Snake (hebi)

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Snakes, Serpent (hebi)

***** Location: Japan, worldwide
***** Season: Various, see below
***** Category: Animal

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Explanation

Snakes are to be found all over the world. There are many kigo related to the snakes and their seasonal customs. Let us look at some.

Basic kigo for SUMMER:

snake, serpent, hebi 蛇
"rope with a mouth" kuchinawa くちなわ
"Gread Green General", aodaishoo 青大将

striped snake, shimahebi シマヘビ、縞蛇
..... Elaphe quadrivirgata

. mountain snake, yamakagashi ヤマカガシ, 山棟蛇.
..... Rhabdophis tigrinus. Tiger keelback

"Crow Snake", karasuhebi 烏蛇
hibakari 竹根蛇


poisonous snake, viper, mamushi マムシ、蝮
red viper, akamamushi 赤蝮
catching vipers, mamushi tori 蝮捕
ricewine with vipers, mamushi sake 蝮酒

Okinawa Pit Viper, habu ハブ 、はぶ 飯匙倩
... Princess Viper, himehabu 姫ハブ

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kigo for early summer

snakes changing their skin
hebi kinu o nugu 蛇衣を脱ぐ
hebi kawa o nugu　蛇皮を脱ぐ （へびかわをぬぐ）

snake skin, hebi no kinu 蛇の衣
..... hebi no nukegara 蛇の抜け殻
hebi no kara 蛇の殻（へびのから）
hebi no monuke 蛇の蛻（へびのもぬけ）


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kigo for mid-spring

snakes coming out of their holes
hebi ana o izu 蛇穴を出づ
..... hebi ana o deru 蛇穴を出る（へびあなをでる）
..... hebi izu 蛇出づ（へびいづ）


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kigo for mid-autumn

snake in autumn, aki no hebi 秋の蛇 (あきのへび)

snakes go into their holes, snakes start hibernating
hebi ana ni iru 蛇穴に入る

"hole confusion", ana madoi 穴まどい (あなまどい)
snakes have not yet found a hole

. . . . .

tokage ana ni iru 蜥蜴穴に入る（とかげあなにいる）
lizzards start hibernating

ari ana ni iru 蟻穴に入る（ありあなにいる）
ants start hibernating


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Snakes are wonderous creatures, the little brothers of the heavenly dragon.
They do not have any limbs yet they advance fast. They have no eyelids or outer ears. Their tongue is long and split in two.

They are a global topic of many mythological tales, just remember the Paradies story of Adam, Eve, the Apple and the snake.

The Great General, Aodaishoo, is a common snake in rural Japan and said to bring good luck to a home where he stays. We have many in the holes of the stone walls around the estate.

The skins of a snake are worshipped in some parts of Japan and kept as a special item in many local shrines.

If you are lucky to catch a living mamushi, poisonous viper, you put it in a bottle of strong rice shnaps and let it brew there for a year. Then this strong liquor is used as an antidote if bitten by a viper. It is also sold at expensive restaurants to enliven the low spirits of tired salaried workers.

Gabi Greve

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. nagamushi　長虫 "long insect", snake .
Kitami no mushiyoke 喜多見のまむしよけ
齋藤伊右衛門忠嘉 Saito Iemon

In the Edo period, snakes were considered as part of the insect realm.
When they came out during the rice-planting season, the poisonous one's were quite dangerous.
There was no real medicine to heal them, so people made use of amulets.


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Quote from the Wikipedia

A Habu is any of four species of poisonous snakes found in the Ryukyu Islands, Japan.

The Habus are all pit vipers. They belong to the genus Trimeresurus whose other members are found in southeast Asia. Four species have the name habu:

Himehabu - Trimeresurus okinavensis (formerly classified in genus Ovophis)
Sakishima habu - Trimeresurus elegans
Habu - Trimeresurus flavoviridis
Tokarahabu - Trimeresurus tokarensis
Snakes living on different islands of Okinawa prefecture have slightly different features. The habus are viewed as having migrated to Okinawa over a prehistoric land bridge connecting the island to China.

Habus are usually not aggressive; however they will bite if provoked. If one is bitten, it is excruciatingly painful and fatalities were not rare on Okinawa, though the snake's poison fatalities have been controlled on the Ryukyu islands. As in other places in 1910 the mongoose was introduced from India into Okinawa to control the population of habus but recent studies indicate that mongooses have not interfered with the habu, but instead prey upon other protected rare species of birds and reptiles.

The habu does not properly hibernate during the winter, but is more active from April to late autumn. Okinawa residents are advised to keep weeds trimmed and avoid loose lumber close to their dwellings, or anything else that could attract the rodents upon which the habu feed.

