秋の長雨 The Long Rains of Autumn

「秋の長雨（ながあめ）」という言葉があります。「秋雨（あきさめ）」ともいいます。

９月中旬から１０月にかけて、日本では意外と多くの雨が降ります。「秋雨前線」という雨を降らせる前線が停滞することが多く、台風の時期と重なって、６月の梅雨以上に雨が降ることもあります。

「秋雨」に対して「春雨（はるさめ）」（食べ物の方ではなく春の雨のこと）という言葉もあります。

どちらも、何日も弱い雨がしとしと降り続けるイメージで、土砂降りや急な雨のことではありません。

ちなみに発音は「秋雨（あきさめ）」「春雨（はるさめ）」と、秋と春の雨は「さめ」という音になるのに、「長雨（長く降る雨）」は「ながあめ」と「あめ」のままです。

ややこしいですね。

いろは

There's a word for this time of year: aki no nagaame — the long rains of autumn.

You may also hear it simply as akisame. From mid-September through October, Japan sees a surprising amount of rainfall. A weather front called the akisame zensen — the autumn rain front — tends to stall over the country for weeks at a time, and combined with typhoon season, this period can actually bring more rain than the famous tsuyu rainy season in June.

There's a companion word too: harusame — spring rain. (Not the glass noodles, though they share the same name.) Both akisame and harusame conjure the same image: a quiet, gentle rain that falls softly for days on end. Not a downpour. Not a sudden shower. Just that steady, unhurried drizzle that settles in and stays.

Here's something worth noticing about the pronunciation. Both akisame (autumn rain) and harusame (spring rain) use the reading same for the character 雨. But nagaame — rain that falls for a long time — keeps the more common reading ame. Same character, different sound depending on the word.

A little confusing, I know.

Iroha