Bird Haze in Spring (torigumori) Lark

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Bird Haze in Spring (torigumori)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Mid-Spring
***** Category: Heavens

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Explanation

Dull and hazy weather in mid spring, when all kinds of migrating birds in great numbers start flying back to the North. The clouds and the sky of these days are pictured in the following kigo:

"bird haze" torigumori　鳥曇　とりぐもり
"birds and clouds" torikumo 鳥雲
"birds and wind", torikaze 鳥風

We also have other kigo with the haze (kumori, -gumori 曇り), meaning a cloudy day. KUMORI is usually used for an overcast sky.

flower haze, hanagumori 花曇　(はなぐもり)
(late spring)
..... "flower-nurishing sky", yookaten 養花天


"herring haze", nishingumori, 鰊曇 (にしんぐもり)
cloudy weather during the herring-fishing season
(late spring)
..... "herring sky" nishinzora 鰊空
At the side of the Nihonkai in Hokkaido, from March till May, when the fishing season for herring starts and the sky is mostly overcast. The weather is still unstable and many a fishing boat is lost in a sudden storm. In recent years, the catch has become smaller and smaller and less sons take up the family fishing business in the area. This is a rather local kigo.

Do not mix this with the "sardine clouds", iwashigumo, or mackerel clouds, named for the shape of the clouds.
...mackerel-clouds-iwashigumo


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way

Birds and Clouds .. Kumo ni Tori .. 雲に鳥

Matsuo Basho, when in Osaka in 1694 (Genroku 7), wrote:

此（この）秋は何で年よる雲に鳥
kono aki wa nande toshiyoru kumo ni tori


This autumn,--
Old age I feel
In the clouds, the birds.
?In the birds, the clouds.

Blyth's translation and comment:
"It is evening. Basho is on a journey, his last; half a month later he will be dead. ... The onomatopoeia of this verse is striking; Basho sounds as if sobbing or choking."



This autumn--
why am I growing old?
bird disappearing among clouds.

Robert Hass' translation and comment:
"Written ten days or so before his death. The middle phrase is "nande toshiyoru," also possibly, "why am I so old?" or "why do we grow old?" Robert Aitken translates it in "A Zen Wave," "Somehow I have grown old." The last phrase is "kumo ni tori," literally, "to the clouds, a bird." Commentators have found it inexpressibly poignant. I can't find, and haven't seen, an adequate rendering."


Makoto Ueda's translation and note:

headnote: "A wanderer's thought"

this autumn
why am I aging so?
to the clouds, a bird
"NOTE:
Written on the same day and at the same place as the previous hokku."

[The previous hokku in Ueda's "Basho and His Interpreters" is:

kono michi ya yuku hito nashi ni aki no kure

headnote: "Expressing how I feel"

on this road
where nobody else travels
autumn nightfall

"The opening verse of a half-kasen composed at an Osaka restaurant on November 13, 1694"]


Back to the first Basho haiku:

this autumn
why am I aging so?
to the clouds, a bird

In the exerpts from the seven commentators from whom Ueda quotes, none mentions a mixing of kigo, or that "kumo ni tori" is a traditional spring kigo.

Quoting one of the exerpts:
"The concluding phrase presents a bird disappearing into the clouds, a solitary bird that looks like a fading speck. In relation to the rest of the poem, the phrase creates a kind of shock effect. The effect is more forceful than that of juxtaposition, so forceful, indeed, that it seems to make sparks fly. The poet succeeds in conveying a deep allegorical message about human life."
- Yamamoto


I wonder if Issa (see the HAIKU below) might have changed the phrase in his haiku from "kumo ni tori" to "ten ni hibari" because of awareness of Basho's use of the phrase.

Larry Bole discussing these two haiku
Translating Haiku Forum


The migrating birds of autumn seem to be sucked up and disappearing in the clouds.
The poet's own life seems also to come to an end.


quote
This autumn
Why am I aging so?
Flying towards the clouds, a bird.

The poem indicates Basho's awareness of approaching death. Shortly afterward he took to his bed with a stomach ailment, from which he was not to recover. Numerous disciples hurried to Osaka and gathered at his bedside. He seems to have remained calm in his last days. He scribbled a deathbed note to his elder brother, which in part read:
"I am sorry to have to leave you now. I hope you will live a happy life under Mataemon's care and reach a ripe old age.
There is nothing more I have to say."
The only thing that disturbed his mind was poetry. According to a disciple's record, Basho fully knew that it was time for prayers, not for verse writing, and yet he thought of the latter day and night. Poetry was now an obsession - "a sinful attachment," as he himself called it.
Makoto Ueda
source : terebess.hu


this autumn
Why do I feel so old?
A bird in the clouds
Tr. Peipei Qiu


Voice of animals, naku hibari 啼く雲雀 the skylark
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .

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Cet automne-ci -
pourquoi donc dois-je vieillir ? -
oiseau dans les nuages

source : ElieDeLeuze . www.forumjapon.co


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HAIKU

雲に鳥人間海にあそぶ日ぞ
kumo ni tori ningen umi ni asobu hi zo

Kobayashi Issa

birds in the clouds
people in the sea...
a holiday

Jean Cholley sees this as a scene of people gathering shellfish at low tide. At the end of Third Month seabirds have migrated north ("in the clouds"), leaving good pickings for the humans; En village de miséreux: Choix de poèmes de Kobayashi Issa (Paris: Gallimard, 1996) 234, note 9.

Issa later (1795) revises this to begin with "larks in the sky" (ten ni hibari). Larks are not migratory birds.

