After the rain...

I've been asking people why a sun shower is referred to as a fox's wedding ( 狐の嫁入り) and nobody seems to know but one lady thought it might have something to do with this expression:

雨降って地固まる - ame futte ji katamaru - literally: after the rainfall the ground is firmer

Actually, I don't think the two expressions are related at all but this is an interesting expression in it's own right. What it means is a couple get along better after a quarrel.

From my dictionary:
雨降って地固まるというわけで、あの二人の仲はかえってよくなった。

As is the way, their relationship seems better now than it was before they fell out.

A Fox Wedding

There was a heavy downpour yesterday, and then though the rain continued to fall, the sun broke through the clouds and it became a sun shower. My girlfriend reminded me of the Japanese expression for this: 狐の嫁入り (kitune no yome iri) literally a fox's bridal procession. A curious expression, isn't it? Foxes, in Japanese legends and folktales are often beings of magical ability; tricksters and shapeshifters, able to assume human (often feminine) form and fool or seduce unsuspecting mortals. Why a sun shower should be known as a fox's wedding, I'm not sure. Apparently there is a folktale about someone unwittingly stumbling on a fox's bridal procession during a sun shower but I've not been able to track the story down any further than oblique references. However, clearly there is a sense of paradox and confusion when rain falls in the sunshine, the kind of paradox and confusion that magical beings like foxes enjoy. Anyway, it's a nice expression, and I like foxes so I think I might post some more 狐 expressions over the next couple of days.