Horse (uma)

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Horse, Pony (uma 馬, ポニー)

***** Location: Japan, worldwide
***** Season: various, see below
***** Category: Animal (and others)

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Explanation

The horse has been a friend of the human being for ages. The pony, ponies are also part of this group. PONY in itself refers to a small and sturdy species of the horse family with a shoulder hight of less than 148 cm. "Pony" can refer to babies, young ones and old ones, and the various kigo need an additional adjective, just like horses are specified.

Let us look at some kigo with this animal.

Gabi Greve, Japan

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The Japanese Horse , by James F. Downs

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Kigo for Spring

plough horse, kooba, kōba 耕馬

foal, baby horse, baby pony, kouma, ko-uma 仔馬,
..... ..... uma no ko 馬の仔
foals are born, uma no ko umaru 馬の仔生まる
pregnant mare, harami uma 孕馬 はらみうま

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colt, young horse, young pony, wakagoma わかごま, 若駒
..... "spring horse", haru no uma 春の馬
..... haru no koma 春の駒, harugoma 春駒
KOMA means newborn horse/pony or young horse/pony. This word has already been used in the poetry anthology "Collection of Myriad Leaves" (manyooshu) of the Heian period.
"Spring horse" refers especially to a young horse that spent the winter in a shed and is now set free for the first time, running around happily.


Clay Bell from the Hida Area, Gifu Prefecture


http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~i-kimoto/hurusato/19gihu.htm

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first Day of the Horse in the lunar New Year,
hatsu uma 初午
first horse, ichi no uma 一の午
Horse Festival, uma matsuri 午祭
..... Usually in the middle of February.
The Asian Zodiac Animals
by Gabi Greve


Japanese horseradish, wasabi 山葵
Wasabia japonica

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Kigo for Summer

cooling cows and horses, gyuuba hiyasu 牛馬冷す
cooling horses, uma hiyasu 馬冷す
cool horse, hiyashi uma　冷やし馬
washing horses, uma arau 馬洗う


midday nap, siesta, gosui 午睡
The "hour of the horse, uma no koku", noon, is the time to take a rest.

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Kigo for Autumn

horse grows fat, fatten a horse, uma koyuru 馬肥ゆる

horse market, uma ichi　馬市
... uma no ichi, 馬の市
Most areas of Northern Japan, in the Tohoku Region, used to have horse markets after the summer season is finished.

autumn colt, autumn pony, autumn horse
aki no koma 秋の駒



umasage 馬下げ（うまさげ）getting the horses down
maki tozasu 牧閉す (まきとざす) "closing down the open grazing land"
makigaeri 牧帰り（まきがえり） coming home from the grazing land



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Kigo for Winter

horses standing in the cold, kandachi, kandatsu 寒立
..... kandachi uma 寒立ち馬


© Impress Corporation, Japan.
http://digitalcamera.impress.co.jp/01_07/contest/

This is a famous breed of Northern Japan, Aomori and the Shimokita and Shiriya Peninsula (Shimokita Hantoo 下北半島, 尻屋崎）. These horses are kept outside even in the winter storms, where they stand still with their noses toward the cold wind and wait for spring ... They have long warm hair and are very sure-footed in the rough terrain. They are a great attraction for tourists. I saw them in summer, a sturdy view in the rugged terrain, against the backdrop of the Hokkaido Mountains over the sea.

Kandachi is also used as kigo for the deer standing in the winter forest.

ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo

bringing the horses to the sheds, uma sage(ru) 馬下げる
To protect them from the coming snow, horses are brought back, usually to the cowsheds, to pass the winter time.


stilts, "bamboo horses", take-uma, takeuma 竹馬



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Kigo for the New Year

"Spring Horse", pronounced harukoma 春駒 はるこま
spring horse dance, harukoma no mai 春駒の舞、harukoma odori 春駒踊り
spring horse performance, harukoma manzai 春駒万歳

Spring Horse, is a performer who makes the rounds on New Year's Day, singing songs at people's gates. He wears a horse head contraption of carries a horse heade made of wood or bamboo. This in one of the many performances of wandering artists in Japan (kadozuke geinoo 門付け芸能). The man with the horse head dances to the tune of a shamisen and drum. It can also be a young man dressed as a girl, holding the horse between her legs, trying to make people laugh. The performers get a little money for their dance and wander off to the next corner.

Issa refers to this custom, which is still alive to our day in many rural communities, especially in Northern Japan and the Sado Island. If you happen to see this Spring Horse, you will be lucky for the rest of the year. A local song in the area goes like this: "Well, well, well, how lucky! I saw the Spring Horse in my dream! That's good enough for this year's good luck!"

