The Tohoku region entered the rainy season on Saturday, June 19th, and now it has entered the rainy season from Okinawa to Tohoku, excluding Hokkaido.  In Okinawa, the rainy season usually ends around June 23, which is “Okinawa Memorial Day”, so soon after the rainy season in Okinawa, the rainy season front will move northward.  It has been said that Tachi-Aoi(the mallow flowers) begin to bloom just around the beginning of the rainy season, then bloom from the bottom to the top of the vertically extending flower stalks, and the time when the flowers are on the top is the end of the rainy season.  It is the origin of another name, “Tsuyu Aoi”.  The leaves were used for the family crest of the samurai family because of their strong vitality and the blooming flowers.  The Tokugawa family’s Mitsuba Aoi is famous.  There are single and double flowers, and the colors are various such as red, pink, white, purple, and yellow, and it has been strongly associated with people since the Manyo era.

6/19(土)に東北地方が梅雨入りし、 これで北海道を除く沖縄から東北まで梅雨入りになりました。沖縄は例年なら「慰霊の日」の6/23あたりが梅雨明けですから、間もなく沖縄は梅雨明けで、順次梅雨明け前線も北上していくのでしょう。葵の花はちょうど梅雨入りの頃に咲き始め、垂直に伸びた花茎の下から上に咲き上っていき、てっぺんに花をつけた頃が梅雨明けだと言われてきました。「ツユアオイ（梅雨葵）」という別名の由来です。生命力が強く、咲き上る花にあやかって葉は武家の家紋に使われました。徳川家の三ツ葉葵は有名です。花は一重や八重のもあり、色は赤、ピンク、白、紫、黄色など多彩で、万葉の時代から人と関わりが強い花です。