Pre-summer rain

the miso cellar -
shoyu scent drifting in the
pre-summer rain

original haiku "味噌蔵みそぐらの ひしおの匂におい 走はしり梅雨づゆ" (converted to modern orthography)
composed by MATSUMOTO Kanan?
translated by the blog owner

Lately, the weather has been unsettled—it almost feels as if the rainy season has come early.
In Japan, the rainy season typically begins in June, but there is actually a season word for the kind of rain that arrives just before that.
Today, I’d like to share a haiku that captures that moment.

When it rains for days and the air grows damp, we sometimes notice smells that we wouldn't normally pay attention to.
"Miso", a fermented soybean paste, and the soy sauce ("shoyu") made from it, may smell unpleasant, especially to those unfamiliar with them.
Yet even those strong, earthy smells can evoke a sense of season.
It's amazing how much can be expressed in just a few short lines of verse.