Oyster (kaki)

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Oyster (kaki)

***** Location: Japan, other areas
***** Season: All Winter
***** Category: Animal

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Explanation

Oysters are quite a delicacy here in Japan! There are quite a few kigo with this animal and its food versions. Some come in other seasons than winter.

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kigo for late autumn

first oysters of the season, hatsugaki, hatsu kaki, 初牡蠣
This is a special treat for all oyster lovers in Japan. Eaten raw out of the shell, with a bit of lime juice sprinkled on it ... well, mjami !

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http://www.dereila.ca/dereilaimages/Marine.html


....................... Oyster kigo for all winter

oyster, oysters, 牡蠣
..... Crassostrea gigas, Japanese Oyster, Giant Pacific Oyster
real oysters, magaki 真牡蠣, オイスター
"flowers of the rocks" kaki　岩花
oyster shells, kakigara 牡蠣殻

collecting oysters, kakitori 牡蠣採
cracking oysters open, hitting oysters, kaki uchi 牡蠣打
breaking oysters open, kakiwarru　牡蠣割る
peeling out the oysters, kaki muku　牡蠣むく

women who break the oysters, kakiwari me　牡蠣割女

Famous areas for Japanese oysters
"oyster field", famous oyster farms of Hiroshima, kakita　牡蠣田
long oysters from Northern Japan, nagagaki　長牡蠣
from Hokkaido, Ezogaki　蝦夷牡蠣
Itabogaki、イタボガキ,　いたぼがき板甫牡蠣
from Kyushu, Ariake Sea, Sumi-no-E gaki　住之江牡蠣　住江牡蠣
..... Crassostrea ariakensis, Asian Oyster suminoekaki


Japanese food with the oysters
boiled rice with oysterss, kakimeshi 牡蠣飯
rice gruel with oysters, kaki zoosui　牡蠣雑炊
oysters marinated in vinegar, sugaki 酢牡蠣
fried on the beach, doteyaki　どて焼
deep fried oysters, kaki furai 牡蠣フライ


Click HERE to see photos of the Giant Oyster 　　　　

Click HERE to see photos of the real oyster, magaki 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Click HERE to see photos of rice with oysters

Click HERE to see photos of fried oysters

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Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica)

What is an oyster?
An oyster is a shellfish with 2 rough white shells that hook together at one end. The oyster has strong muscles which hold the shell shut. It is very difficult for predators (like people) to pry the shell open. An Eastern oyster is usually 2 to 6 inches long. The inside of the shell has a purple mark where the oyster was attached. The shell is sharp and can cut you!

How do oysters eat?
Oysters are filter-feeders. They suck in water and filter out the plankton and detritus to swallow. Then they spit the water back out. (Detritus is dead plant and animal matter.) They also accidentally filter out and collect any poisons that might be in the water. This cleans the water, but is not so good for the oysters. Because these poisons are more likely to be in coastal waters in the summer months, it is usually not safe to eat oysters in the summer time. Oysters have gills and get their oxygen from the water.

What about pearls?
The oyster’s mantle (skin) makes both an outer white crusty shell, and a smooth inner shell. The smooth inner part is called "nacre" or "Mother of Pearl." Sometimes a bit of sand gets inside the oyster’s shell. This is very irritating to the oyster, like getting an eyelash in your eye. So the oyster covers this bit of dirt with shiny smooth Mother of Pearl. It keeps covering the dirt and rolling it around until it doesn’t cause any more irritation. This makes a pearl.
The oysters that people eat in north Florida (Eastern oysters) hardly ever make pretty pearls. But there are other kinds of oysters, clams, mussels, conchs, whelks, and even abalone that do make nice pearls. We think of pearls as being round and white, but they are often yellow or black, and many other colors and shapes.
http://pelotes.jea.com/eastern.htm

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Worldwide use

Chesapeake Bay, USA

American oyster (Crassostrea virginica)
The American Oyster, also called the Eastern Oyster and Virginia Oyster, is native to the East Coast of the United States. The Chesapeake Oyster is a subspecies of the American Oyster. It is a hard shellfish, typically 2 - 6 inches in length, growing about one inch a year. It is a filter feeder and peforms an important ecological function in cleaning the Chesapeake Bay.

The oysters have been all but wiped out by pollution, disease, and overharvesting. Skipjacks are no longer economically viable and there is talk of declaring the Chesapeake oyster an endangered species.
Chesapeake Bay Saijiki : Winter

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Things found on the way

Published Research on the Asian Oyster, Crassostrea ariakensis

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HAIKU

初牡蠣やお国訛りの隣客
hatsugaki ya okuni narmai no tonarikyaku

first oysters of the season !
the guest next to me
speaks his home dialect
(Tr. Gabi Greve)

ソセイ
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/yanma46/14401.html

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oyster barbecue
a mother of six watches
the pile of shells

Jane Reichhold
A Dictionary of Haiku
Jane places the oysters as a kigo for spring. There are no reasons given for this deviation from the traditional Japanese placement and no special area she might be referring to.

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oysters in my bed
boats above me
watch out, the dredge!

~Amora Johnson, US
Chesapeake Bay Saijiki : Winter

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牡蠣船にもちこむわかればなしかな
kakibune ni mochikomu wakarebanashi kana

talk of separation -
brought all the way to the
oyster ship
(Tr. Gabi Greve)

久保田万太郎 Kubota Mantaroo


あたらしき声出すための酢牡蠣かな
能村登四郎

もろもろのしがらみ付けて太る牡蛎
中嶋秀子

占領地区の牡蠣を将軍に奉る
西東三鬼

友死すや啜りて牡蠣のうすき肉
小澤實

Quoted from the Gendai Haiku Database　現代俳句データベース 　　　　　　　　　　


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collecting oysters
in his childhood
was a hobby-

he remembers
the past while on a visit
to the same sea beach

Aju Mukhopadhyay, India, 2006

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oysters after concert --
the whole choir vomits
in the plane

Tomislav Maretic, Croatia, 2006

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fresh oysters ...
she coats her tongue
with cheese

Ella Wagemakers

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I can't let this one by. Not when I crew on board a Chesapeake oyster boat!
The proper way to eat an oyster is with hot sauce right out of the shell.

"Hard-alee!"
On his knees culling oysters
he doesn't have to duck.

M. Kei, USA
Chesapeake Bay Saijiki

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Related words

***** Pearls, Mother of Pearl (shinju　真珠)
Non-seasonal haiku topic
In Japan, a pearl neclace is the only jewellery allowed for a funeral ceremony.

Pearl Museum, Ise Shima, Japan


MOTHER-OF-PEARL or nacre
the iridescent substance that forms the lining of the shells of some fresh-water and some salt-water mollusks. Like the pearl it is a secretion of the mantle, composed of alternate layers of calcium carbonate and conchiolin.
Among the chief sources are the pearl oyster, found in warm and tropical seas, chiefly in Asia; freshwater pearl mussels, which live in many rivers of the United States, Europe, and Asia; and the abalone of California, Japan, and other Pacific regions.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/m/motherpe.asp


Click HERE to see some Pearl Jewellery

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Please send your contributions to Gabi Greve
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