Translation by David Lanoue


天に雲雀人間海にあそぶ日ぞ
ten ni hibari ningen umi ni asobu hi zo

larks in the sky
people in the sea...
a holiday

Sakuo Nakamura notices the "interesting contrast" between the vertical (birds in the clouds) and the horizontal (the sea). And the poem ends, he adds, with the psychological: it's a holiday, no work!
Tr. David Lanoue
Issa Haiku about Larks

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鳥曇マニキュア落としさくらいろ
（とりぐもり　まにきゅあおとし　さくらいろ）

© ningyo-hime, exblog.jp 　

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Related words

***** Lark (hibari) various seasons
spring

Sometimes they fly so high, we almost loose sight of these first harbingers of spring. Then they plunge straight down, back to earth. They sit on the electricity lines of our home and twitter happily for a long time.

first lark, hatsu hibari 初雲雀（はつひばり)
hime hinadori ひめひな鳥（ひめひなどり）, koku tenshi, koo tenshi 告天子（こくてんし）, kyoo tenshi 叫天子（きょうてんし）
nest of a lark, hibari no su 雲雀の巣

lark high up, age hibari 揚雲雀（あげひばり）
lark coming down, ochi hibari 落雲雀（おちひばり）

lark in the morning, asa hibari 朝雲雀（あさひばり）
lark in the evening, yuu hibari 夕雲雀（ゆうひばり）
larks dancing, mai hibari 舞雲雀（まいひばり）
all the larks, moro hibari 諸雲雀（もろひばり）
"friend larks", tomo hibari 友雲雀（ともひばり）

field with larks, hibari no 雲雀野（ひばりの）
basket for larks, hibari kago 雲雀籠（ひばりかご）




... ... ...

lark in the fields, ta hibari 田雲雀 たひばり
kigo for late autumn

"dog lark" inu hibari 犬雲雀（いぬひばり）
"lark on the path" aze hibari 畦雲雀（あぜひばり）, mizo hibari 溝雲雀（みぞひばり）
lark at the lake, kawa hibari 川雲雀（かわひばり）
lark on the earth, tsuchi hibari 土雲雀（つちひばり）

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winter

lark in winter, fuyu hibari 冬雲雀 (ふゆひばり)


more LARK kigo are here
BIRD SAIJIKI


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永き日も囀り足らぬひばり哉
nagaki hi mo saezuri taranu hibari kana

all day long
singing and not enough yet -
this lark
Tr. Gabi Greve

. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .

Long Day (nagaki hi)


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skylark

soaring skylark -
what do you think
of the limitless sky?
Tr. Donegan

. Chiyo-Ni 千代尼 .


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Meadowlark

Meadowlarks are birds belonging to the genus Sturnella in the New World family Icteridae.
This genus includes seven species of largely insectivorous grassland birds. In all species the male at least has a black or brown back and extensively red or yellow underparts.


Long-tailed MeadowlarkSturnella loyca

©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !



broken glass
the meadowlark's voice cracks
this empty sky


The meadowlark is the representative bird for the state of Wyoming.

- Shared by Deborah Barbour Lundy -
Joys of Japan, September 2012


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***** Clouds (kumo) . Sea of Clouds (unkai)

***** Migrating Birds (wataridori) (Japan)

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BIRD SAIJIKI


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Begonia (begonia)

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Begonia (begonia)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: All Summer
***** Category: Plant

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Explanation

begonia ベゴニア Begonia (generally)
kidachi begonia 木立ベゴニア（きだちべごにあ、こだちべごにあ)
Family Begoniaceae
kigo for all summer



. . . CLICK here for BEGONIA Photos !

. . . CLICK here for kidachi begonia Photos !


quote
Begonia is a genus in the flowering plant family Begoniaceae. The only other member of the family Begoniaceae is Hillebrandia, a genus with a single species in the Hawaiian Islands. The genus Symbegonia is now included in Begonia. "Begonia" is the common name as well as the generic name for all members of the genus.
The genus name coined by Charles Plumier French patron of botany honours Michel Bégon, a former governor of the French colony of Haiti.
With over 1,500 species, Begonia is one of the ten largest angiosperm genera.
The American Begonia Society classifies begonias into several major groups: cane-like, shrub-like, tuberous, rhizomatous, semperflorens, rex, trailing-scandent, or thick-stemmed. For the most part these groups do not correspond to any formal taxonomic groupings or phylogeny and many species and hybrids have characteristics of more than one group, or fit well into none of them.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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kigo for early autumn

Begonia evansiana, Two-colored begonia,
autumn begonia
shūkaidō, shuukaidoo 秋海棠　しゅうかいどう、
..... shūdō, shuudoo　しゅうどう
hardy begonia, Begonia evansiana, Begonia grandis

Some saijiki place this flower to "All Autumn".

Click HERE to see more photos.


Begonia grandis is a herbaceous plant with alternate, simple leaves, on arching stems. The flowers are pink or white, borne in fall.

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Shukaido (Begonia grandis)
© By LINDA INOKI, The Japan Times



Begonia flower:
Tell us what, what in the world,
Are those leaves thinking?

Haiku written on a painting of a dragonfly and begonia
by Ando Hiroshige (1797-1858)

Begonias are a superb family of plants numbering around 1,000 species (many from tropical South America), and with around 10,000 hybrids. There are trailing plants with fiery red flowers from Bolivia; plants with brocade-like leaves from the Himalayan foothills; and even a stately "hollyhock" begonia with fragrant pink flowers from Mexico.

The species above that I painted (Begonia Evansiana) is native to China and arrived in Japan around 1650. Its small, shell-pink flowers hang down from slender red stems, and this accounts for its Japanese name, shukaido, which literally means "autumn crab-apple flower."

Tuberous begonias such as this are popular with gardeners in temperate parts of the world since they can overwinter. Shorter days make the plants dormant, and they survive as tubers to flourish again the following year. Some tuberous varieties produce large and spectacular flowers. The seed is as fine as dust and my father, who is crazy about begonias, crosses one plant with another, collects the seed, and then grows hundreds of new plants to see how the offspring will turn out.

Britain's National Begonia Society has an informative Web site at
http://www.national-begonia-society.co.uk/

© japantimes.co.jp Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006

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Worldwide use

Australia

quote
The City of Ballarat has been growing begonias since 1898 and now have 221 different varieties of tuberous begonias Begonia Tuberhybrida.
These begonias resulted from the hybridisation of just three South American species - B.pearcei, B.boliviensis and B.cinnabarina. Begonia petals are edible; they have a fruity acidic flavour and can be used in salads.

