Speaking of the rainy season

In the last issue, I wrote about the explanation and origin of the rainy season, and this time I would like to talk about the Japanese things we associate with the rainy season.

The rainy season is inevitably associated with rain, but here I would like to talk about something other than rain.Except for rain, I think most Japanese people probably all think of hydrangeas. When we see hydrangeas blooming in the rain, we think "it's the rainy season" and feel the season. These hydrangeas are often planted in temples, which are called "hydrangea temples. One of the most famous temples is Hase-ji Temple in Kamakura. Next time you are in Japan during the rainy season, please visit there. Now, the reason why hydrangeas are planted in many temples is because the rainy season, when hydrangeas bloom, is a time of extreme temperature changes, and in the days when medical care was not developed, many people became ill or died from illness. For this reason, in some temples, they were also called flowers for the dead. Even after the development of medicine, it was planted in many temples because it could be easily cultivated by cuttings, etc. and its beauty attracted attention in paintings and calligraphy.

When people think of hydrangeas, snails are often associated together. You may have often seen snails on the leaves of hydrangeas soaking in the rain in photos or illustrations. Actually, snails do not like rain and water because they cannot breathe underwater. So it seems that they avoid rain by clinging to the underside of hydrangea leaves and come out on the leaves when the rain stops.

Also, just like the hydrangea, the iris is probably the most famous flower during the rainy season. There are numerous flower colors such as white, peach, purple, blue, and yellow, and it is said that there are 5,000 types of irises including combinations with shibori or covered flowers. Since the blooming time of irises is close to that of hydrangeas, many irises are cultivated on the same site so that they can be viewed together with hydrangeas.

I hope this has been of some interest to you, and I hope I have given you some ideas of what you might associate with the rainy season. I hope you all found it interesting, and I look forward to continuing to introduce you to things that come to mind for each season.

See you next time.