July is also called Fumizuki, based on the custom that people used to offer poems and expose books to the night wind on the occasion of the Tanabata festival on the seventh of this month. Another name is not surprisingly Tanabatazuki.
July consists of the following mini-seasons. "Shosho" or Lesser Heat, on July 7 or 8, is the traditional time for moving into the summer mode of living, even though the rainy season still lingers. These two weeks bring the Tanabata Festival. Taisho, Greater Heat, falls on July 23 or 24. Schools start summer vacation just before Taisho, and the signs of summer emerge, such as fireworks, watermelons, cotton kimonos and the whirring of cicadas. A word you hear often around that date is "dog days," in Japanese doyo. There are several "doyo no ushi" days around July 20, and it is custom to eat unagi, eel, on these days, for the necessary stamina (or, as eel is now a scarce resource, anago, sea eel or hamo, pike conger (in the Kansai, see below).
As weather phenomena go, summer clouds (natsu no kumo) are cumulonimbus clouds and look like piled up mountains, so they are also called kumo no mine, "peaks of clouds" - a favorite subject in haiku written during this month. On the other hand, yudachi or evening showers are welcome for the refreshment they bring. In that case a rainbow or niji may appear - another symbol of summer.
Tanabata or the Star Festival is an important event this month. This festival goes back to a beautiful Chinese legend, about a Cowherd Star and Weaver Girl Star, who were in love but could not meet because they were separated by the River of Heaven (our Milky Way). So once a year, on 7/7, magpies would join their wings together and build a bridge over which the lovers could cross and meet each other... Nowadays, it is an uncomplicated festival where people (often children) write wishes on colorful strips of paper and tie these to branches of bamboo especially set up for this purpose. The Hyakunin Isshu contains a beautiful poem that is based on this legend.
July consists of the following mini-seasons. "Shosho" or Lesser Heat, on July 7 or 8, is the traditional time for moving into the summer mode of living, even though the rainy season still lingers. These two weeks bring the Tanabata Festival. Taisho, Greater Heat, falls on July 23 or 24. Schools start summer vacation just before Taisho, and the signs of summer emerge, such as fireworks, watermelons, cotton kimonos and the whirring of cicadas. A word you hear often around that date is "dog days," in Japanese doyo. There are several "doyo no ushi" days around July 20, and it is custom to eat unagi, eel, on these days, for the necessary stamina (or, as eel is now a scarce resource, anago, sea eel or hamo, pike conger (in the Kansai, see below).
As weather phenomena go, summer clouds (natsu no kumo) are cumulonimbus clouds and look like piled up mountains, so they are also called kumo no mine, "peaks of clouds" - a favorite subject in haiku written during this month. On the other hand, yudachi or evening showers are welcome for the refreshment they bring. In that case a rainbow or niji may appear - another symbol of summer.
Tanabata or the Star Festival is an important event this month. This festival goes back to a beautiful Chinese legend, about a Cowherd Star and Weaver Girl Star, who were in love but could not meet because they were separated by the River of Heaven (our Milky Way). So once a year, on 7/7, magpies would join their wings together and build a bridge over which the lovers could cross and meet each other... Nowadays, it is an uncomplicated festival where people (often children) write wishes on colorful strips of paper and tie these to branches of bamboo especially set up for this purpose. The Hyakunin Isshu contains a beautiful poem that is based on this legend.
[Tanabata festival at Kitano Tenmangu shrine]
Tanabata is quiet and demure, quite different from the more lively Gion Festival (Gion-e) held in Kyoto this month. In fact the Gion festival is much more than only the parade of floats on July 17 - there are numerous events during the whole month of July. This a great time to be in Kyoto. Everywhere in the city you hear the Gionbayashi from loudspeakers, the music of the festival which fits perfectly with the hot and humid weather. I find it has a hypnotizing quality. And it is fun to visit the Yoi-Matsuri on the night before the float parade, clad in a light summer kimono and carrying a fan.
If you are a sportive type, you may feel like climbing Mr Fuji - nowadays the climbing season starts on July 10. In the past when the climbing was also a pilgrimage, one spoke more poetically of Fuji-mode.
An old custom is mushiboshi: during a fine day, clothes, paintings and books are taken out and aired to prevent them from being damaged by insects (mushi). At Daifukuji and Tofukuji in Kyoto this day is an opportunity to bring out normally hidden temple treasures.
The first half of July is also the period that chugen gifts are sent out: expensively packaged food items are sent to those who have supported one professionally or privately - business relations, teachers, guarantors - always superiors and others to whom one feels indebted. Department stores and other shops set up special sections where customers can select chugen items and have them forwarded directly to the recipient.
And from July 20 to the Risshu day in August (August 7 or 8) Shochu Mimai greetings are sent out on postcards. The summer in Japan is extremely hot and humid, so it is easy for one's physical condition to decline during the summer. The purpose of sending these greetings is to ask how the addressee is coping with the weather. When you forget to send shochu mimai, you can still send a Zansho Mimai after August 8.
[Morning glory market in Iriya, by Hiroshige]
An important flower is the blue or purple asagao or morning glory, a symbol of summer. You see them everywhere in Japan, potted in alleys in downtown Tokyo, in gardens in Kyoto, and even just along the road, cared for by unseen hands. In Tokyo, two imported potted plant fairs are held in early July: the morning glory fair in Iriya in the early mornings of July 6 through8, and the Chinese lantern plant (hozuki) fair at Sensoji temple is Asakusa on July 9 and 10.
Typical July vegetables are uri (gourds) and nasu (eggplant). Pickled as tsukemono, nasu are great with sake.
Talking about food, chimaki is a traditional confectionery served during the Gion festival: mochi of glutinous rice are steamed and then wrapped in bamboo leaves.
Somen are refreshing summer noodles and in Kibune north of Kyoto one eats then seated on kawadoko, platforms built over a small river. At Hirobun, the thin noodles are delivered via open bamboo pipes through which water flows (nagashi-somen). Very cool! Another Kyoto summer specialty is hamo, "dagger-tooth pike conger", and indeed a fierce fish that survives the long trek from the Inland Sea to Kyoto's kitchens. It contains countless small bones and takes a special technique to prepare, but it has a subtle taste.
And of course the umeshu (plum liquor) you have made the previous month is now delicious, enjoyed with a big chunk of ice in it. A traditional summer snack is tokoroten, small cubes made from the gelatin (kanten) of seaweeds, eaten with soy sauce, vinegar and mustard and served ice-cold.
Festivals in July are:
- July 1 to 29: Gion Festival in Kyoto. Begun in the 9th c., the Gion Matsuri lasts for a full month. The biggest events are the Yoiyama (the eve of the festival) on July 16, the Yamahoko junkai (float procession) on July 17 and a second procession of floats on July 24. See the Gion Festival Dictionary at this blog.
- July 1 to 15: Hakata Gion Yamagasa in Fukuoka. "Yamagasa" is the name of the floats parading during the festival. Early in the morning of July 15, an exciting "Oiyama" race is held.
- July 24 and 25: Tenjin Matsuri, Osaka is, like the Gion festival, one of Japan's biggest festivals. The lively festival includes a parade of mikoshi through the city, a parade of 80 boats up the Dojima River, performances of special music called danjiri-bayashi, and firework displays.
- Last Saturday in July: Sumida River fireworks in Tokyo. The Sumidagawa Hanabi Taikai follows the Japanese tradition of being a competition between rival pyrotechnic groups. It is a revival of celebrations held in the Edo period (starting in 1732), and annually attracts close to a million viewers.
(Festivals may be canceled or postponed due to pandemic or severe weather conditions)