Tuberous begonias don't like frost, nor humidity and are best grown in temperatures between 15 and 27. Suitable climates include Tasmania, south-eastern Australia, along the New South Wales coast and in higher altitudes of New South Wales.

Each plant produces three flowers, including a male flower, and on either side female flowers. The latter are removed so the male flower gives a much finer display. Tuberous begonias are dormant for about eight weeks in winter but in September new shoots will develop and the plant continues its growth cycle.
The begonia festival in Ballarat is on until the 14th of March.
source : John Patrick, 2005


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Things found on the way

Women Zen Masters

A haiku inscribed on a painting called DRAGONFLY AND BEGONIA (Shukaido ni Tombo) by Hiroshige (1797-1858) says:

"Begonia flower --
tell us what, what in the world are those leaves thinking?"

Look at more quotes to meditate.
http://www.earlywomenmasters.net/masters/dogen/index.html


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HAIKU

From the Photo Haiku Gallery

Summer daylight-
in the begonia's shadow
another begonia

Vasile Moldovan

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September the first-
faint red of begonia buds
in elephant-ear leaves

Eiko Yachimoto
http://www.poetrylives.com/SimplyHaiku/SHv1n4/Yachimoto_haiku.html

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Related words

***** AUTUMN . . . PLANTS -
SAIJIKI



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Baseball related kigo

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Baseball Playoff

***** Location: USA
***** Season: Autumn (October)
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

Even if most of us don't watch baseball through the entire 162 game season, many of us are glued to our TVs and radios during October.
The Boston Red Sox are known for never winning a World Series since they traded away Babe Ruth to the Yankees. The Red Sox have been considered cursed since they traded away the most famous baseball player ever:
http://bambinoscurse.com/whatis/

Fenway is the name of the stadium where the Red Sox play. it is also known for the 'Green Monster' a huge wall in the outfield:
http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/bos/ballpark/bos_ballpark_history.jsp

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http://riot.ieor.berkeley.edu/~baseball/

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Baseball Haiku
Cor van den Heuvel (Editor)
Nanae Tamura (Editor)

One of the most unusual baseball books of the 2007 season, this remarkable new collection, which includes poems from both America and Japan, captures perfectly the thrill of baseball—a double play, a game of catch, or the hushed pause as a pitcher looks in before hurling his pitch. Like haiku, the game is concerned with the nature of the seasons: joyous in the spring, thrilling in summer's heat, ripening with the descent of fall, and remembered fondly in winter.

Featuring the work of Jack Kerouac, the king of the Beat writers, who penned the first American baseball haiku, and Alan Pizzarelli, a major American haiku poet, the collection also includes Masaoka Shiki, one of the four great pillars of Japanese haiku, who fell in love with baseball when he was a student in Tokyo.




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Worldwide use

JAPAN

Quote:
Shigenobu Shima, 28, of the Hiroshima Carp, this season's leading hitter in the pro baseball Central League, may be one of those who were treated to a rainbow after putting up with rainy skies.
………………………And a little further down this article:

But as rain is inevitable, it is of little use to blame this feeling on the lack of the sun's rays shining behind you, as was the case with the Shimas. A haiku poem by Kyoshi Takahama says:

"Looking up at a rainbow,
The image of you, my dearly beloved, is evoked all at once
As if you were there"

Read the full article here: (Yumiuri Shinbun October 19, 2004)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Haiku-Essays/message/86
Gabi Greve

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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

A reading at the National Arts Club in Manhattan.

A Celebration of Haiku and Baseball
Compiled by Larry Bole, May 2007


ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo

another October
at Fenway--
curses!

the pitcher
watches his perfect game
fly over the green monster

October winds-
the last home run
thrown back

* In some stadiums, when the opposing team hits a home run or a foul ball into the stands, the fans will throw them back to the field...which happened at Fenway and Yankee stadium during the playoffs.

winds of change-
Yankee fans
wait till next year

* Usually in the post season, it is the Red Sox fan who 'waits till next year' But this year, the Red Sox came back to win a best of seven series.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/21/sports/baseball/21yankees.html

Kate 2004


http://riot.ieor.berkeley.edu/~baseball/amer_league_logo.jpg

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Related words

. Baseball mascots with Daruma san 　


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***** Baseball Winter Meetings
Kigo for WINTER in North America

New York snowstorm --
Mets' and Yankees' brass
dealing in Dallas

snowball fight
baseball winter meetings
winner take all

Here is a summer baseball haiku:

groundball in the hole ---
shortstop and third baseman
dive: dolphins

Kami

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http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/events/wintermeetings.jsp

WHAT ARE THE BASEBALL WINTER MEETINGS?
This event is an opportunity for baseball's backbone to reflect on last year's season and plan for the future as we prepare to set records in 2005. Looking at what has and has not worked in the past provides a seasoned look at new ideas and directions for the future. It is time to gather, collaborate and play as we conduct the business of baseball while also celebrating our great pastime.

Minor League Baseball
President Mike MooreThere are several key facets of the Winter Meetings of which you need to be aware. The Bob Freitas Business Seminar, the Baseball Trade Show featuring more than 275 exhibitors and the 12th annual Professional Baseball Employment Opportunities Job Fair are annual staples of the event. The schedule also includes meetings held by leagues, classifications and executive committees.
The knowledge to be gained is immense, but for the times you start to feel as if you've had enough baseball business talk, there will be exciting special events such as Opening Night at the Trade Show, Luncheon, Annual Banquet & Annual Gala. Information on these events is forthcoming.

WHO ATTENDS THE BASEBALL WINTER MEETINGS?
The annual Winter Meetings boasts the largest assembly of executives from all classifications or professional baseball in the world. More than 3,000 people are expected to attend including representatives of 160 Minor League Baseball and 30 Major League Baseball organizations.
We are also pleased to welcome representatives from various countries.

