Summer in Japan starts in late June, as soon as the rains of the Rainy Season end and it gets really hot out. Although in recent years, this has been changing as the rainy season doesn't rain as much as it used to and things get hotter sooner. The end of the summer season is in early September, when the beach and mountains close and kids return to school, but in terms of climate, the heat of summer can last more than a month longer than this. This makes for at least the weather of summer to last from late-June to early to mid-October.
Summer is the time to go to the mountains and beaches as they open for the season. This usually occurs from the beginning of July to the end of August for the mountains and the beginning of July to Obon (August 15th) for the beaches, because of the jellyfish that come after this. The beaches and smaller mountains are really open all year, but most Japanese don't go out of season. The larger mountains really are closed though in the off-season, specifically Mt. Fuji where the huts that cater to climbers of the mountain are closed and the rest of the year is also very dangerous to attempt climbing for any amateurs. If you are planning to climb Mt. Fuji, you should plan your trip for the summer months, specifically during the open season.
Japan has a wide variety of other interesting things that are associated with summer. The most obvious one being semi (蝉). Semi are cicadas and one of the biggest things associated with summer here in Japan. Which if you have ever been here in summer, is really obvious to see why. The whole summer of Japan is filled with the screeching of cicada. In the beginning, I wasn't ready for how loud they were and sometimes thought areas were filled with loud birds, until I realized (or remember again now) that this is the cicadas' work. In areas with lots of trees, they can be especially deafening. I also think they're a bit larger here than back home.
Another interesting aspect about Japan's summers is the popularity of horror at this time. While in many places, the popular time for scary things is around Halloween, for Japan it's summer. It is a long running belief in Japan that being scared is cooling. So in Japan, it is popular for scary things and to be scared during the summer. In the past, this was done by hanging Ukiyo-e prints of monsters, ghosts or other scary subjects. The subject matter of these prints are often of Kaidan (怪談). Kaidan, or Kwaidan are the traditional ghost stories and scary folktales of historic Japan. Most of them refer to traditional tales that have been passed down for generations and incorporate the geographic, historic and political elements of the region that they come from. [1]
These tales or Kaidan became very popular during the Edo Era, when a game called Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai (百物語怪談会), or "Gathering of One Hundred Supernatural Tales" became popular. [2] The game was played in the nights of summer, where 100 candles would be lit in a circle. Players would then tell a ghost story and after telling it would extinguish one of the candles. The extinguishing of the candles were thought to draw spiritual energy, until the last candle extinguished would cause an apparition to appear. [3] As the popularity spread, books comprising of these Kaidan were put together to help players of the game to be able to remember more of them for the game. Authors of these books also searched among the remote places of Japan for new tales, recording many of these local tales for the first time. The Kaidan that were linked to important historical events were also depicted in the Noh and Bunraku plays of this time, making them classics and well known throughout Japan. These tales became known to the west, first through the writings of Lafcadio Hearn in his book, Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things written in 1904. [4] Lafcadio Hearn is famous for being one of the earliest writers of Japan and Japanese culture for western audiences. Coming to Japan in 1890 for a newspaper assignment, he would stay in Japan for the rest of his life writing and teaching English in Japan until his death in 1904. His most famous work being his first work of Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan which he describes his first experiences in Japan in. [5] These stories becoming well-known, also became the subject matter of the Ukiyo-e prints covering scary subject matter.
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| Kuniyoshi Utagawa's Mitsukuni Defying the Skeleton Spectre Invoked by Princess Takiyasha. [6] |
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| Yoshitoshi Tsukioka, Ōya Tarō Mitsukuni. From the same story as the Ukiyo-e above. [7] |
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| Katsushika Hokusai's The Ghost of Oiwa, from "One Hundred Stories." [8] |
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| Katsushika Hokusai's Kohada Koheiji, from "One Hundred Stories." [9] |
Now, most of Japan's horror films are released during the summer, filling this role.
The biggest and most exciting part about summer are the festivals. Many of Japan's biggest and most famous festivals are held in the summer. For example, 2 of Japan's 'Three Great Festivals' are held in the summer and all 3 of the 'Three Great Festivals of Tohoku' are held in the summer, these even being the same week of the first week of August. Both the 'Three Great Festivals' and the 'Three Great Festivals of Tohoku' are Top 3, which I talked about in my last post about Tanabata. These are: Gion Matsuri in Kyoto, Tenjin Matsuri in Osaka and the Nebuta Matsuri in Aomori, the Kanto Matsuri in Akita and the Tanabata Matsuri in Tanabata. Besides these big ones, many areas hold their festivals in the summer. So even while you could find a festival in Japan on almost every day of the year already, the summer become even more packed and you often have to choose between a few options every weekend (and on the weekdays as well). For example, I really like the international food and culture festivals that happen just about every weekend in the summer to early fall at Yoyogi Park. Another hugely popular summer past-time are the many firework festivals held all over Japan.
