四季

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: The spelling is 四季, read しき, and it combines 四, meaning four, with 季, meaning season.
• Basic usage: 四季 means the four seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—and their cycle.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Differences from season to season and change across a whole year
  • Both examples use the form 四季. A garden offers different flowers in each season, while photographs present a mountain village throughout all four seasons.
• Seasonal garden flowers and a year in a photographed village
  • この庭では四季それぞれの花を楽しめる。 — This garden offers different flowers in each of the four seasons.
  • 写真を通して山村の四季を紹介した。 — The photographs introduce the mountain village through all four seasons.