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Baseball opening day, Baseball's opening day
kigo for spring

Opening Day is warmly regarded in North American tradition as the beginning of a new Major League Baseball season.
　Baseball opening day.. Reference


opening day -
Mighty Casey gets
one more chance

Bethel Prescott
Kigo Hotline, March 2008


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Jackie Robinson Day
April 15, 1947



quote
The ballplayer and his legacy will be remembered with tributes and testimonials. All big-league players will wear Robinson's number 42 on their backs, the only number in sports retired in perpetuity.



It is important to remember that Robinson broke major league baseball's color line on April 15, 1947. But if we restrict Robinson's influence to baseball, we do both him and what he accomplished a tremendous disservice. He was arguably the most important civil rights figure, and the integration of baseball the most important civil rights story, in the years immediately after World War II.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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Here is an opening day haiku by Randy Brooks from the book, "Baseball Haiku," edited with translations by Cor van den Heuvel & Nanae Tamura:

opening day...
green of the field
through the ticket gates


and here is one I wrote recently while riding the subway on the New York Yankees' opening day (although I was going somewhere else, alas!):

Opening Day:
the home team's logo
sprouting up everywhere!

Larry Bole
Kigo Hotline, March 2008

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kigo for late summer

naitaa ナイター "nighter"
night game



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- Topics -

Cracker Jack



a U.S. brand of snack consisting of strong molasses-flavored candy-coated popcorn and peanuts, well known for being packaged with a prize of nominal value inside. Some food historians consider it the first junk food.
Cracker Jack is also famous for its connection to baseball lore.
. . . . . Prizes were included in every box of Cracker Jack beginning in 1912.
One of the first prizes was in 1914 when they produced the first of two Cracker Jack baseball card issues, which featured players from both major leagues as well as players from the short lived Federal League. The prizes attained pop-culture status with the term "came in a Cracker Jack box," referring to an object of limited value. In recent years, the toy and trinket prizes have been replaced with paper prizes displaying riddles and jokes.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !






peanuts
and Cracker Jacks
cloud dragons

- Shared by Jimmy ThePeach -
Joys of Japan, October 2012



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. North American Saijiki .


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Botamochi Cakes

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Botamochi Cakes

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Spring
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

"Peony Cakes", Botamochi
ぼた餅 牡丹餅 (ぼたもち）
round rice cakes covered with sweet anko



During the week of spring equinox (vernal equinox) , families visit cemetaries to clean and maintain graves. They also pray for their loved ones, burn incense and offer them flowers and food. The spirits are known to prefer round food, so botamochi (round glutinous rice balls covered in bean paste) are eaten on this day. The treat gets its name from botan, Chinese peonies which bloom in the spring time.

The Adzuki-beans used for the sweet red paste (anko) are symbollically used to drive out the bad spirits.

The same type of sweet is eaten at the autumn equinox. It is then called "O-Hagi", since it looks like the bushclover (hagi　萩).

Spring Equinox and Haiku


Read more botamochi haiku by Issa HERE !

Click HERE for more photos !


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Jooeiji 常栄寺 temple Joei-Ji in Kamakura
(popularly called Botamochi-dera 牡丹餅寺)

The Temple was erected in 1606 based on the story dating back to the 13th century. There was an observatory deck on this site which was built for Yoritomo Minamoto (1147-1199), the founder of Kamakura Shogunate. In case bird-releasing games were held at the beach of Kamakura, Yoritomo came over here and watched the show. Serving him and his guests was a nun called Nichiei (1187-1274).

In 1271, the year unforgettable for the Nichiren Sect Buddhists, Priest Nichiren (1222-1282), the founder of the Nichiren sect, was sentenced to death on charges of his fierce criticism against the government policy. He had also reprimanded all other religious sects saying they were fallacious, false and even dangerous to the welfare of the country. True Buddhism is, he argued, in the Lotus Sutra and unless the government follow his suggestion, the country would continue to face natural disasters and social unrest.

On September 12 of the year, Priest Nichiren was on the way to the execution site at Tatsunokuchi located at the west-end of Kamakura, passing near this observation deck. The devout gathered here anxious to see him, expecting it would certainly be the last chance, and were in a sorrow of parting. Suddenly appeared before him was Nun Nichiei, an ardent devotee of Priest Nichiren, and presented Botamochi, or rice-cake dumplings covered with sesame paste. It was obvious to everybody that he would be executed within hours. However, she believed that the great Priest would survive, come hell or high water, with his messianic charisma.

Yes, a miracle occurred at the last moment. He was brought down to the site for beheading that night, and the executioner hold up the sword to decapitate, when the area was hit by a stroke of lightning. Back then, lightning was thought one of the most feared super-natural powers or a divine act. The executioner was terrified and had to suspend the execution. Priest Nichiren's life was thus saved. His followers believed that the Botamochi Nun Nichiei gave to Priest Nichiren must have saved his life.

In reality, Nichiei entered nunhood after her husband died. Her husband was also a pious devotee of Priest Nichiren. Meanwhile, she had a younger brother Nissho (1221-1323) by name (same name as the founding priest of the Temple in alphabet, but a different priest). He was one of the Six Great Disciples of Priest Nichiren and founded Jissoji, another Nichiren sect temple.

On September 12 every year, the Temple holds a memorial service for Priest Nichiren.
The devout cook Botamochi and distribute to visitors after offering it to the altar in honor of Priest Nichiren. At the same time, the Temple dedicates this Botamochi to the statue of Priest Nichiren at Ryukoji, where another memorial service takes place on this particular day.

Nun Nichiei and her husband, who was a retainer of Sixth Shogun Munetaka (1242-1274), were buried here and their Gorinto (five-tier stupa) tombs are placed beside the main hall.
©　www.asahi-net.or.jp


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


Botamochi Jizo ぼた餅地蔵


An old story from Japan
From Hiratsuka town on the Old Tokaido, at the temple Hozen-In 宝善院. The village was poor in former times and had not much rice. Many children died of malnurishment. When the cold wind blew from the west in Hiratsuka, many children died. And their mothers could only cry for days on end, when they had to abort their children in the river.
One day the poor mothers collected money to build a statue of Jizo and prayed to him for help. They prayed to be able to give at least one plentiful meal of a mochi to their children before they would die anyway ! Many graves of babies are here and all others, who could not even affort a grave, are also prayed for here.
. . . CLICK here for Temple 宝善院 Photos !




