梅雨-Tsuyu-

June has arrived and the rainy season is in full swing in Japan.

It rains a lot during this time of year, and as I have curly hair, the humidity makes it hard for my hair to do what I want it to do.

But aside from that, what exactly is the "rainy season"?

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency,

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, "The rainy season is a seasonal phenomenon in which rainy and cloudy days frequently appear during the seasonal transition from spring to mid-summer. A stagnant front (rainy season front) moves slowly northward while repeatedly moving from north to south. When the rainy season front stagnates and becomes active near Shikoku, heavy rainfall causes disasters, but it is also a blessing in the face of summer drought." The following is a brief description of the rainy season.

In other words, roughly speaking, the "Tsuyu" is the time of year when rainfall tends to occur at the same time as the season changes from spring to summer.

 The reason why the kanji character for "ume" (plum) is written as "rain" in Japanese is because the rain falls just in time for the ume fruit, which is called "dew (Tsuyu in Japanese). There are various theories that the Japanese word "Tsuyu" is derived from the Japanese word "ume" meaning "plum" and "rain" meaning "crumble" because it is the time when the ume fruit ripens and crushes. However, whatever the origin, what we can learn from this is that people in the past used to name the changes of the seasons based on word play using homonyms unique to the Japanese language. I always wish I could be such a playful person, but it is not easy. Or perhaps I am not playful enough when I think like this.

Speaking of the rainy season, I would like to write about it, but the explanation of the rainy season has become quite long, so I will write about it again next time.