During the American occupation, when A-12 (and later the SR-71 Blackbird) planes were flown out of Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, the locals thought the strange and dangerous-looking planes looked like a habu, nicknaming them Habu.

A habu was a prime player in a Japanese children's story called Miki the Mongoose.
Bottles of (very expensive) "Habu wine" are widely sold in Naha, the capital of Okinawa prefecture; the habu venom present in the wine (along with a dead snake on the bottom) is reputed to increase male virility.

Habu Kurage (Kurage means Jellyfish in Japanese) is the name used in Okinawa for the species of poisonous Box jellyfish Chiropsalmus quadrigatus.

'Habu' is also a nickname for the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habu

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Rattlesnake

Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous snakes of the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus of the subfamily Crotalinae ("pit vipers").
There are 32 known species of rattlesnake, with between 65-70 subspecies, all native to the Americas, ranging from southern Alberta and southern British Columbia in Canada to Central Argentina.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !





smiling rattle snake
so happy you won your meal
you have earned your rest

© Photo and Haiku : Cathy Williams, May 2007

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Comment from a friend:

Your haiku about rattlesnakes reminded me of a pretty gruesome custom that takes place in several States of America. I attended the Whigham, Georgia Rattlesnake Roundup when I lived in Florida back in the sixties. It was the first time in my life I’d seen hundreds of snakes in one place. I watched them milked for their venom, and watched as people tasted rattlesnake tidbits on toothpicks. I was horribly fascinated then, but today I feel quite differently realizing the rattlesnakes serve us well as our best rodent catchers.

I’ve provided some links below to read one insightful accounting and a locator to show the extent of these roundups, plus a few arguments against this practice. It appears to be predominately a spring activity, although there is on January event and one June, I think.

Whigham Georgia Rattlesnake Roundup
http://www.wildclassroom.net/wildideas/rattlerroundup.html

Rattlesnake Roundup Locater: Predominately a Spring occurrence, but not always.
http://www.rattlesnakerecipe.us/roundup.htm

Concerns against Rattlesnake Roundups.
http://www.cnah.org/khs/pospaper.html




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Worldwide use

India

Serpent Festival (Nag Panchami)




Mukha Linga with Snake Hood
© Exotic India Com


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Kenya

Today morning we had a morning drama with snakes in one of the premises near safari park hotel.
The said snakes were in the bamboo tree.

a calm area--
green snakes make a quiet rustle
in the bamboo branches

cold area--
five green snakes hang
on bamboo leaves

snakes!--
i hear my heart pounding
in my chest

snakes!--
fearful crowd sigh with each step
backwards


Elung'ata Barrack
January 2011


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North America

Bullsnake, bull snake (Pituophis catenifer sayi)
kigo for spring
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_snake


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Things found on the way

In Japanese history shortly before 1600, the Lord of Mino, Saitoo Toshimasa Doosan, was quite a formidable foe and had the nickname VIPER, Mamushi.
Mamushi, Saitoo Toshimasa


The DRAGON is the bigger brother of the snake in Asian mythology.
Read more in my Dragon Gallery.
http://dragondarumamuseum.blogspot.com/


Umbrella like the eye of a snake, ja no me gasa 　蛇の目傘
often used in Kabuki plays

Look at some great collections of these umbrellas:
http://www.gendaiya.co.jp/s_wagasa.htm
http://kenyasaijiki.blogspot.com/2006/09/umbrella.html

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HAIKU

夏草や我先達ちて蛇狩らん
natsukusa ya ware sakidachite hebi karan

夏草に富貴を飾れ蛇の衣
natsukusa ni fuuki o kazare hebi no kinu

Two snake hokku, written at Genju-An 幻住庵
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


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穴阿房鼠が入にけり
hebi no ana ahô nezumi ga iri ni keri

into the snake's hole
oh foolish
mouse

Issa (Tr. David Lanoue)

More SNAKE haiku by Issa

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親蛇や烏さらばと穴に入る
oya hebi ya karasu saraba to ana ni iru

mother snake -
farewell crow, she says
sliding into her hole

Issa

Tr. Gabi Greve
Read a discussion of this translation.

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This garter snake
goes in and out of the grass
all at the same time!

The Zen Haiku and other Zen Poems of J.W.Hackett,
Japan Publications, 1983, p.43

Garter snakes in Wikipedia



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Sunny morning:
a snake slides through the fence
looking for a prey

SNAKES ...a haiku sequence
Ram Krishna Singh, India, October 2007


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Related words

***** Wild Strawberries, hebi ichigo 蛇苺
kigo for early summer

Lit. "Snake Strawberries". They are quite a weed in our area. They are not poisonous, but not delicious either, so people rarely eat them.


