” The month of worrying about water…” Musings hachiyorenge
Yudachi–a sudden shower in the late afternoon–is also referred to as hakuu, literally, white rain. This refreshing name is said to derive from the look of the heavy rain, which resembles a sheet of white water streaming down.
Poet Minoru Ameyama wrote a haiku that reads:
From tree to tree
children running
in white rain
Reading this it seems as if we can almost hear the sound of children frolicking as they run around having stopped what they were playing due to a sudden shower.
The chirping of the cicadas ceases, the blue sky turns cloudy, and a downpour of rain follows, sending up clouds of spray. The shower ends soon, the sky clears up unbelievably quickly and then the cicadas resume their chirping. This refreshing cool rain of summer is something we should be grateful for, something endearing.
But far from frolicking, it seems that the children who encountered a tragic fate on a riverside Monday were not spared even a moment in which to escape. That afternoon, four people–three of them children–drowned in two separate incidents after being swept away by a rain-swollen river in Kobe.
Due to the torrential rain that hit the Hokuriku region from before dawn Monday, 30 communities were isolated in Toyama Prefecture, while in Kanazawa, about 50,000 residents were ordered to evacuate.
Where has the rain symbolic of bygone summers gone?
It is still late June, or Minazuki, according to the old lunar calendar.
According to one theory, Minazuki is an abbreviated form of Mizunayamizuki, literally, the month of worrying about water. So we should not allow ourselves to be fooled by a beautiful name such as hakuu.
The two Chinese characters for the word mizunayami are those for water and worry–keep these ideas in your mind every morning and evening, and pay close attention to any unexpected rain.
The Yomiuri Shimbun. Musings. The following is a translation of the Henshu Techo column from The Yomiuri Shimbun.
水悩月… 編集手帳 八葉蓮華
夕立には「白雨(はくう)」という美しい異称がある。涼しげな名は白い雨脚から付けられたという。〈木から木へこどものはしる白雨かな 飴山実(あめやまみのる)〉。急な雨に遊びを中断して走る子供たちの、はしゃぐ声が聞こえてきそうである◆蝉(せみ)の合唱がやむ。青空がかき曇り、水煙を立てて雨が降り注ぐ。それもつかの間で、ほどなく嘘(うそ)のように晴れ上がり、蝉がまた鳴き出す…。夏の雨といえば、涼を呼ぶありがたいもの、恋しいものであったはずである◆はしゃぐどころか、川べりからわずかに難を避ける時間の余裕も子供たちにはなかったらしい。きのう午後、大雨で増水した神戸市内の川で子供を含む４人が濁流にのまれて死亡した◆未明から北陸地方を襲った豪雨では一時、富山県内で３０か所の集落が孤立し、金沢市では約５万人に避難の指示が出されている。夏の雨らしい昔の雨は、どこに行ってしまったのだろう◆旧暦ではまだ６月下旬、「みなづき」がつづく。一説には「水悩月(みずなやみづき)」の略ともいう。「白雨」の美称にはだまされまい。朝となく、夕となく、「水悩」の二文字を胸に、不意の雨にはくれぐれも用心を。