At the temple Choen-Ji in Ichigaya, Tokyo.

It is said to help mothers after childbirth to get well soon. Jizo appeared as a young priest and gave some botamochi to a poor mother to help her provide milk for her baby.
杉並区和田1-44-24　長延寺


More about
... ... ... Jizo Bosatsu　地蔵菩薩

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a proverb


source :　shikaminato.blogspot.jp


tana kara botamochi 棚から牡丹餅
"botamochi falls from a shelf"
shortened to
tanabota たなぼた

something good can happen unexpectedly, without your own effort.



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HAIKU


. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .

辻風やぼた餅程な秋の蝶
tsujikaze ya botamochi hodo na aki no chô

in the whirlwind
like rice cakes...
autumn butterflies
Tr. David Lanoue


ぼた餅をつかんでかすむ烏哉
botamochi o tsukande kasumu karasu kana

snatching a jellied rice cake
in the mist...
crow
Tr. David Lanoue



ぼた餅や辻の仏も春の風
Botamochi ya tsuji no hotoke mo haru no kaze

botamochi cakes -
the Buddha at the crossroads
also in spring wind
Tr. Gabi Greve

Nichiren was famous for his preaching at the crossroads of Kamakura (tsuji no seppoo 辻の説法).
Nichiren 日蓮上人 Saint Nichiren

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botamochi ya Jizo no hiza mo haru no kaze

ricecakes -
also in Jizo’s lap
the spring wind
Tr. Ad Blankestijn

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ぼた餅や藪の仏も春の風
bota-mochi ya yabu no hotoke mo haru no kaze

A stone image
Before a bamboo thicket
Savors a huge rice cake
In the spring wind.
Tr. David Lanoue


rice cake with bean paste
for the Buddha of the thicket ...
spring breeze
Tr. Nobuyuki Yuasa


quote
in spring breeze
a stone buddha in a grove
eats sweet rice balls

Tr. and Comment by Chris Drake :

This hokku comes at the end of a haibun passage in Issa's My New Year (My Spring) and depends on the haibun for much of its meaning. The haibun is the third consecutive passage about unfortunate stepchildren, and all three passages allude to the fact that Issa himself lost his mother at age two and later suffered so much as a stepchild after his father remarried that his father sent him away to Edo when he was fifteen. The haibun passage makes it clear that the "buddha" in or by the grove or thicket in the hokku is a stone statue of the bodhisattva Jizo, famous for his mercy and for the help he gives to children, pregnant women, travelers, and those with eye ailments. Bodhisattvas and other revered figures in Buddhism were customarily referred to as buddhas, as were newly dead souls, and the haibun makes it clear that this isn't a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha or any other main buddhas in the narrow sense but, rather, a statue of the very popular bodhisattva Jizo.

In the haibun, Issa relates a legend from Tatsuta, near Nara. A cruel stepmother deprives her stepson of all food for ten days and then torments him further by giving him a bowl of rice and telling him he can also have a bowl of rice if he can get the stone statue of Jizo nearby to eat the rice in the bowl. After the boy places the bowl offering before Jizo he clings to the stone sleeves of the statue and prays as hard as he can to the bodhisattva. Then a miracle happens, and Jizo gobbles down the rice like a hungry child. When the boy's stepmother hears what happened, she changes her ways and from then on treats her stepson just as she treats her own son. The statue of Jizo, Issa says, still stands, and countless people give him offerings. The hokku is about one of these offerings, which Issa imagines.

Sweet rice balls, literally "peony (botan) rice balls," are different from the large round "mirror rice cakes" made and eaten at New Year's and also presented to temples on the death day of Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha. The rice balls are made partly of the sticky rice used in the larger rice cakes and partly of ordinary rice. After these two kinds of rice are cooked and made into balls the size of small dumplings, the balls are covered with a sugar-sweetened paste or jam made mainly of partially mashed red beans. Sometimes the paste is fairly smooth, and sometimes it's a bit lumpy with slightly-mashed red beans. The rice balls are a treat and a worthy offering to Jizo, who is believed to love the sweets of the children he protects.

In Issa's hokku, believers are implied to be happy because they are able to present delicious things to Jizo with the expectation that he will eat them, and Jizo also seems very satisfied and happy to receive the sweet rice balls. Together Jizo and believers enjoy the moment as a mild spring breeze blows. Of course the eating the bodhisattva statue does is invisible, but it seems to be implied by the invisible yet pleasant breeze. Issa is presumably happy about this situation, and his hokku may be his virtual-world plate of sweet rice balls that he is presenting to the Jizo statue near Nara, far from his hometown in the highlands of Shinano. In the original legend, which Issa uses as a parallel narrative that resonates with his own situation as a stepson, the boy presents a bowl of rice to Jizo, so it's natural that the mature man Issa would present a hokku about sweet rice balls, which are even more delicious.

Of course Issa must have been aware that if the legend was true, it meant that the boy cheated by eating the rice himself and then lied to his stepmother and thus achieved happiness through (unavoidable) cunning and deceit, though Issa must also be aware that the legend implies that the boy himself became (or became one with) Jizo for a short time and ate the rice as Jizo, so his deceit resembles literary creation. Perhaps Issa is suggesting that the invisible eating being done by the stone bodhisattva resembles the sleight of hand that allows a hokku to taste just as delicious as a physical rice ball and to offer pleasure that lasts even longer than the sense of taste allows. In any case, Issa's hokku seems to be meant to honor and spiritually feed Jizo and may imply that, inspired by the legend, it was written by Jizo through Issa.

Just before the above haibun passage and hokku is placed the following famous hokku, which Issa claimed to have written when he was six and suffering without a mother:

orphan sparrows,
come over here
and play with me

With the placement of this hokku next to the haibun and hokku about Jizo, Issa may be linking the creation of his first hokku with the invisible eating done by the stone bodhisattva and the boy.

