Fields, paddies (ta)

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Fields, rice fields, rice paddies (ta)

***** Location: Japan, other areas
***** Season: Various, see below
***** Category: Earth

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Explanation

Fields, especially the rice fields are very important for the farming communities of Japan. We have a lot of kigo during all seasons, concerned with the work on the fields.

field, rice paddy, ta　田
terraced rice fields, tanada　棚田


© Gabi Greve, Terraced rice fields of Ohaga-Nishi, Okayama Prefecutre, Japan

small path between the fields, azemichi 畦道
..... あぜ　畦

hatake, fields (for other crops)　畑

fields and rice paddies, tahata, tabata 田畑


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Kigo for Spring

fields in spring, spring paddies, haruta 春田
..... haru no ta 春の田
preparing the fields, "hitting the fields" tauchi　田打ち
...."waking the fields up" ta-okoshi　田起こし

spring plowing, tagayashi 耕(たがやし)
..... shunkoo 春耕（しゅんこう）


paddie snails, mud snails, tanishi 田螺 たにし
collecting mud snails, tanishi tori 田螺取
"mud snails crying", tanishi naku 田螺鳴く
They are a delicacy in this season, being boiled or added with different flavors. They where a source of protein for the poor farmers of the Edo period. They do not make a sound or cry.
Tanishi ae 田螺和 (たにしあえ) mud snail in dressing


paddy parsley, taseri 田芹 たぜり
Oenanthe javanica.
Quite a delicasy in spring dishes.


tea plantations, tea fields, chabatake 茶畑 ちゃばたけ

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Kigo for Summer

planting rice in the paddies, taue 田植
..... ta o uu 田を植う
field for seedlings, shirota 代田 しろた

plowing the fields, ta kaku 田掻く
horse for plowing, takaku uma 田掻馬

planted fields, ueta 植田 うえた
fields with rice seedlings, sanaeda 早苗田（さなえだ）
fields in march, satsukida 五月田（さつきだ）

song for rice planting, taue uta 田植歌
hat for rice planting, tauegasa 植笠


green rice paddies, green fields, aota, aoda 青田
aotamono 青田面（あおたのも）
wind on the green fields, aotakaze 青田風（あおたかぜ）
green fields like waves, aota nami 青田波（あおたなみ）
path between the green fields, aotamizhi青田道（あおたみち）
time of the green fields, aotadoki 青田時（あおたどき）
"seller of green fields", aota uri 青田売（あおたうり）


paddies in a drought, drought-stricken paddy
hiderida 旱田, ひでりだ, ひでりた, hiyakeda 日焼田 ひやけだ
withered field, kareta 涸田（かれた）
burned by the sun, yakeda 焼け田（やけだ）
split by the dryness, hibiwareda 乾割れ田（ひわれだ）
field in a drought, kanbatsuda 旱魃田（かんばつだ）


alpine flower-meadows, o-hanabatake お花畑

butterbur field, fukibatake 蕗畑 ふきばたけ


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Kigo for Autumn

autumn rice paddies, aki no ta 秋の田

paddy with rice plants (before harvesting)
inada 稲田 いなだ

stubble-paddy, harvested paddie, karita 刈田

taro field, imobatake 芋畑 いもばたけ

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Kigo for Winter

paddy fields in winter, fuyuta 冬田


withered fields, kareno 枯野 かれの
..... kudara no 朽野 (くだらの, 百済野、くだら野)
fields in winter, fuyuno 冬野 (ふゆの)


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Kigo for New Year
Some saijiki list them in the SPRING section.

"March Festival", satsuki iwai 皐月祝
garden field planting, niwa taue 庭田植（にわたうえ）
"March Night", yoi satsuki宵皐月（よいさつき）

Dancing and planting rice, taue odori 田植踊
..... Jajuuroo 弥十郎（やじゅうろう）


Enburi Dance えぶり 柄振り
Held on January 15 (now February 17) in Hachi no He Town in Aomori prefecture 青森県八戸. A group of men from schoolchild to grandfather (enburi gumi えんぶり組), dressed in special coats with large hats, with field tools dance around the streets and in front of farm houses, wishing for a bountiful harvest.