Besides the other festivals, the local firework festivals are a special time in summer when people bring popular food and drinks, many people donning traditional yukata and head to the river banks or spot of the fireworks to picnic, party and watch the fireworks. These fireworks have been a popular activity since their introduction from China in the 16th century. The Japanese also have their own firework invention, the Warimono which are also used in the festivals. The Warimono are the fireworks that explode into the huge circles of sparks, made to represent different flowers. These flowers include the chrysanthemum, wisteria, plum blossoms, cherry blossoms and others. [10] These firework shows put almost all of ours back in the U.S. to shame. The shows here are like the climax of normal firework shows, if they lasted for an hour instead. Some of the most famous ones are the fireworks on the banks of the Sumigawa River in Tokyo and Nagaoka Festival on the banks of the Shinano River in Niigata.
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| The fireworks at the Sumidagawa Hanabi Taikai, "Sumida River Firework Festival," in Tokyo on August 14th, 2010. |
The Nagaoka Firework Festival is held the 2nd and 3rd of August every year. This fireworks show is famous for its huge fireworks, as well as the number launched during the festival. The biggest of these is called the Sanjakudama, which is a 300 kilogram shell and explodes to 600 meters in diameter. [11]
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| The Sanjakudama in action. The fireworks below are the size of the usual large ones. [12] |
Summer also has the 2nd most important holiday for Japanese people of Obon. Obon (お盆) is an important religious festival held on August 15th for the Japanese. At this time, the ancestors' spirits are supposed to return to the family home. People all over Japan often return to their family and ancestral home at this time to be with family and to participate in the traditions revolving around the preparations and rituals of this important festival. The main traditions are the: Haka Maini, Bon Odori, Mukaebi, Okuribi and Shōrō Nagashi. Haka Mmairi is the visiting of the graves of the ancestors, which are then cleaned up for the Bon Festival. The main point of Obon is to properly welcome and send off the spirits of their ancestors that come back to the ancestral home at this time. This is done by the other traditional practices. [13]
Mukaebi is the lighting of fires to guide and welcome the returning souls. This welcome is further enhanced by the Bon Odori, or the Bon Dance. The Bon Dance is a traditional folk dance in the town, where a Yagura, or a stage with lanterns in the town square is danced around in a circle to Hayashi music. [14]
The departure of the ancestral spirits is also important and rituals are also preformed for the sending off of these spirits. This includes the Bon Odori again, but also has the Okuribi and the Shōrō Nagashi. The Okuribi is the lighting of fires again, much like the Mukabi, but for the sending off of the spirits. The Shōrō Nagashi is the sending of the spirits down the local river to the sea in paper boats. These are called Tōrō, which are lanterns made by the people for their own ancestors with a candle inside and sent into the waters to the sea marking the end of Obon. [15]
Summer is an exciting time to be in Japan, with many of its greatest festivals on display during this time and all of the outdoor activities open to be explored. The unpleasant weather is just a small price to pay to be able to experience everything Japan has to offer during the summer season.
References:
1. Scott Foutz, "Kaidan: Traditional Japanese Ghost Tales and Japanese Horror Film," SaruDama,
http://www.sarudama.com/japanese_folklore/kaidan_modern.shtml.
2. Ibid.
3. Zack Davisson, "What is Hyakumonogatari?" 百物語怪談会 Hyaukumonogatari Kaidankai,
http://hyakumonogatari.com/what-is-hyakumonogatari/.
4. Scott Foutz, "Kaidan: Traditional Japanese Ghost Tales and Japanese Horror Film."
5. Lafcadio Hearn, Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan (Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing, 2009), viii.
6. "Death of Kuniyoshi," Toshidama Japanese Prints,
http://toshidama.wordpress.com/2011/09/01/death-of-kuniyoshi/.
7. Library of Congress, "Yoshitoshi's One Hundred Ghosts," The Floating World of Ukiyo-e Shadows, Dreams, and Substance,
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/ukiyo-e/images.html.
8. Library of Congress, ""Oiwa" (Oiwa-san)," The Floating World of Ukiyo-e Shadows, Dreams, and Substance,
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/ukiyo-e/images.html.
9. Library of Congress, ""Kohada Koheiji"," The Floating World of Ukiyo-e Shadows, Dreams, and Substance,
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/ukiyo-e/images.html.
10. Illustrated Festivals of Japan, 12th ed. (Japan: JTB Publishing, 2006), 174.
11. "Nagaoka Matsuri Dai Hanabi Taikai," japan-fireworks.com,
http://japan-fireworks.com/guide/e-guide/enagaoka.html.
12. Erdenee, "Nagaoka Fireworks Festival!!!," Japanese Used Car Dealer "EVERY" BLOG,
http://everyjapancar.blogspot.com/2011/07/nagaoka-fireworks-festival.html.
13. Illustrated Festivals of Japan, 170-172.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
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