Japan and the Taste of Rain
Timon Screech introduces listeners to the sensual experience of the Japanese rains of the fifth month, the samidare, and their impact on Japanese language and culture.
When the rains of the fifth month, samidare, arrive in Japan it seems they'll never stop. In the second of Nandini Das's curated series of essays on rain and the way it's experienced across the globe, she invites art historian Timon Screech to introduce us to the rains of Japan where he now lives.
The rains that flood country and city alike are also known as the plum rains, plumping up the fruit in time for the later ripening and harvest. He talks about rain depicted in Japanese literature, particularly the Haiku, in which the sound of rain is experienced in terms of taste - the bitterness of the plum rains. And we discover the significance and symbolism of the umbrella in Japanese culture and art, including their place in nightmare imagery.
Last on
Broadcasts
- Tue 2 Mar 2021 22:45主播大秀 Radio 3
- Tue 3 Oct 2023 22:45主播大秀 Radio 3
Featured in...
![]()
Japanese Culture—Free Thinking
From the Tale of Genjii to Godzilla, Kenzaburo Oe to Yoko Tawada 鈥�
Death in Trieste
A 1760s murder still informs ideas about aesthetics, a certain sort of sex, and death.
Watch: My Deaf World
Five compelling experiences of what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain.
The Book that Changed Me
Five figures from the arts and science introduce books that changed their lives and work.
Download The Essay
Download all the episodes from the series and listen at your leisure.
Podcast
-
![]()
The Essay
Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.
