歳時記の言葉 vol.2 "夏近し" / The season words in Japanese haiku. Vol.2 "Summer will come before long."

"夏近し"は英語で、"Summer will come before long."と訳され、晩春を表現します。

桜の花の名残りも全て散り、若葉が成長し始める時節です。人々は軽装になりますが、季節の変わり目で風邪を引きやすくなります。更に言うと、同様に花粉症も流行り始め、多くの人がマスクをするようになります。日本では、この時期に花粉症を予防する事は大きな関心事です。花粉症自体が季語の一つでもあります。今日、自然の詩語としてすっかり確立された言葉になっています。

"Natsu chika shi" means "Summer will come before long" in English, and expresses a late spring. 

It's the time that wind scatters the remainder of all of the cherry blossoms, and that the young leaves begin to grow. People dress lighter, but catch colds easily in the change of season. Moreover, people begin to suffer from hay fever as well, and so many people wear masks. In Japan, it's a major matter of concern to prevent the sickness in this time of year. Hay fever itself is a kind of seasonal word too. It has become firmly established as a natural poetry phrase in this country today.