also: うのはなくだし
expression, noun
long early-summer rains
Poetic seasonal term (kigo) for the prolonged rain that falls around the time deutzia flowers bloom, typically in early summer (June). Used mainly in haiku and classical poetry.
卯の花腐しの季節になると、毎日しとしとと雨が降り続く。
When the season of unohana-kutashi arrives, a gentle rain falls day after day.
この句は卯の花腐しを詠んだものだ。
This haiku is about the long early-summer rains.
卯の花 refers to the deutzia flower itself, while 卯の花腐し is the rain that falls when those flowers bloom.
五月雨 is another poetic term for early-summer rain, but it specifically refers to the intermittent rains of the fifth lunar month (around June), while 卯の花腐し emphasizes the long, continuous nature of the rain.
Literally 'deutzia-flower rotter'. The name comes from the idea that the long rain causes the deutzia flowers to rot. The reading くたし is from the verb 腐る (くたる, 'to rot') in its classical form.