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大切のぼたもちふむなりきりぎりす
taisetsu no botamochi fumu nari kirigirisu

hey cricket,
don't walk on those
important rice dumplings!
Tr. Chris Drake

This hokku is probably from 1810, when Issa was mostly in the area just east of Edo.

. Read the comment by Chris Drake .


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命婦よりぼた餅たばす彼岸哉
myoobu yori botamochi tabasu higan kana

from a court lady
I get some Botamochi -
spring equinox
Tr. Gabi Greve

quote
In Japan, myōbu (命婦) is a title which was given to ladies of the fifth rank in the imperial court or to midrank noblewomen. In The Pillow Book, Lady Myōbu was also the name of a pet cat belonging to Empress Consort Sadako, whom the author Sei Shōnagon served.

This title is commonly associated with the kitsune fox messengers of the rice deity Inari, for reasons that are obscure. Japanese folklore contains several stories that suggest explanations for the connection, mainly involving the Fushimi Inari Shrine on Mount Inari near Kyoto. On this mountain are a vast number of shrines, mainly to Inari, but also to other deities, including a fox deity named Myōbu. The Fushimi shrine itself contains smaller shrines, including the Byakko-sha ("white fox shrine") and the Myōbu-sha ("court lady shrine").
Legends connecting kitsune to the title myōbu . . .
Kitsune who did not follow Inari are often referred to as Nogitsune.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


. Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 in Edo .


. haru higan 春彼岸 spring equinox .


. Fushimi Inari Taisha 伏見稲荷大社 Fushimi Shrine .


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Related words

***** "Ricecakes in difficult times"
gonan no mochi 御難の餅 (ごなんのもち)
kigo for mid-autumn
september 12

Ceremony at the "Dragon Mouth" Tatsu no kuchi Hoonan E
龍口法難会（たつのくちほうなんえ）
Botamochi Ceremony, botamochi eshiki 牡丹餅会式（ぼたもちえしき）

Read the above story about Nun Nichi-Ei and Nichiren for the background of this ceremony.



. Saint Nichiren 日蓮
(February 16, 1222 – October 13, 1282)
and kigo related to him


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BACK TO

Saijiki of Japanese Ceremonies and Festivals

Sweets from Japan (wagashi)

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Awaodori Dance

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Awaodori Dance 阿波踊り

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Early August
***** Category: Observance

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Explanation

This is a special dance that originated in Tokushima (Shikoku) more than 400 years ago.
It is performed during the days of the Bon Festival (o-bon) in many parts of Japan nowadays.




There are three different theories about the origins of the Awa Dance.
One is that it is a version of the Bon Odori, a dance performed in summer throughout Japan.

Another is that it began from a celebration of the completion of Tokushima Castle when Hachisuka Iemasa provided sake for the townspeople who got drunk and began to dance with abandon. The Awa Dance features organized teams of dancers, which is suggested to have been influenced by "Furyu"-a performing art from the Heian period that later became Noh.

The third theory relies on Miyoshi district records from the year 1663 of a Furyu dance at the Shozui Castle, considering this performance to be the origin of the Awa Dance. In the 1920s the dance festival became organized to attract tourism and was named "Awa Odori." Every August 12th to 15th the streets of Tokushima teem with high-spirited folks enjoying a festival atmosphere.



The Awa Dance is held in the city of Tokushima using the main downtown streets as a stage. It starts in the evening (6:00 p.m.) and the dancing lasts until 10:30 p.m. The main performances are held on outdoor dance stages or strips built in the downtown parks and streets. Eight are on stages, four in plazas, two along roads, and six at streetcorner spaces.

The Awa Dance is held not only in the city of Tokushima but also in Naruto, Ikeda, Kamojima, Sadamitsu, and other locales in the prefecture. All of Tokushima prefecture catches the summer fever when it comes to Awa Odori.
http://www.tokushima-kankou.or.jp/foreign/english/awaodori/

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Other kigo with respect to the Bon dancing:

Bon dancing, bon odori 盆踊
dancing , odori 踊
..... nagashi ながし..... zomekiぞめき
..... Bon yatsushi　盆やつし

Dance for the souls, shooryoo odori 精霊踊
Memorial Dance, kuyoo odori 供養踊
Lantern Dance, tooroo odori 燈篭踊
Dance for a good year, hoonen odori 豊年踊



hat for dancing, odori-gasa 踊笠
There are regional differences in this hat.

light kimono for dancing, odori-yukata　踊浴衣
drum for the dance, odori daiko 踊大鼓
song for the dance, odori-uta 踊唄
..... ondotori 音頭取（おんどとり）

dancer, odoriko 踊子（おどりこ）
place for the dance, odoriba 踊場
dancing in a circle, odori no wa 踊の輪



kokiriko odori 小切子踊（こきりこおどり）Kokiriko dance
In Gokayama, Fukuyama prefekture and a few parts of Niigata in Kashiwazaki.
富山県五箇山


kokiriko is a special instrument made from bamboo, it is about 20 to 30 cm long. One stick is held in each hand and hit to produce a suond.

. . . CLICK here for Dance Photos !

Other souces say the kokiriko is a kind of
. sasara clapper ささら .



okesa odori おけさ踊（おけさおどり）Bon dance in Echigo
Also in Sado Island.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !

Sado Okesa 佐渡おけさ　- LOOK and LISTEN:
source : www.youtube.com



Kiso odori 木曾踊（きそおどり）Bon dance in the Kiso region
長野県木曽福島
Kisa Odori - LOOK and LISTEN:
source : www.youtube.com


. sansa odori さんさ踊（さんさおどり）Bon dance in Morioka . 　
August 1 - 4　
Sansa Odori - LOOK and LISTEN:
source : www.youtube.com


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Song of the Dancers in Awa

odoru ahoo ni miru ahoo onaji ahoo nara odoranya son son
odoru aho ni miru aho onaji aho nara odoranya son son
tanzende Narren ........... dancing fools
zuschauende Narren .... watching fools
wenn schon ein Narr .... if I have to be a fool
dann lieber tanzen . ....... I'd rather dance


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Read a charming article about the Shiraishi Odori, a Bon dance held in the memory of Shiraishi island ancestors.

