https://www.arahataen.com/)