Oroshi

Oroshi (颪 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 Japan Sea side of central Honshu.^[2] This term identifies a katabatic wind.^[3]

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

ukarikeru

hito wo hatsuse no

yama-oroshi yo

hageshikare to ha

inoranu mano wo

— Minamoto no Toshiyori^[4]

^Translation: 

      Make that heartless

woman, O mountain storm

    of Hatsuse Temple,

crueller still!"– this is not

what I prayed for, and yet ...


Minamoto no Shunrai also Minamoto Toshiyori (源 俊頼^?, 1055 – January 29, 1129) was an important and innovative Japanese poet, who compiled the Gosen Wakashū.