Autumn is season for Unkai (雲海)

雲（Un/Kumo）- cloud,
海 (Kai/Umi) - sea.

The unkai, or sea of clouds, is one of Japan's most breathtaking natural phenomena. This is when clouds form at a low enough elevation that if you’re in the proper position, you can watch them from above, and look out over a wide “sea” of fluffy clouds. The clouds look like the ocean because they are so limitless and smooth.

Although it's a rarely seen sight, Japan's topography allows you to witness the phenomena in a few different places.

Takeda Castle Ruins in Asago, Hyogo

SORA Terrace , Nagano

Tsubetsu Toge Outlook , Hokkaido

Unkai can be spotted in  mountainous regions early in the morning when there is little to no wind and a lot of humidity. Though there are a few locations that are well-known for seeing them, you can't always be certain you'll get the chance.

Kobayashi

If we talk about the Japanese autumn sky - clear and transparent, then Kobayashi Issa’s haiku comes to mind:

The haiku looks deliberately simple, but once you go through these three lines, you realize that each of them carries its own emotion.

The first line is about impeccable beauty and purity, about an ideal divine surface that evokes admiration.

The second Line is about human impulses, about the desire, even at 50 years old (and the poet was just over fifty) to feel like a child again, when everything around becomes a place of self-expression.

And The final Line returns us to the subject of natural beauty, but this time there's a distinct aftertaste of sadness, which is common at the end of the day.

What word do you think Issa wanted to write in the sky?

For a poetically minded person, the sky is more than simply a natural object; it's a sea you may swim atop a mountain, full of enormous schools of fish that are waiting to be caught.

This is an opportunity to feel like a child again and write words with your finger across the sky.


In this article we will dive into 3 Japanese words that describe cloud and sky.

Fine Wind, Clear Morning

It refers to autumn clouds that look like schools of Iwashi fish.
The official name of Iwashi-gumo is cirrocumulus, and there is a high chance of rain in about 12 hours after such a cloud occurs.

For a poetically minded person, the sky turns into a sea along which large and dense schools of these fish swim. A picture worthy of contemplation. And today’s poet, of course, also enjoys the picture of the autumn sky, however, it seems that not everything is so simple in his soul.

Katsushika Hokusai

It seems that in this famous engraving the clouds are just like "Ishi kumo"

This haiku empasizes that when you enjoy the beauty of the sky, you cannot share this feeling with others, because personal feelings are indescribable.

Shuson Kato

Iwashi Kumo

But does it

To talk about

it

to others

make sense