How to say "Early summer" in Japanese | 初夏

If you are wondering what's the Japanese word for "Early summer" you've come to the right place!

the Japanese word for "Early summer" is "Shoka", written in japanese as "初夏".

Here's a more detailed explanation:

The Japanese noun '初夏 (しょか)' refers to the period of early summer, typically around the months of May and June. This term is often used to describe the transitional season when the weather starts to warm up, but the intense heat of mid-summer has not yet arrived. It is commonly used in literature, poetry, and everyday conversation to evoke the freshness and vitality of this time of year. For example: Early summer is the best time to visit Kyoto「初夏は京都を訪れるのに最適な時期です」(しょかはきょうとをおとずれるのにもってこいのじきです). The early summer breeze feels refreshing「初夏の風が爽やかです」(しょかのかぜがさわやかです).

The Kanji are characters that represent meanings. As you can see, this word is made up of 2 Kanji:

The kanji "初" means "Beginning" and "First" and can be read as "Sho", "Haji", "So" and "Hatsu". And The kanji "夏" means "Summer" and can be read as "Ge", "Ka" and "Natsu".

Now, let's make sure you understand this word the other way around too.

What does "Shoka" mean in japanese?

"Shoka" means "Early summer" .

To learn more about the kanji in this word, checkout this pages:

To make really sure you learn this word, We've prepared an interactive lesson for you. You are going to learn the readings and meanings of this word and of the characters that comprise it.

But first, you need to know a little bit about Hiragana and Katakana.

Hiragana and katakana are japanese syllabaries, this means that each character represents a syllable.

This are the characters you need to know for this lesson:

The hiragana "し" is read as "shi". The hiragana "は" is read as "ha". The hiragana "じ" is read as "ji". The hiragana "そ" is read as "so". The hiragana "つ" is read as "tsu". The hiragana "げ" is read as "ge". The hiragana "か" is read as "ka". And The hiragana "な" is read as "na".

About kanji, you need to know that most Kanji have two types of readings: Kunyomi, based on native japanese pronunciation. And onyomi, based on chinese pronunciation.