＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
(Reference) Original article in Japanese
・「卯の花腐し」「青葉潮」「筍流し」「あいの風」などの面白い季語
This time, I’d like to introduce some interesting summer seasonal words such as “Unohana kutashi” (decorative flower decay), “Aoba Shio” (green leaf tide), “Takenoko Nagashi” (bamboo shoot flowing), “Ai no Kaze” (wind of intertwining leaves), and “Soko Yurei” (bottom ghost).
1. Unohana kutashi (decorative flower decay)
卯の花腐し（うのはなくたし）
“Unohana-kutashi（「卯の花腐し」）” refers to “the long, continuous rain that falls in the fourth month of the lunar calendar.” It’s called this because of the concern that the long rains of this time might rot, or spoil（腐（くだ）す）, the beautifully blooming deutzia flowers.
Other related seasonal words include “Unohana-kudashi（「卯の花降（くだ）し」）” and “Unohana-kudashi（「卯の花くだし」）.”
This seasonal word is not a “life word” we use in everyday life, but rather a “poetic word” originally derived from waka poetry.
The Manyoshu contains the following poem by Otomo no Yakamochi:
The first waters of the rain that rot the deutzia blossoms, the woody dung that clings to the flowers, I wish I had a child to cling to.
卯の花を腐（くた）す霖雨（ながめ）の始水（はみづ）逝（ゆ）き縁（よ）る木糞（こづみ）なす縁（よ）らむ児（こ）もがも
The meaning is, “I wish I had a daughter who would stay by my side, like the wood chips carried away by the water washed down by the long rain that rots the deutzia flowers.”
Examples include the following:
* On the wall, the deutzia flowers rot as they flow (Kobayashi Issa)
* The deutzia flowers rot around the Great Buddha, how beautiful (Takagi Haruko)
* In the valley stream, the deutzia flowers rot as they gush forth (Takahama Kyoshi)
* Even my umbrella is weighed down by the deutzia flowers (Kubota Mantaro)
・塀合に 卯の花腐し 流れけり（小林一茶）
・大仏の 卯の花腐し 美しや（高木晴子）
・谷川に 卯の花腐し ほとばしる（高浜虚子）
・さす傘も 卯の花腐し もちおもり（久保田万太郎）
2. Aoba Jio (Green Leaf Tide)
青葉潮（あおばじお）
“Aoba-jio” refers to the Kuroshio Current during the season of fresh green leaves. The Kuroshio Current flows northward along the southern coast of Japan and then eastward off the Boso Peninsula. As the haiku by Yamaguchi Sodō (1642-1716) states, “Green leaves in sight, a cuckoo’s call, the first bonito,” bonito migrate northward on this “Aoba-jio.”
The seawater, clear during winter, becomes cloudy around mid-March, causing a phenomenon known as “red tide（「赤潮（あかしお）」）.” This is due to an explosive proliferation of plankton. When this occurs, fish become scarce, seaweed rots, and farmed shellfish die, requiring them to be harvested.
Eventually, as the season of fresh green leaves arrives, a bright, clear, deep blue current flows in from offshore into the cloudy seawater, penetrating deep into the bay and displacing the red tide. This is the Kuroshio Current（「黒潮（くろしお）」）, also known as “Jōkonsui（「上紺水（じょうこんすい）」）” or “Kikyōmizu（「桔梗水（ききょうみず）」）.”
Examples of “sub-seasonal words” include “blue tide（「青潮」）,” “blue mountain tide（「青山潮」）,” and “bonito tide（「鰹潮」）.”
Examples of haiku include the following:
* Time passes like a demon, the blue leaf tide (Kaneko Tota)
* The blue leaf tide flows northward along the tip of the cape (Kanekuni Hisako)
* The blue leaf tide, the river where John Manjiro grew up (Shinagawa Suzuko)
* The blue leaf tide soothes Enoshima (Watanabe Setsuro)
・時は魔物の ように過ぎゆく 青葉潮（金子兜太）
・青葉潮 岬の鼻を 北上す（金國久子）
・青葉潮 ジョン万次郎 育ちし江（品川鈴子）
・江ノ島を あやしてをりぬ 青葉潮（渡部節郎）
3. Bamboo shoot floating (Takenokonagashi)
筍流し（たけのこながし）
“Takenokonagashi” refers to “the south wind that blows around the time bamboo shoots sprout.” “Nagashi” implies a south wind that carries the scent of rain.
While “natanezuyu（「菜種梅雨（なたねづゆ）」）” (rapeseed rain) is a spring seasonal word, “takenokozuyu（「筍梅雨（たけのこづゆ））” refers to the long rain that precedes the subsequent “samidare” (rainy season).
