Long Day (nagaki hi)

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Long day, short day, long night, short night

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: various, see below
***** Category: Season

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Explanation

A long day full of work and activities, we all know that, BUT this is not the kigo in question.

A long work day .. is a non-seasonal haiku topic.

A long night spend in work or worry ... is a non-seasonal haiku topic.


For the Japanese kigo aspect of these words, it is the amout of daylight that conveys the seasonal changes.


In the Southern Hemisphere, there are adjustments to make.
December (and the Star of Bethlehem) comes with a SHORT NIGHT of mid-summer.
LONG NIGHT, on the other hand, is a kigo for mid-winter in June.


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kigo for spring

long day, days getting longer, daylight getting longer
hinaga, eijitsu 日永、ひなが,　えいじつ
nagaki hi 永き日, hi nagashi　日永し

..... .....

"Long Day"
referring to the daylight part of a day is a kigo for summer in tropical areas. Robert Wilson, SimplyHaiku

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kigo for summer

short night, mijika yo　短夜
night getting shorter, yo no tsumaru 夜のつまる
"dawn hastens", ake isogu 明急ぐ
dawn comes early, akeyasushi　明易し, ake hayashi　明早し

..... .....

"Long Day"
referring to the daylight part of a day is a kigo for summer in tropical areas.

a long day . . .
the sun etching haiku
on laborer's backs

Robert Wilson, SimplyHaiku


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kigo for autumn

long night, yonaga 夜長、夜永
..... nagaki yo 長き夜 , chooya 長夜

More is here !!!

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mijika hi, mijikajitsu
kigo for winter

short day, days getting shorter, mijika hi, tanjitsu 短日
hi mijika　日短か, tankei　短景
days getting shorter, hi tsumaru 日つまる
dusk comes early, kure hayashi　明早し


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Worldwide use


In the Southern Hemisphere, there are adjustments to make.
December (and the Star of Bethlehem) comes with a SHORT NIGHT of summer.
LONG NIGHT, on the other hand is a kigo for mid-winter.

Haiku below the Southern Cross



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Things found on the way

Comments by Larry Bole
Translating Haiku Forum　

I find this discussion of 'the long day' as a kigo interesting.
Why did the Japanese poets find one aspect or pheonmenon of a season appropriate to that season, and a different-but-related aspect of the same phenomenon more appropriate to another season?
In this regard I am thinking of the fact that 'the long day' is a kigo for spring, whereas 'the short night'--mijikayo--(resulting from a long day) is a kigo for summer.

As a matter of fact, what I have read is that the Japanese poets were struck by the lengthening of the spring day in relation to the length of a winter day. It makes me wonder if a more appropriate translation of 'hinaga' or 'nagaki hi' wouldn't be 'the lengthening day', although 'lengthening' would be a clunkier word to use in a translation than 'long'.

In Blyth's 4-Vol. "Haiku," which is organized along the lines of a saijiki, under the topic "The Long Day" he also includes haiku on the topic 'osoki hi'--the slow day.

Blyth gives three examples of 'slow day' haiku, all by Buson:

osoki hi no tsumorite tooki mukashi kana

Slow days passing, accumulating,--
How distant they are,
The things of the past!


osoki hi ya kodoma kikoyuru kyoo no sumi

The slow day;
Echoes heard
In a corner of Kyoto.


osoki hi ya kiji no oriiru hashi no ue

The slow day;
A pheasant
Settles on the bridge.


Buson is also a master of the summer kigo 'the short night'-- mijikayo. At one point, Blyth contrasts the use of the subject of footprints by Shiki and Buson: one set of footprints used in relation to 'the long day', an one set used in relation to 'the short night':

sunahama ni ashiato nagaki haruhi kana

On the sandy beach,
Footprints:
Long is the spring day.

--Shiki


mijika yo ya ashiato asaki yui-ga-hama

A short night of summer:
Faint footprints
On the shore of Yuigahama.

--Buson

Yuigahama 　由比ガ浜　 is the long sandy beach of Kamakura, Japan.

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HAIKU

山鳥の枝ふみかゆる夜長かな
yamadori no eda fumikayuru yonaga kana

a copper pheasant's
feet fidget on the branch--
this long night

Buson 蕪村

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永き日も 囀たらぬ ひばり哉
ｎagaki hi mo saezuri taranu hibari kana

all day long
singing and not enough yet -
the lark
(tr. Gabi Greve)

Matsuo Basho

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nagaki hi ya yô o tsukutte kanshu yobu

A long day—
I make up an errand and
call the guard.

Itaru Ina 　

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mijikayo ya mihatenu yume no goju-nen

Night grows short:
a dream of fifty years
breaks off before it ends.

Death Poem by Kafu　

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kane no ne no　wa o nashite kuru　yonaga kana

sounds of a temple bell
reverberate in a circle
a long night

Masaoka Shiki　

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the short day
letting the cat out
letting the cat in

marlene mountain 　

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日短くつくづくいやなふかなさけ　　
hi mijikaku tsukuzu iya na fuka nasake

days getting shorter -
I grow more and more impatient
with gentle people
(English Version : Gabi Greve)

Iida Dakkotsu 飯田　蛇笏　


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