初しょ夏か

also: はつなつ

しょ

か

Common wordJLPTN2Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

early summer

Refers to the beginning of summer, roughly June in the modern calendar. Used in weather forecasts, seasonal greetings, and literary descriptions.

fourth month of the lunar calendar

obsolete term

Only with reading しょか

Obsolete term; in the old lunar calendar, this corresponded to early summer. Not used in modern Japanese except in historical contexts.

初しょ夏かを迎むかえるto enter/welcome early summer
六ろく月がつになり、いよいよ初しょ夏かを迎むかえた。
June arrived, and early summer finally set in.
初しょ夏かの陽よう気きearly-summer weather/warmth
初しょ夏かの陽よう気きに誘さそわれて、公こう園えんを散さん歩ぽした。
Drawn out by the early-summer warmth, I took a walk in the park.
初しょ夏かの風かぜearly-summer breeze
初しょ夏かの風かぜが心地ここちよく吹ふいている。
A pleasant early-summer breeze is blowing.

立りっ夏か sense 1
立夏 is the specific traditional solar-calendar day marking the start of summer, while 初夏 is the broader, everyday term for the whole early-summer period.

晩ばん夏か sense 1
晩夏 marks the late, waning part of summer, the direct opposite end of the season from 初夏's early start.

晩ばん春しゅん sense 1
晩春 refers to the tail end of spring, while 初夏 refers to the very start of summer, and the two are easy to mix up since they describe adjacent, similarly mild weather.
真ま夏なつN1sense 1
真夏 means the hottest peak of summer, whereas 初夏 is the mild, early stretch of summer, so learners sometimes confuse which part of the season each points to.

初夏Usage100%
- しょか
  Standard kanji spelling; the most common reading is しょか.
- はつなつ
  Rare reading for the same kanji; しょか is overwhelmingly more common.
はつなつ

Compound of 初 (しょ, 'first, beginning') and 夏 (か, 'summer'). The reading はつなつ uses the native Japanese reading of the same characters.