“Sub-seasonal words” include “takenokozuyu（「筍梅雨」）” and “takenokobaiu（「筍黴雨」）” (bamboo shoot mold rain).
Example haiku include:
* Deep clouds, the bamboo shoot mold rain, the lingering effect (Iida Dakotsu)
* Moths are coming, as the bamboo shoot wind blows (Okamoto Matsuhama)
* Takenokonagashi, since when has the storehouse been tilting? (Mitsui Takako)
* Roughly, the bamboo shoot wind blows, on the anniversary of Hosai’s death (Minami Umiwo)
・雲ふかき 筍黴雨の 後架かな（飯田蛇笏）
・蛾が来るや 筍ながし 吹くからに（岡本松濱）
・筍流し いつから蔵の 傾けり（三井孝子）
・荒々と 筍流し 放哉忌（南うみを）
4. Ai no Kaze(wind of intertwining leaves)
あいの風（あいのかぜ）
“Ainokaze” refers to “a gentle sea breeze that blows from the north or east along the Sea of Japan coast from spring to summer (around April to August).”
The following is a poem written by Otomo no Yakamochi when he was assigned to Etchu Province:
The east wind seems to be blowing fiercely, and the small fishing boats of the fishermen of Nago can be seen rowing and hiding from view.
東風（あゆのかぜ）いたく吹くらし奈吾（なご）の海人（あま）の釣する小舟榜（こ）ぎ隠る見ゆ
Examples of “sub-seasonal words” include “ae no kaze（「あえの風」）” (indigo wind) and “ayu no kaze（「あゆの風」）” (sweetfish wind).
Examples of haiku include the following:
* The sea and river / the indigo wind blows across Sode no Ura (Kawai Sora)
* The indigo wind / Even though the pine trees wither, it remains a poetic place name (Kadokawa Gen’yoshi)
・海川や 藍風わたる 袖の浦（河合曾良）
・あいの風 松は枯れても 歌枕（角川源義）
5. Bottom ghost (soko yūrei)
底幽霊（そこゆうれい）
Sometimes, a large amount of less saline, lighter water mixed with river water can form a layer several meters thick on the surface of the denser, more saline seawater without mixing.
This is commonly seen in coastal waters during the summer, and this less saline upper layer is home to a vast number of bioluminescent organisms. These organisms emit light as the waves move. This is a type of “red tide,” also known as “bitter tide.”
“Bottom ghost” refers to a phenomenon caused by bitter tide, specifically the strange phenomenon where a ship becomes completely unable to move when entering a bitter tide.
Scientifically, this phenomenon is called “dead water.” In nautical terminology, it’s called “shisui” or “shinimizu,” and it describes a phenomenon where, in the sea or near river mouths, a layer of less dense freshwater or brackish water exists on top of denser seawater without mixing. The oscillating waves significantly reduce the ship’s propulsion, making it impossible to move forward at all.
In the past, people feared this phenomenon, calling it “shiki-yurei” (floating ghost), “shiki-butsu” (floating Buddha), or “bottom ghost.” The glow on the surface of the sea at night is called “shikigatatsu” or “shikikakete kuru,” referring to the bioluminescence of noctiluca.
“Shiki” refers to “sea spirits (yokai),” and it was believed to be the work of ghosts who died at sea. The ghost of Taira no Tomomori in the Noh play “Funa Benkei” is this type of spirit.
After the rainy season ends, the color of the sea deepens dramatically. This evokes the vivid color (Aoba-shio) of the Kuroshio Current flowing northward along the Pacific Ocean near the Japanese archipelago. “Bitter tide” is a layer of low-oxygen water that forms on the surface of the sea, generating large amounts of hydrogen sulfide and causing significant damage to farmed fish and shellfish.
Commonly used seasonal words include “bitter tide,” “summer tide,” and “summer tide.”
While no haiku using “bottom ghost” were found, the following is an example of a haiku using “bitter tide.”
– Swimming, drenched in the bitter tide (Morikawa Gyosui)
– Bitter tide, the pearl rafts rise and sink (Nishimura Eiko)
– Bitter tide, the red pomegranate blossoms multiply (Kadokawa Haruki)
– Bitter tide, the crinum lily flowers change color (Nagao Masaki)
・苦潮に うつそみ濡れて 泳ぐなり（森川暁水）
・苦潮や 真珠筏の 浮き沈み（西村英子）
・苦潮や ざくろの赤き 花殖ゆる（角川春樹）
・苦潮や 浜木綿の花 色を変ふ（長尾正樹）