Japan · The untranslatable word
木漏れ日
Komorebi
komorebi
The Japanese word komorebi describes sunlight filtering through tree leaves.
It's the sunlight that comes through leaves — the dappled, moving shapes that happen between them.
The Japanese are so damn poetic with the way they find names for things that exist but no one ever bothered to accurately describe.
Now you know it — you'll probably see it everywhere.
By The Cardinal Atlas deskEvergreen entry · reviewed for accuracy
The word
木漏れ日
/ko-mo-reh-bee/
- Literaltree (木) · leak/escape (漏れ) · sun (日) — 'sunlight that leaks through trees'
- The feelingNot the sun, not the tree — the in-between. The shifting light on the ground that you only notice when you stop walking.
“komorebi — the light that leaks through the leaves”