Hatsushigure 初時雨

Finally finding time to write after getting swamped with work.

As for the name, I intentionally paid tribute to one of my favorite J-Rock bands, Ling Tosite Sigure (凛として時雨), which means "cold like late autumn rain showers." It's often shortened simply to Sigure.

Two years ago, I traveled to Japan. I was attending a conference in Tokyo, but stayed on to travel, heading to Kawaguchiko with some friends. It was mid-autumn, but the sky was overcast, hiding Mount Fuji, and a fine drizzle was falling. Walking along a path blanketed with orange-red maple leaves, the inspiration struck to make a cool rain scent paired with the smell of autumn leaves.

This was an absolute nightmare to formulate—so damn hard, haha! I dug into the GC-MS data of decomposing leaf litter (yes, that's actually a thing, haha) and realized dry leaves surprisingly have a very prominent rose tone driven by rose ketones. Reading through research papers blew my mind. But after looking at the GC data, the battle wasn't over: I had to figure out how to bridge the dry, woody notes with the wet, chilly rain accord, which are completely contrasting profiles. That rose tone ended up being the secret link bridging water and wood. It took nearly a dozen drafts before the complete picture finally materialized.

Number of mods: 14 (Tried a million things, the balance was hell. There was even one mod where there was so much pine it turned into a harsh, ethnic-scented floor cleaner packed with heavy woody ambers).