Spring

Japanese: 春 - はる

One of the four seasons. It is between winter and summer and refers to the period from the beginning of spring (around February 4th) to the day before the beginning of summer (around May 6th). In astronomy, spring is from the vernal equinox to the summer solstice, and meteorologically, spring is March, April, and May in the solar calendar. In the Southern Hemisphere, spring is six months later, in September, October, and November. Spring is divided into three periods, early spring, mid-spring, and late spring, which are called Miharu.

The characteristics of spring as a season are as follows:

(1) This is the time of year when the days gradually get longer and the nights get shorter.

(2) The temperature gradually rises, but it does not rise simply, and there are ups and downs in temperature, known as the "return of the cold" phenomenon. In spring, the west wind, a vestige of winter, blows again. These winds are called the Nehan Nishi, Hira Hakko, and Kaiyose, but none of them last long.

(3) As the latitude increases, the periods of spring and autumn become shorter and the periods of summer and winter become longer. For this reason, in high latitudes, many kinds of flowers bloom in May and June.

(4) In Japan, the winter monsoon snowfall ceases, and rains begin to fall almost periodically due to the passage of temperate cyclones. With each rain, the temperature rises.

(5) As temperatures and humidity rise, spring weather brings with it typical haze, blur, halo, and smoke that reduce visibility near the ground.

(6) One of the notable features of spring is the northward movement of the flowering front of cherry blossoms and other flowers. This is also the time when summer and winter birds migrate.

(7) In the spring, a part of the high pressure system that developed on the continent during the winter separates and becomes a migratory high pressure system that moves eastward around Japan. Along with this migratory high pressure system, yellow sand from the Loess Plateau on the continent is blown in, sometimes turning the sky yellow and murky. When the yellow sand falls with the remaining snow, it turns red or black, and such snow accelerates the melting of snow, so farmers are pleased. When a migratory high pressure system moves eastward around Japan, if its center is slightly shifted to the north (the so-called northern high type), the weather does not improve much and it becomes a spring shade. This weather is also called flower clouds.

(8) In early spring, snow remains on the mountains. The patterns on the mountainside can be observed by the shape of the remaining snow and exposed rocks, both of which are often used as landmarks for the start of agricultural work in early spring.

[Nemoto Junkichi]

As a literary subject

Among the four seasons, spring and autumn are given more importance than summer and winter, and most imperial anthologies devote twice as many volumes to the spring and autumn sections as to the summer and winter sections. In the Rokujo-in section of The Tale of Genji, the spring and autumn towns are located on the south side, and Lady Murasaki and Empress Akiko compete with each other to represent the spring and autumn seasons, respectively, while the summer and winter towns where Hanachirusato and Princess Akashi live are pushed to the back of the north side. Discussing the superiority or inferiority of spring and autumn has been an elegant topic of conversation for people since early times. Awareness of the four seasons can already be seen in the Manyoshu in the sections titled Miscellaneous Songs and Love Songs about the Four Seasons in Volumes 8 and 10 of the Manyoshu, with subjects such as early ferns, cuckoo birds, plum blossoms, mountains in spring, spring mustard greens, violets, wild cherry blossoms, spring snow, ashibi, cherry blossoms, warblers, Japanese bush warblers, Yamabuki, mist, spring rain, heat haze, reeds, spring fields, unobtrusive flowers, wisteria, kudzu, and nanoriso (perhaps Hondawara). In terms of seasonal feeling, the beginnings of a typology such as the mist of the beginning of spring can be seen in "When I look at the months, it is still winter, but the mist hangs in the air, as if spring has begun" (Volume 20, Otomo no Yakamochi). Looking at phrases related to "spring" in the Kokinshu, there are phrases such as "spring day," "spring day," "spring night," "spring heart," "spring tune," "spring destination," "spring field," "spring mist," "spring snow," and "spring rain," with the most common examples being "spring mist" and "spring rain." In the spring section of the Kokinshu, poems such as "the beginning of spring," "spring snow," "warblers," "thawing ice," "young leaves," "mist," "greenery," "willows," "hundred birds," "cuckoo birds," "returning geese," "plum," "cherry blossoms," "flowers," "wisteria," "yamabuki," and "regretful spring" are arranged in roughly seasonal progression, suggesting that the awareness of spring as a season had become fixed as a type. When comparing spring and autumn, it seems that traditionally autumn was given more importance than spring, but it can be said that spring and autumn came to be treated equally in the Kokinshu. The phrase "spring dawn," which came into the limelight in The Pillow Book, was not established as a poetic expression until the Senzaishu and Shin Kokinshu, and is found in poems such as "I wonder again the spring dawn when the cherry blossoms of Katano no Mi no snow falls on the hunting flowers" (Shin Kokinshu, Spring, 2nd volume, Fujiwara no Shunzei). The first section of the Kokin Rokujo (Collection of Six Scrolls of Ancient and Modern Times), entitled "Spring," lists the topics for the first day of spring, the first month of the month, New Year's Day, remaining snow, the day of the rat, young leaves, the white horse, mid-spring, Yayoi, the 3rd day, and evening of spring. These themes for poems later became seasonal themes and were passed down, forming the basis for Japanese people's seasonal awareness of spring.

