June's season words are all words of summer. From around Bōshu, Grain in Ear (around 6 June), words of the rainy season and of rice planting come to the fore, and after Geshi, the Summer Solstice (around 21 June), words of short nights and green rice fields join them.
Our company renku circle (社内連句会) gathered these words month by month, to choose the season word of a renku's opening verse. The old haiku are by poets of the Edo period to the Taishō era; the English versions are ours, kept close to the Japanese.
The season 時候
- 入梅Summer
- The start of the rainy season nyūbai The beginning of tsuyu, the rainy season; by the calendar it falls around 11 June.
- 梅雨寒Summer
- Rainy-season chill tsuyuzamu An unseasonable chill felt in the rainy season, when the rain goes on and on.
- 夏至Summer
- The Summer Solstice geshi One of the twenty-four solar terms, which divide the year by the sun's course; it falls around 21 June, the day with the most daylight of the year.
- 短夜Summer
- The short night mijikayo The shortness of summer nights, with a touch of regret at the early dawn.
Sky and weather 天文
- 梅雨Summer
- The rainy season tsuyu The rain that falls day after day from June into July, and the season of that rain.
- 五月雨Summer
- Early summer rains samidare The long rains of the fifth month of the old calendar, which match today's rainy season. 五月雨をあつめて早し最上川BashōGathering the early summer rains, / swift — / the Mogami River
- 梅雨晴Summer
- A break in the rains tsuyubare A spell of clear sky that shows for a while in the middle of the rainy season.
- 夏の月Summer
- The summer moon natsu no tsuki The moon of summer nights, written of as a moon that brings a feeling of coolness in the heat. 市中は物のにほひや夏の月BonchōIn the town / the smells of things — / the summer moon
Land and water 地理
- 青田Summer
- Green rice fields aota Rice fields where the planted rice has grown thick and green, its leaves swaying in the wind.
- 植田Summer
- Newly planted rice fields ueta A rice field just planted, with rows of seedlings standing in the water.
Daily life 生活
- 更衣Summer
- Changing into summer clothes koromogae Changing one's clothes to suit the season; by custom the change into summer clothes is made on 1 June. 越後屋に衣さく音や更衣KikakuAt Echigoya / the sound of cloth being torn — / the change of clothes
- 田植Summer
- Rice planting taue Planting out the rice seedlings raised in the seedbed into the flooded fields. 風流の初やおくの田植うたBashōThe beginning of poetry — / rice-planting songs / of the deep north
- 鵜飼Summer
- Cormorant fishing ukai Fishing at night on a river by the light of fire baskets, with trained cormorants catching sweetfish and other fish. おもしろうてやがて悲しき鵜舟哉BashōDelightful, / and soon after, sad — / the cormorant boats
Observances 行事
- 父の日Summer
- Father's Day chichi no hi The third Sunday in June, a day for telling one's father that one is grateful.
- 夏越Summer
- The summer purification nagoshi A purification held at shrines on 30 June, when people pass through a great ring of woven grass to cleanse away the impurities of the past half-year.
Animals 動物
- 蛍Summer
- Firefly hotaru An insect that flies quietly to and fro by the water on early summer nights, its light flickering on and off. 大蛍ゆらりゆらりと通りけりIssaA big firefly / wavering, wavering, / goes by
- 雨蛙Summer
- Tree frog amagaeru A small green frog that lives on leaves and grasses and often calls before rain.
- 蝸牛Summer
- Snail katatsumuri Kin to the shellfish, it crawls slowly over rain-wet leaves in the rainy season. かたつむりそろそろ登れ富士の山IssaSnail, / slowly, slowly climb / Mount Fuji
Plants 植物
- 紫陽花Summer
- Hydrangea ajisai A flower of the rainy season; its colour shifts as the flowers open, so it is also called shichihenge, the seven changes.
- 花菖蒲Summer
- Japanese iris hanashōbu An iris that opens large purple or white flowers in the rainy season.
- 青梅Summer
- Green plums aoume Plums still green and unripe, used to make plum liqueur and umeboshi, pickled plums.
- 早苗Summer
- Rice seedlings sanae Rice seedlings grown in the seedbed and ready to be planted out in the fields.
- 夏草Summer
- Summer grass natsukusa The grass that grows thick in summer, with an almost overwhelming force of life. 夏草や兵どもが夢の跡BashōSummer grass — / the traces / of warriors' dreams
- 梔子の花Summer
- Gardenia kuchinashi no hana A shrub with white flowers in the rainy season and a rich, sweet scent.
- 百合Summer
- Lily yuri A plant with large flowers in summer, in many kinds, among them the golden-rayed lily and the tiger lily.
The seasons follow the old calendar, as Japanese books of season words (saijiki) divide them. Around Risshun, Rikka, Risshū and Rittō, the first days of spring, summer, autumn and winter, one month holds the words of two seasons.
To count the sounds of a haiku, try the Haiku Sound Counter.