..................... Other kigo in connection with this dance:
eburi, えぶり
enburi, gozen enburi 御前えんぶり（ごぜんえんびり）
naga enburi ながえんぶり、doosai enburi どうさいえんぶり
home where the Enburi Dance is performed
..... enburi yado えんぶり宿（えんぶりやど）



© Photos by Nakaibayashi
Backup

... ... ...

"playing in the fields" ta asobi 田遊 たあそび
"honorable field" onda 御田（おんだ）
spring field tools、haru kuwa 春鍬（はるくわ）
..... yasume 安女（やすめ, tarooji 太郎次（たろうじ）、yoneba よねぼ、shakutaroo 尺太郎（しゃくたろう）、shakujiroo 尺次郎（しゃくじろう）、yoneboo よねほう、yonanzoo よなんそう、inanzoo いなんそう


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way

The song for rice planting (taue uta) was necessary to keep the rythm for all planters, when it was still done by hand by the farmer's womenfolk. It was also an offering for the god of the fields (ta no kami) and the god of the earth (tsuchi no kami).
With the advent of planting maschinery, these local songs are fast becoming extinct. When some anthropologists went to the local communities to record these songs in autumn, the farmers refused strictly on the ground, that this would be a strong insult for the god of the fields and bring them bad fortune !

Read my article about
Ta no Kami, God of the Rice Fields　田の神さま


The god of the earth had a special festival twice a year around the spring and autumn equinox to welcome him and send him off. The day was defined to be the "light or elder day of the earth" tsuchi no e　戊, according to the Asian lunar calendar and the knowledge of the five elements.
This day is also called "Shrine Day" shanichi 社日. On this shrine day, farmers would assemble at the local shrine and dance for the gods, praying for a good harvest in spring (shunsha　春社） and thanking for one in autumn　（shuusha 秋社）. In autumn, the god of the earth was then sent off to the mountain, to live there until next spring as the "god of the mountain, yama no kami 山の神.

Used in haiku, "Shrine day" shanichi is a kigo for spring.

Deafness-curing sake (jirooshu) 治聾酒
Drunk on this Shrine Day in spring.


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HAIKU

田の水をかすりに行も日傘哉
ta no mizu o kasuri ni yuku mo higasa kana

a scattered pattern
on rice paddy water...
parasols


田の水やさらばさらばと井にもどる
ta no mizu ya saraba saraba to i ni modoru

rice paddy drains--
goodbye! goodbye!
back to the well

Issa about paddies
(tr. David Lanoue)


遠かたや青田のうへの三の山
ochikata ya aoda no ue no mitsu no yama

far distance--
above green rice fields
three mountains


畠打や祭々も往く所
hata uchi ya matsuri-matsuri mo iku tokoro

plowing fields--
festivals, festivals
all over!



田が青む田が青むとやけいこ笛
ta ga aomu ta ga aomu to ya keiko fue

the rice fields
greener and greener!
flute practice


田のくろや馬除柳馬がくふ
ta no kuro ya uma yoke yanagi uma ga kuu

ridge between rice fields--
the horse eats
the sheltering willow



鳴田にし鍋の中ともしらざるや
naku tanishi nabe no naka tomo shirazaru ya

pond snails sing
they're in the kettle
but don't know it


Issa about fields
( tr. David Lanoue)

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shirunabe ni kasa no shizuku ya sanae tori

picking up rice seedlings -
raindrops from their sedge hats
fall in the soup pot

Kikaku 基角
(Tr. Gabi Greve)


Women transplanting rice-seedlings;
Rain-drops from their kasa
Fall into the soup of the saucepan.

(Tr. Blyth)

sanaetori .. This process is taken at the first stage of rice planting.
It is supposed that this first work is done by young woman. That is because it needs delicate hands for working.

Look at some illustrations by
Sakuo Nakamura




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　　paddy fields
we drive past
fleeting milestones

Kala Ramesh, India


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Related words

***** Rice plants (ine) and various kigo


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