Hot summer
Around July 23 to August 7
The heat, as it literally suggests, is the hottest time of the year. The real summer has finally arrived.
At this time, the plum rain has ended, and the thunderstorms have begun to occur frequently, entering the summer soil (futian) season. With the arrival of the summer heat, sprinkling ceremonies are held everywhere. The sprinkling ceremony was originally intended to clean and purify the road that the gods were about to pass, but by the Edo period, it had evolved into the meaning of cooling. In addition to sprinkling water, there are also ways to escape the heat, such as using mosquito nets and wind chimes. I really want to continue to pass on these summer wisdom that has been handed down from ancient times.
"The first flower of the sycamore" refers to the season when the sycamore begins to bear fruit. In May, the sycamore blooms with lilac flowers, and at this time, the lilac flowers begin to bear fruit. Sycamores have been considered sacred trees since ancient times, and are often used as motifs for making badges and the like.
Every year around July 20th is the ugly day of eating grilled eels. This habit is said to have begun in the Edo period when the Lan scholar (who studied Western scholarship through Dutch) Hiraga Gennai personally wrote an advertisement for a friend who opened an eel shop for an ugly day, and the eel shop did a good business, so that the habit of eating grilled eel continues to this day. On this day, in addition to grilled eels, it is said that some places also eat foods with "う" (the first pronunciation of eel in Japanese), such as melon fruits, dried plums, and udon noodles.
The feeling of sweltering heat is like a layer of heat that lingers on the body. "Hot summer" means sweltering heat, and "earthy" means how water evaporates from the ground. The concentrated rains of the summer moisten the ground, and a large amount of moisture evaporates, creating a hot and humid air.
The phrase "grass emits heat" has the same meaning as "earthy". "The grass emits heat" describes the breathless smell and moisture emanating from the lush grass. For a long time, the predecessors spent this kind of hot steaming, short-breath and suffocating heat with the small wisdom of various lives such as sprinkling water and showering. However, today there are asphalt roads everywhere, and even in the evening, the heat is still gone, and it seems that it is difficult to use the wisdom of the predecessors.
While people feel as if they are inhaling the heat, the grass and trees are taking root, trying to absorb the water sufficiently so that the leaves gradually become green. The crops sown in the fields, for the fruits of autumn, also greedily bathe and absorb the favor of the sun at this time.
It refers to the season when heavy rain can suddenly fall even on a clear day.
During this period, once the rolling cumulonimbus clouds are formed, thunderstorms will suddenly fall. Although after the rainstorm, the cool breeze can temporarily relieve the continuous heat, but the heat is not far away. The unique fragrance after the rain will give rise to a feeling of nostalgia.
In recent years, a type of heavy rainfall known as guerrilla-type heavy rainstorms (a large amount of rainfall in local areas in a short period of time) has brought great disasters to various places. This is still somewhat different from the ancient tradition of "walking in heavy rain".
Among the three major summer festivals in tohoku, Aomori's Sleeping Devil Festival and Akita's Pole Lantern Festival coincide with this season. At the Sleeping Devil Festival in Aomori, people pull floats carrying giant doll lanterns known as sleepers, and "dancers" dance around the floats.
The Pole Lantern Festival in Akita compares the hanging of many lantern strings on bamboo poles to the ears of rice held high, and some will put the pole lamp on the forehead, tie it to the waist or carry it on the shoulder to do some wonderful performances worth watching. Both the Sleeping Devil Festival and the Pole Lantern Festival are designated as important intangible folk cultural properties in Japan, and the crowds of people who come to see it are very lively. Enthusiastic trumpets and drums sounded like they were going to blow away the sweltering heat of summer, resounding through the streets.
Text/(Sun)Yuko Hama
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