The dew-dappled treelight glowed down upon him. Together you continued along the path-but already, already in the lacework of treelight you saw your error. I love putting words together like 'wheels of rainlight,' 'treelight.' Tree is explicit, as is 木, and the word mimics sunlight, so there's an indirect association with sun.Īnd I am hardly the first to have felt a want for such an expression and arrived at such a word! The following are taken from Google Books: Treelight is what I've currently settled on as a usable evocative equivalent for your first sense of komorebi. Given the numerous times I've come across 木漏れ日 in Japanese, I also have often wondered if there isn't a word/phrase in English, existing or inventive, that could capture the aesthetics of the word (the natural imagery from komorebi is just so strong).

There does not appear to be an exact word for sunlight filtered specifically through foliage. Walking through the forest, I was awestruck by a beautiful sheaf of sunlight. Walking through the forest, I was awestruck by the beauty of a sheaf. You would still have to specify what makes up the sheaf it cannot be used as a single word in the sense you want.It is a fairly technical definition and not commonly understood in every day English.all passing through a given point.īut this has two drawbacks with regards to your question. (Some links and references in the article.)Īs you mention, a singular shaft of light, whether separated from the rest of the sunlight by clouds, annulus ( man-made or natural) or through the canopy of a forest is more properly called a sunbeam (Merriam-Webster).Īs Andrew Leach mentions and fully explains in his answer, there is precedent for calling this a sheaf or sheafs (or sheaves).Ī. God rays (used by the computer graphics industry).Volumetric lighting (used by the computer graphics industry).Sun drawing water – from the ancient Greek belief that sunbeams drew water into the sky (an early description of evaporation).taura a Maui) from the Maori tale of Maui Potiki restraining the sun with ropes to make the days longer Backstays of the sun – a nautical term, from the fact that backstays that brace the mast of a sailing ship converge in a similar way.Wikipedia includes a list of alternative names, some of which are more idiomatic than the latin derived crepuscular: It's often used as a special effect in games. Though not exactly the same, crepuscular rays (also known as god rays) come close to what you are asking for.Ī streak of light that seems to radiate from the sun shortly before or after sunset when sunlight shines through a break in the clouds or a notch in the horizon line and illuminates atmospheric haze or dust particles

But there might be a colloquial usage or scientific term regarding the phenomena related to komorebi. Of course, the word is the result of Japanese culture and aesthetics influenced by the nature. Sunray and sunbeam come to mind but they are too general. Additionally, there is a rare phenomenon when the light of the crescent sun during a partial solar eclipse is dappled on the ground in crescent shapes (which is circular normally): It is also mentioned as the interplay between the light and the leaves which is observed especially on the ground. Komorebi can also be seen as a light curtain which is more visible after the rain because of the reflecting light from the water vapor: The first kanji 木 means ‘tree’ (or ‘trees‘), the second one 漏 refers to ‘escape’ and the last one 日 is ‘light‘ or ‘sun‘. It is made up of three kanji and the hiragana particle れ. Is there an English equivalent of komorebi (木漏れ日), which means the sunshine filtering through the leaves of a tree (or trees)?

Sunlight through autumn trees