Oroshi (, lit.'down wind') is the Japanese term for a wind blowing strong down the slope of a mountain, occasionally as strong gusts of wind which can cause damage.[1] Oroshi is a strong local wind across the Kanto Plain on the Pacific Ocean side of central Honshu.[2] This term identifies a katabatic wind.[3]

The Oroshi wind which causes unpredictable damage -- Mafū (魔風, lit.'devilish wind', 1853)

Literary references

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The Oroshi wind is mentioned in Japanese poetry, including a poem which is included in the Hyakunin Isshu.[4]

 
An impression of Futen the Wind Deity by Hanabusa Itcho, late-17th–early-18th century.

Many versions of this poem which were published during the Edo period have yama-oroshi instead of yama-oroshi yo, but the meaning is equivalent: the poet cries out to the wind; and he compares the cold down-draft to the heartless woman.[5]

Oroshi is also a character in "La Horde du Contre-vent", an adventure book written by Alain Damasio, a french writer. In this story, Oroshi is the name of a wind mistress, she can read the wind as it is paper.

See also

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  • Halny
  • Piteraq – cold katabatic wind which originates on the Greenlandic icecap and sweeps down the east coast
  • Santa Ana winds – California weather phenomenon
  • Williwaw – Sudden blast of wind descending from a mountainous coast to the sea

Notes

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  1. ^ Kishō Kenkyūjo. (1969). Papers in Meteorology and Geophysics, p. 126, p. 126, at Google Books, citing "Dissolution of Separation in the Turbulent Boundary Layer," Papers in Meteorology and Geophysics (気象研究所研究報告), Vol. 20, No. 2, 1969, pp. 111-174, 126.
  2. ^ Simpson, John E. (1994). Sea Breeze and Local Winds, p. 70, p. 70, at Google Books
  3. ^ Haggett, Peter. (2001). Encyclopedia of World Geography, Vol. 24, p. 1052, p. 1052, at Google Books
  4. ^ a b Mostow, Joshua S. (1996). Pictures of the Heart: The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image, p. 361., p. 361, at Google Books
  5. ^ Mostow, p. 361., p. 361, at Google Books

References

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  • Kishō Kenkyūjo (気象研究所). (1969). Papers in Meteorology and Geophysics (気象研究所研究報告), Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 111–174, 126 Tokyo, Meteorological Research Institute. OCLC 1761858
  • Mostow, Joshua S., ed. (1996). Pictures of the Heart: The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-1705-3; OCLC 645187818
  • Simpson, John E. (1994). Sea Breeze and Local Winds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521452113; OCLC 243798029