By Amy Chavez, August 2005
http://blog.livedoor.jp/worldkigo/archives/30497631.html

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Koenji Awa-Odori Dance Festival



The Dancers forming dance units called "Ren", dance around the street or trough the spectators' seats. Ren, a dance unit, usually consists of a carrier of lanterns with the group's name on at the head of line, then female dances (kid dancers), male dancers and at the back a musical accompaniment called "Narimono" who play traditional instruments including shamisens, flutes, bells and drums.

The female dance features dancing on tiptoe with a wattle hat low over their eyes, waving the lithe hands above the head, and the male dance, its dynamic movements will catch your eyes. The lilt dance and music is very exhilarating to experience!
http://events.paperlantern.net/view_entry.php?id=329&date=20050826

. Kooenji 高円寺 Koen-Ji Awaodori Tokyo .


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


Awaodori Chicken 阿波尾鶏 from Tokushima
A special breed from 1989, with respect to the Awa Odori 阿波踊り　dance of Tokushima and is known for its beautiful tail. Breeding time is only 80 days, so it is rather cheap.
ODORI here does not mean dance, but LONG TAIL !

***** WASHOKU : Awaodori 阿波尾鶏 from Tokushima

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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Awa dance performed in cold river

Tens of people performed the traditional Awa dance in a cold river in Tokushima City, western Japan, on Sunday.

The summer dance was performed in the Shinmachi River running through the central part of the city.
About 30 people wearing traditional yukata and happi entered the water all at once, and moved their hands in a unique Awa dance style, while calling out "Yattosa".
An 86-year-old man received a round of applause as he wrote the character for dragon, which is this year's sign, while treading water.
The water temperature was 11 degrees Celsius as of 9 AM, and the dancers were shivering as they came out of the river. They said the cold water straightened them out and made them feel refreshed.
source : www3.nhk.or.jp

水中阿波踊り




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HAIKU


. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .

踊から直に草刈さはぎ哉
odori kara sugu ni kusa karu sawagi kana

still in dancing duds
people make quite a racket
cutting wild grass
Tr. Chris Drake


This early autumn hokku was written in the 7th month (August) in 1822. It is the time when people are preparing for the big Bon (or, more honorifically, O-Bon) Festival of Returning Souls, a festival that mixes popular Buddhism with shamanic ancestor worship. The main part of the Bon Festival, one of the biggest festivals of the year, lasts for three days (7/14-16) at the time of the full moon and climaxes with a great ring dance, often with several rings of dancers, only half of whom are visible, since half of the dancers are the invisible souls of ancestors. The week before this great dance with invisible souls -- a kind of group possession -- is one of hectic preparation: houses and home altars to ancestors are thoroughly cleaned and prepared for the return of the souls of recent ancestors, while outside much high, vigorously growing wild grass has to be cut to clear the paths to graveyards and the graveyards themselves, many of which are located on hills or on the slopes of mountains, places which souls are believed to use as doors between the other world and the visible world.

Since the souls of the dead are also believed to be gods and/or Buddhas, cleaning and clearing wild grass from grave sites and the paths to them had to be done very carefully, and the souls were greeted and later sent off by living escorts holding lanterns. In addition, since almost everyone would be resting from their normal activities and participating in a three-night dance, grass for animal feed and other daily needs had to be cut early and stored for use during the three days of the festival. Grass-cutting was hard work, but it was most demanding and exhausting during high summer and just before Bon, and it was a big job involving many villagers.

In Issa's hokku, two readings seem possible. One is that the preparations for the big dance haven't been finished, so many of the dancers have to go directly from the dance as it ends near dawn on the first night and finish cutting the wild grass that remains dressed as they are. Issa's diary shows there was a lot of rain around the time of the Bon Festival in 1822, so it may have been difficult to cut all the grass that needed to be cut in time for the festival, so perhaps it had to be cut during the festival. On the other hand, this hokku could be about dancers on the last night of the dance leaving at dawn to cut wild grass needed for their farm animals after three days of rest. Either way, dancers in colorful light cotton robes with wide sashes, many in costumes (dressed as samurai and other roles) or wearing masks or cross-dressing (as was common at Bon dances in Issa's time), leave the dance grounds and go directly to the fields and paths nearby that need to be cut.

Issa says they're making quite a "racket, uproar," an expression that can also mean revelry or merrymaking, so probably the grass-cutters continue to sing some of the lyrics of the songs that go with the Bon dances, and some probably make dance steps and arm movements as they swing their sickles in the dawn light. Perhaps they feel they are cutting the grass together with their invisible ancestors, and their continued songs and rhythmic movements may be partly intended to soothe and humor their ancestors' souls as they see them off. In one sense, group work such communal grass-cutting establishes the base rhythm and the emotional sense of solidarity and communion with the dead that provides the spiritual and physical energy for the big Bon dance, so it's appropriate that the grass-cutters are still dressed for the dance. If one wanted to approach this hokku via film, it would take a director like Fellini to do justice to it.

Chris Drake

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路地裏に始まってゐる阿波踊り
roji-ura ni hajimatte iru awa odori

in the back streets
it has already started -
Awaodori Dancing

.....

手も足もいつの間にやら阿波踊り
te mo ashi mo itso no ma ni yara awa odori

my hands, my feet
moving all by themselves -
the Awa Dance

.....

阿波踊り人それぞれでありにけり
awa odori hito sorezore da ari ni keri

Awaodori dance -
people are indivituals
each and every one

.....