In Okinawa, there is a similar custom called
Juri Horse, juriuma　じゅりうま, ジュリ馬 , 尾類馬
a dance on the 25th of January.
JURI is the Okinawa dialect for joroo 女郎, the ladies of redlight districts.
Look at Photos of the Okinawa Performance

Spring Horse Performers in Northern Japan

http://www.manabi.pref.gunma.jp/jigyodan/map/shiryo/harukoma.htm


In English we have "stick horses", in German "Steckenpferd".
http://www.bigblackbear.com/stickhorses.html


Some "Spring Horse" haiku by Issa

「春駒のうたでとかすや門の雪」 　
haru koma no uta de tokasu ya kado no yuki

melting to the tune
of the New Year's singer...
snow at the gate
(Tr. David Lanoue)

... ... ...

The following three are translated by Sakuo Nakamura

「春駒は竹でしてさえいさみけり」
harukoma wa take de shite sae isami keri

even if made of bamboo
the spring horse
looks brave

Issa refers to a toy of this name, made of bamboo looking like a horse head.
Look at a doll with Fukusuke and the Spring Horse

　
「春駒を人のしてさえいさみけり」
harukoma o hito no shite sae isami keri

if he plays "spring horse"
he looks like
a brave horse



「春駒や人が真似てもいさましき」
harukoma ya hito ga manete mo isamashiki

if he gestures
like the spring horse
he looks brave


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Worldwide use

Germany

Pferd, Fohlen, Pony



Horse meat, baniku (ばにく/ 馬肉) basashi, sakuranabe
and Haiku


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North America

Here in California, rodeos and horse backing riding, etc are summer activities.

Robert Wilson


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Things found on the way



Bato Kannon with a horse head

Horse-headed Deities of Japan


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The Kabuki Horse . 歌舞伎の馬



"The Kabuki stage horse is a work of art, a splendid structure of wood and velvet borne by two specialist assistants. These assistants have exercised a monopoly for generations and there is very little about the behavior of horses that they do not know and reproduce. Their beasts toss their heads, paw the ground, back away from obstacles and fret at the bit like any thoroughbred. Trotting is a proud specialty and the authors have even seen a gentle canter.

The actor who rides such horses must give a tip known as "hay money" (kaibaryô) to the artists if he does not wish to risk an undignified fall - the pleasing tradition persists at least, even if present-day stage discipline militates against any such calculated mishaps"
(Aubrey and Giovanna Halford in "The Kabuki Handbook").


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HAIKU

A sudden shower falls -
and naked I am riding
on a naked horse!

Issa
http://www.toyomasu.com/haiku/

Issa and the Horse Shit - 馬糞山
with a lovely haiga by Nakamura Sakuo

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Fleas, lice,
a horse peeing
near my pillow.
(Tr. Robert Hass)

Matsuo Basho
http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=9224&poem=78133

... ... ... ... ...

ritt übers moor.
ich lenke das pferd dorthin,
wo der kuckuck ruft.

basho
http://lulus-world.blogspot.com/2006/04/spring-bei-uns-im-engadin-ist-noch.html

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竹馬や いろは に ほへと ちりぢりに
take uma ya iroha ni hoheto chirijiri ni

Kubota Mantaroo

bamboo horse -
once we studied the iroha syllabary
now we are scattered in all directions
(Tr. G. Blankestijn)

................................................. American Version

> bamboo stick-horses--
> we who learned our ABC's
> gone our separate ways...
Translation and discussion, by Larry Bole

Old friends from childhood are called Chikuba no Tomo 竹馬の友, friends of the bamboo stilts.

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Related words

***** Donkey, roba 驢馬、ロバ



exhaust fumes
a donkey crops grass
on the road divider

Johannes Manjrekar, India, August 2006



***** mule

an ghrian os cionn na Himáilithe
ólann mo mhiúil
as an nGainséis

the sun above the Himalayas
my mule is drinking
from the Ganges

Gabriel Rosenstock at
http://ireland.poetryinternational.org/cwolk/view/28470

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***** Cow (ushi)

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***** plowing, tagayashi 耕たがやし
kigo for all spring

spring plowing, shunkoo 春耕（しゅんこう）
man plowing the fields, koojin 耕人（こうじん）
cow for plowing, koogyuu 耕牛（こうぎゅう）
horse for plowing, kooba 耕馬（こうば）、bakoo 馬耕（ばこう）

The Chinese character is made up of a plow and an enclosure.
Plowing represents a joyful time for the farmer and haiku should reflect this.



first plowing -
the waterbuffalo trods
steadily

Gabi Greve, China 1988


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Horse meat, baniku (ばにく/ 馬肉) basashi, sakuranabe

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http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/

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