Japan's Rainy Season

(June 19, 2011) Word from Kameoka is that the rainy season is right on schedule. The rainy season, or “tsuyu” which means plum rain because it coincides with the ripening of the plums across Japan, starts in early June in the Kameoka and Kyoto area and lasts about forty days. To the south it begins earlier and to the north a bit later, but over all of Japan except the northern island of Hokkaido, it lasts about forty days.  Hokkaido gets most of its moisture from heavy winter snows and is affected very little by the rainy season. For some the rainy season is a gloomy time, but for others it’s a good time to visit Japanese gardens which are very pretty during a gentle rain. Many varieties of flowers bloom profusely during “tsuyu” , especially hydrangea which has become sort of a symbol of the rainy season. Quite a number of places have planted large numbers of hydrangea to brighten people’s spirits during the gloomy days of the rainy season. One such place is Mimurotoji Temple in the city of Uji about an hour by train southeast of Kameoka. While most Japanese gardens incorporate a very limited number of blooming plants into their design Mimurotoji Temple has included 20,000 azalea and 10,000 hydrangea shrubs in their garden that attract thousands of visitors. One’s spirits are bound to be lifted with such a dazzling display of color, even on a rainy day.