Sparrow (suzume)

[ . BACK to TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Sparrow (suzume, Japan)

***** Location: Japan, worldwide
***** Season: various, see below.
***** Category: animal

*****************************
Explanation

sparrow, suzume　雀　すずめ
"voice of the sparrow", sparrows chirping, suzume no koe　雀の声

The word sparrow, if not specified further, refers to the common bird which is with us all year round and is thus not a kigo but a non-seasonal topic.
There are however some kigo related to the sparrow, which we will explore below.

House sparrow, Passer domesticus

Male House Sparrows are easily recognised by their grey crowns and variably-sized black bibs but females might be more difficult. However, nearly all the other dull brown birds with thick, conical bills have streaked rather than plain underparts. Even the otherwise similar Spanish Sparrow is faintly streaked below. Pale Rock Sparrows and Yellow-throated Sparrows are unstreaked below but they also have plain upperparts, quite unlike a House Sparrow.
The only remaining problem species is the Dead Sea Sparrow which looks very similar but is smaller and neater.

Female bird

http://www.birdguides.com/html/vidlib/species/Passer_domesticus.htm


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


SPRING

baby sparrows, little sparrows, suzume no ko　雀の子
kigo for late spring

nest of a sparrow, suzume no su　雀の巣
kigo for all spring

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


SUMMER

reed warbler : yoshi suzume 葭雀
reed-plain warbler : yoshihara suzume 葭原雀
bull-rush-plain warbler : ashihara suzume 葦原雀

The above three are variations of the "reed cutter warbler", yoshikiri 葭切, Acrocephalus species.

More kigo about the reed warbler !

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


AUTUMN

sparrows in the rice fields,
"rice sparrows" inasuzume　稲雀

Refers to sparrows who have come to autumn rice-fields to glean loose grains from the ground, or pluck them from the plants before harvest.

MORE
SPARROWS in AUTUMN KIGO

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


NEW YEAR

first sparrow : hatsu suzume 初雀
To see a sparrow on the first day of the New Year is quite auspicious. It makes you feel cheerful and happy.

初雀翅をひろげて降りにけり　
hatsu suzume hane o hirogete ori ni keri

first sparrow -
he opens his wings
and comes down　　

Kijoo 鬼城 (Tr. Gabi Greve)

Have a look here !

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A Problem

In the "Haiku Handbook" by Higginson, sparrow is listed as a spring kigo.
But that seems a misunderstanding.

The haiku in question quoted on page 29 reads in the last line
sparrows' voices (susume no koe), which is most probably a mistaken translation or misprint for the kigo "baby sparrows (susume no ko)", a spring kigo indeed.
"susume no koe", with six beats, is not suitable for the last line of a haiku, which has 5 beats in Japanese.

In the haiku quoted on page 108, the kigo is
atatakasa, warmness, for spring,
and suzume, the sparrow is not the kigo here at all, but a non-seasonal topic.

In the "Haiku World", Higginson quotes the sparrow as an all year non-seasonal topic.

Voices of Animals -
With the full quote of the haiku in question


Read a comment by Bill Higginson about the SPARROW as kigo, with resprect to the above problem.
September 2006

*****************************
Worldwide use

Sparrows in New Zealand
They seem to prefer the company of Homo sapiens and have moved along with us as we have developed, built shelters and cultivated crops, something which their scientific name, Passer domesticus, reveals. Sparrow, their common name, is much the same in every European language, being variations of the old Teutonic sparwa, from sper … to quiver.

Read a lot more information:
http://www.nzbirds.com/Sparrow.html

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Uruguay

Some links in Spanish about GORRIÓN


© Juan Pedro Paz-Soldán
http://www.avesdelima.com/gorrion_americano.htm

http://www.avesdelapatagonia.com.ar/aaa_Inicio_marco.htm

http://www.avesdelima.com/gorrion_europeo.htm

http://www.fotosaves.com.ar/Passeriformes/Ploceidae/FotosPloceidae.html


*****************************
Things found on the way

*****************************
HAIKU

Some sparrow haiku from Issa

suzumego ga naka de naku nari kome fukube

the baby sparrow
chirps inside
the rice gourd

Issa
http://cat.xula.edu/issa/searchissa.php?haiku_id=131.10a

Issa is quite famous for his many haiku about Sparrows.
David Lanoue lists 127 in his Issa Archives.
http://webusers.xula.edu/dlanoue/issa/index.html


Basho-ki ya hato mo suzume mo kyaku mekasu



Basho's Death-Day--
pigeons and sparrows
in their Sunday best

Issa
Haiga by Sakuo Nakamura
http://blog.livedoor.jp/sakuo3903/archives/18897963.html

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



viento estival
los pequeños gorriones
luchan y luchan

summer wind -
the little sparrows
struggle on

Russian translation:

летний ветер --
борются с ним
крошки-воробьи

Haiga by Origa (Olga Hooper)
http://www.livejournal.com/users/origa/

Carlos' Haiku won the first prize of the Second Calico Cat bilingual haiku contest of Origa.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/origa/49491.html#cutid1

.. .. ..

duro papeleo
afuera persiguiendose
gorriones

> > > hard paperwork -
> > > outside chasing one another
> > > sparrows


dark clouds --
the little sparrow
urges his flight

Carlos Fleitas from Uruguay tells us this:

Sparrows are very common here. You can find them everywhere. Some people dislike them, and find them annoying. Sometimes if you have a window opened they may even enter your house! It has never happened to me, although i can see them everyday...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

take wings headlong
leaving chirp behind --
sparrow flock




Look at more of Origa's Sparrow haiga:
http://www.geocities.com/ana_vazic/galerija8.htm

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

park bench
an old man shares his lunch
with some sparrows

Max Verhart
http://shiki1.cc.ehime-u.ac.jp/~shiki/kukai/kukai77-2.html

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

How soon they're gone -
the bread crumbs and the sparrows
that I began to sketch

(Cicada, v.3, #4)


Hard frost -
a sparrow in my son's
cupped hands

(World Haiku Review, October, 2003)

Frosty day -
finches at the feeder
let a sparrow in

Zhanna P. Rader

Read more of Zhanna's Sparrow Haiku here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/happyhaiku/message/1449

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

young camel foot tree --
first sparrow has found
its nesting site

This bauhinia grows in my pocket-handkerchief-sized front garden, where I planted the seed from a neighbour's garden some years back.
This morning, looking out of my window with pleasure, I found a sparrow sitting on one of its branches, nest-building material in beak, checking the place out. Surely, it must be the coming-of-age of a tree if it is big enough to be considered by a bird for a nest!

Isabelle Prondzynski, Kenya

Camel's foot tree, Bauhinia purpurea

http://www.greenfun.org.hk/eng/special/bauhinia/table1.html


*****************************
Related words

***** Reed warbler (yoshi suzume, gyoogyooshi)


The BIRD Saijiki with all kigo !

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


Back to the Worldkigo Index
http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::