Photo Friday: Rare / Hydrangeas

Photo Friday Challenge: Rare

Japan is full of things that are fascinating and rare to the Western world, so for the Photo Friday Challenge “Rare” I could have picked many things. For this challenge, I picked hydrangeas or ajisai アジサイ. While hydrangeas themselves are not rare, the season in which hydrangeas bloom is relatively short. And while hydrangeas are blooming, people make trips to view hydrangeas. This is similar to the tradition of flower viewing or hanami 花見 for cherry blossoms or sakura 桜. The tradition of viewing flowers that are in season is very Japanese.

Hydrangeas bloom during the rainy season, or tsuyu 梅雨, which is literally translated to plum rain because plums come into season during tsuyu. The rains are strong and last for as long as two months. This year I was in Tokyo just prior to the start of the rainy season, which started the day I left. In the week leading up to tsuyu it was hot and humid because it wasn’t raining, but it gave a cloudy grey backdrop to make the beautiful blue and purple hues of the hydrangeas pop.

What kind of seasonal traditions does your hometown or country have? Let me know in the comments!