Samidare (五月雨 – Early Summer Rain)

Both

English

Japanese

The rainy season, known as tsuyu (梅雨) in Japan, has begun nationwide.

日本は現在、全国的に「梅雨」となっています。

The light rain that lasts for a long term in this season is referred to as samidare (五月雨) in Japanese.

梅雨の時期に続く小雨のことを、「五月雨」といいます。

Sa (さ) means “god of fields” and midare (みだれ), which is also written as 水垂れ (literally meaning “water dropping”) and means “rain.”

「さ」は「田の神」を、「みだれ」は「水垂れ」とも書き「雨」を意味します。

In other words, this term implies that rain in the rainy season is a blessing for farmers who grow crops.

五月雨は農夫にとって農作物を育てるのに重要な、まさに天からの恵みの雨というわけです。

Incidentally, the Chinese characters for samidare is 五月雨, the literal meaning of which is “Fifth month rain.”

ちなみに、さみだれの漢字「五月雨」の文字どおりの意味は “May rain” です。

Since the month here is the lunar calendar, “5th month” corresponds to around the middle of June in the current calendar.

ここで「五月」は旧暦のことで、現在の新暦でいう6月半ば頃に相当します。