三味と笛鉦と太鼓も阿波踊り
shamisen to kane to daikoo mo awa odori

shamisen, flutes,
gongs and the big drum -
Awaodori dance

(Tr. Gabi Greve)

遠藤和良 Endo Kazuyoshi
http://www.endo-kazuyoshi.com/haiku/
http://www.endo-kazuyoshi.com/haiku/04.htm

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Bon Odori
yukata-clad folks dance 'round
to taiko drums sound

© Tokyo on July 23, during a vist by ito (Juanito Escareal)

Read more about this trip here:
Bon Odori, by Juanito Escareal

This photo shows the typical bon yagura　盆櫓, the tower in the middle with the music where people dance around it.

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Related words

***** Bon Festival (o-bon) (05)


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source :　sunnysmile2005
kokeshi こけし　wooden dolls


Awaodori Dance Dolls
. Folk Toys from Tokushima .


Yosakoi Dance and Dolls よさこい人形
Kochi, Shikoku

. Folk Toys from Kochi and Tosa .

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- #awaodori -
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Autumn Equinox (aki higan)

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Autumn equinox (aki higan)

***** Location: Japan, worldwide
***** Season: Mid-Autumn
***** Category: Seasons

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Explanation

aki higan 秋彼岸 (あきひがん) autumm exuinox
fall equinox
nochi no higan 後の彼岸（のちのひがん）the "later" equinox
second equinox of the year, as opposed to the SPRING equinox

akihigan-e 秋彼岸会（あきひがんえ） ceremony for the autumn equinox


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O-higan お彼岸
is a special time, rooted in Buddhist tradition, when families remember and tend to their loved ones who have passed away. It is said that when a person dies, they cross the river of the netherworld, “Sanzu no kawa” from “Shigan 此岸” (this world) to “Higan 彼岸” (the other side of the river or the other world); families hold memorial services for their relatives living across the river. During this week, families visit cemetaries to clean and maintain graves. They also pray for their loved ones, burn incense and offer them flowers and food. The spirits are known to prefer round food, so botamochi (round glutinous rice balls covered in bean paste) are eaten on this day in spring. The treat gets its name from botan, Chinese peonies which bloom in the spring time.

As spring and fall approach, people often say “Atsusa samusa mo o-higan made,” This expression refers to the favorable seasonal changes that occur at the time of the biannual equinoxes. “Heat and cold last until Higan.” So, we can all look forward to this time of change, and soon welcome spring and its bounty.

The Buddhist rituals may have their predecessors in nature cults and sun cult rituals for the sun. In some areas in Tajima, Tango area, on the day of the equinox the farmers visit three different small shrines in the morning, midday and evening to make offerings to the sun the whole day.

Food offerings for the ancestors are often eaten by the wild animals and birds after the celebrations are over.
The crows and rave are especially keen in our area in Okayama.

. WASHOKU
ohagi おはぎ wrapped rice cakes 　
offerings for ohigan in autumn.

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Shuubun no hi 秋分の日 Day of the Autumn Equinox
September 23

Observance kigo for mid-autumn


This is an official holiday in Japan since 1948, when the constitution defined it as a day “to honor the ancestors and remember the dead . Before 1948, this day was called “Shuuki koorei-sai 秋季皇霊祭, Autumn Celebration of the Ancestors Souls”

In Buddhist communities it is celebrated as “Autumn Equinox Celebration“ shuki higan-e 秋季彼岸会, when it is customary to visit the family graves. This custom started already during the Heian period.

The seven days with this day in the center are called “autumn equinox” aki higan 秋彼岸, the equinoctial week.
Another word is “the other, later equinox, nochi no higan 後の彼岸“, with respect to the spring higan.

The vernal equinox in Spring is simply called “higan” 彼岸” in haiku manuals.


The proper visit of a family grave

1 First clean the stone.
2 Next remove the old incense sticks.
3 Offer some flowers.
4 Burn some fresh incense sticks.
5 Say your prayers with folded hands.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !


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The Night Sky changing within the seasons.

Most star patterns in the night sky are associated with specific seasons of the year. Evening skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere enjoy Orion the Hunter only during the cold wintry months, for example. Spring evenings provide a view of the Sickle of Leo, the Lion. In summer, the stars of Scorpius, the Scorpion dominate the southern sky. And the Great Square of Pegasus vies for the stargazer's attention on fall evenings.
Read the details HERE
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/seasonal_stars_030207.html



WKD
science behind the season


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Things found on the way

Autumnal Equinox Day
This national holiday was established in 1948 as a day on which to honor one's ancestors and remember the dead.
Due to the necessity of recent astronomical measurements, the date of the holiday is not declared official until February of the previous year.
Prior to 1948, the autumnal equinox was an imperial ancestor worship festival called Shuki korei sai (秋季皇霊祭 shuuki koorei sai).

. September 23, 2011 .


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HAIKU

In rural Japan, most of the farmhouses have their own small private graveyard with stone monuments for the ancestors. It is still quite common to visit these graves and make offerings four times a year, spring and autumn equinox, o-Bon in mid-august and during the New Year Holidays.

But this year in our area

autumn equinox -
so many gravestones
without flowers


autumn equinox -
one last flower
on her grave

Gabi Greve, September 2004



autumn equinox -
the dead old relatives
visit my dream

Read about the visit ...
Gabi Greve, September 2006


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秋彼岸　香の漂う　墓となり
aki higan koo no tadayou haka to nari



higan walk -
the smell of incense
from many graves

join my walk on autumn equinox 2006
Gabi Greve


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烏鳴く　彼岸の朝の　烏鳴く
karasu naku higan no asa no karasu naku


crows crowing
on the morning of higan
crows crowing


Gabi Greve, September 23, 2008


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autumn equinox -
all the crows celebrating
with grave offerings

Gabi Greve, September 23, 2009



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きらきらと秋の彼岸の椿かな　
kirakira to aki no higan no tsubaki kana

shining bright
the camellias
at the autumn equinox

Kidoo 木導


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- Shared by Christine L. Villa, USA -
Joys of Japan, 2012



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Related words

***** Spring equinox (haru higan) vernal equinox


***** Spider Lilies (higanbana)


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. . . . AUTUMN
the complete SAIJIKI


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