[Teruhiko Komachiya]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

四季の一つ。冬と夏の間で、立春（2月4日ごろ）から立夏（5月6日ごろ）の前日までをさす。天文学上は春分から夏至(げし)までが春で、気象学上は陽暦の3、4、5月が春である。なお南半球では半年遅れで9、10、11月が春となる。春を三つに分け初春、仲春、晩春を三春という。

　季節としての春の特徴は次のとおりである。

(1)しだいに昼が長く、夜が短くなる時期にあたる。

(2)気温はしだいに上昇していくが、単純に上昇するわけではなく、寒暖には一進一退があり、これが「寒の戻り」の現象として知られている。春にはまた冬の名残(なごり)の西寄りの風が吹く。涅槃西風(ねはんにし)、比良八荒(ひらはっこう)、貝寄せなどとよばれる風であるが、これらはいずれも長続きしない。

(3)緯度が高くなると、春と秋の期間は短くなり、夏と冬の期間がしだいに長くなる。このため、高緯度地方ではさまざまな花の開花が、5、6月に集中する。

(4)日本では冬の季節風降雪はやみ、温帯低気圧の通過によって、ほぼ周期的に雨が降るようになる。そして一雨ごとに暖かくなる。

(5)気温と湿度の上昇に伴われ、春の天気には特有の霞(かすみ)、おぼろ、暈(かさ)、煙霧など、地面付近の視程を妨げるような現象がおこる。

(6)サクラなどの開花前線の北上が注目されるのも春の特徴であるが、夏鳥、冬鳥の渡りもこのころである。

(7)冬の間、大陸で発達した高気圧が、春になると一部が分離し、移動性高気圧となって日本付近を東進する。この移動性高気圧とともに大陸の黄土高原からの黄沙(こうさ)（砂）が飛来し、空を黄色に濁らせることがあり、黄砂が名残の雪とともに降ると赤や黒に色づき、そのような雪は雪解けを早めるので、農家の人々には喜ばれる。移動性高気圧が本邦付近を東進するとき、その中心がやや北に偏る（いわゆる北高型）と天気はあまりよくならず、春陰(しゅんいん)の天気となる。これはまた花曇りともよばれる天気である。

(8)春先は山に残雪がみられる。山肌の模様は、残雪の形と、露出した岩を注目する場合があり、ともに春先の農作業開始の目印としている場合が少なくない。

［根本順吉］

文学の主題として

四季のなかでも、春・秋は夏・冬よりも重視され、勅撰(ちょくせん)集のほとんどが春・秋の部立(ぶだて)に夏・冬に倍する巻数をあてている。『源氏物語』の六条院(ろくじょういん)では、春・秋の町が南表に位置し、紫の上と秋好(あきこのむ)中宮がそれぞれ春・秋の季節を代表して優劣を競い合い、花散里(はなちるさと)や明石(あかし)の君の住む夏・冬の町は北裏の背後に押しやられている。早くから春・秋の優劣を論じることが、人々の風雅な話題になっていた。四季の意識はすでに『万葉集』から巻8、巻10の四季の雑歌(ぞうか)・相聞(そうもん)という部立にみられ、歌材としては、早蕨(さわらび)、呼子鳥(よぶこどり)、梅、春山、春菜、菫(すみれ)、山桜、春雪、馬酔木(あしび)、桜、鶯(うぐいす)、山吹、霞(かすみ)、春雨(はるさめ)、陽炎(かげろう)、浅茅(あさぢ)、春野、卯(う)の花、藤(ふじ)、葛(くず)、なのりそ（ホンダワラか）などが詠まれている。季節感としては、「月数(よ)めばいまだ冬なりしかすがに霞たなびく春立ちぬとか」（巻20・大伴家持(おおとものやかもち)）などに立春の霞のような類型化の萌芽(ほうが)をみる。『古今集』で「春」に関連する語句を拾うと、春べ、春の日、春の夜、春の心、春の調べ、春の行方、春の野、春霞、春の雪、春雨などがあり、春霞や春雨が用例として多い。『古今集』の春の部立には、立春、春の雪、鶯、解氷、若菜、霞、草木の緑、柳、百(もも)ち鳥(どり)、呼子鳥、帰雁(きがん)、梅、桜、花、藤、山吹、惜春などの歌がほぼ季節の進行にしたがって配列され、四季としての春の意識が類型として固定したことがうかがわれる。春と秋とを比較した場合、伝統的には春よりも秋が重視されていた感があるが、『古今集』に至って春と秋とが均等に扱われるようになった、といってもよい。『枕草子(まくらのそうし)』で脚光を浴びた「春の曙(あけぼの)」が歌語として定着するのは『千載(せんざい)集』や『新古今集』になってからのことで、「又や見む交野(かたの)のみ野の桜狩花の雪散る春の曙」（『新古今』春下・藤原俊成(しゅんぜい)）などと詠まれている。『古今六帖(こきんろくじょう)』第一・歳時「春」には、春立日(はるたつひ)、睦月(むつき)、元日、残雪、子日(ねのひ)、若菜、白馬(あおうま)、仲春、弥生(やよい)、3日、暮春の項目が掲げられ、これらの歌題が、のちに季題となって継承されていき、日本人の春に対する季節意識の基盤を形成することとなる。

［小町谷照彦］

[参照項目] | 秋 | 貝寄せ | 季節 | 黄砂 | 比良八荒

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