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Wrestling (sumo)

[ . BACK to Worldkigo TOP . ]
. Legends about Sumo wrestling .
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Wrestling (sumo, sumoo)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Early Autumn and others, see below
***** Category: Humanity, Observance

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Explanation

The Sumo Performance in Autumn is a kigo for haiku.
Nowadays Sumo tournaments are held six times a year.



. WKD : Ryōgoku Kokugikan 両国国技館 stadium for sumo .

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humanity kigo for early autumn

sumo wrestling, sumoo 相撲 (すもう)
... sumoo 角力（すもう）, sumai すまい
(sumai refers back to a ritual dance (mai) in a shrine)

sumo performance in a shrine, miya zumoo 宮相撲（みやずもう）
sumo performance "on the grass ground", kusa zumoo 草相撲（くさずもう）
sumo performance "at the crossroads, tsuji zumoo 辻相撲（つじずもう）

sumo wrestler, sumotoori 相撲取（すもうとり）
winning in sumo wrestling, kachi zumoo 勝相撲（かちずもう）
loosing in sumo wrestling, make zumo 負相撲（まけずもう）

sumo wrestling at night, yozumoo 夜相撲（よずもう）



sumo ring, dohyoo 土俵（どひょう）


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observance kigo for early autumn

sumoo no sechi 相撲の節（すもうのせち）
sumai no sechi 相撲の節 (すまいのせち)
sumoo no sechi-e 相撲の節会（すもうのせちえ）
sumoo-e 相撲会（すもうえ）

kotorizukai 部領使（ことりづかい）
messengers for taking sumo players to the Imperial Court


quote
Towards the end of the Nara period, Emperor Shoumu established the Sumai-no-Sechi (literally “Sumo Event”) as one part of the “Sando-sechi (Tripartite Events)” of his imperial court. During the Heian period the Sumai-no-Sechi was an event with pomp and splendor as part of the Tanabata (Star Festival) attended by the Emperor.
source : Nobuhiko Tsunefuka


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kigo for mid-spring

spring tournament, haru basho 春場所 (はるばしょ)
tournament in the third month, sangatsu basho
三月場所（さんがつばしょ）
Osaka tournament, Oosaka basho 大阪場所（おおさかばしょ）, Naniwa basho 浪花場所（なにわばしょ）

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kigo for early summer

summer tournament, natsubasho 夏場所
..... gogatsubasho 五月場所（ごがつばしょ)
May Grand Sumo Tournament
This takes place in the Kokugikan 国技館　Sumo hall in Tokyo.



kigo for late summer

shichigatsu basho 七月場所 (しちがつばしょ)
July Grand Sumo Tourament
Nagoya Basho 名古屋場所（なごやばしょ）
Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament
. . . CLICK here for Photos !


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kigo for mid-autumn

akibasho, aki basho 秋場所 (あきばしょ ) autumn tournament
kugatsubasho 九月場所（くがつばしょ)
September Grand Sumo tournament





nakizumoo 泣角力 "sumo with tears"
September 19
(or a Sunday next to it)

At Ikigo Jinja 生子神社 in Kanuma town, Momiyama, Tochigi
鹿沼市樅山


This "tearful match" is also performed at other shrines and other times.

quote
Babies set to tear up the ring
While the grown-up sumo wrestlers prepare for the upcoming grand sumo tournament in Tokyo (starting May 6), a somewhat younger field of competitors will face off in Hiroshima. Dressed in colorful kimono, the contestants will compete in speed and stamina in the noble sport of crying.

The event is called naki-zumo, which translates as the "crying baby sumo," and the rules are simple: Two toddlers are placed on pillows facing each other. A sumo referee will then start to taunt the babies, trying to persuade them to shed tears by ordering them to "nake, nake" ("cry, cry"). If this doesn't do the job, the referee will pull out his devil mask and try to give the kids a fright.
The winner is the toddler who cries the longest and hardest.

The competition, a Japanese tradition dating back 400 years, is inspired by the Japanese proverb, "naku ko wa sodatsu" (loosely translated as "crying babies grow fast" in English). While parents may think the screams of a child are shortening their own lives, the intention of this tournament is to encourage the healthy growth of the babies. Another aim of the tradition is to scare away evil spirits.

at Gokoku Shrine in Hiroshima on May 5, which is Children's Day in Japan.

By MADS BERTHELSEN
source : Japan Times, May 2012


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kigo for early winter

Kyuushuu basho 九州場所 (きゅうしゅうばしょ)
Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament


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kigo for the New Year

hatsu basho, 初場所 First Sumo Tournament
January Tournament, ichigatsu basho 一月場所
New Year Tournament, shoogatsu basho 正月場所


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Sumo (相撲, sumō)
is a competitive contact sport where two wrestlers called rikishi face off in a circular area. The sport is popular in Japan and is surrounded by ceremony and ritual. The Japanese consider sumo a gendai budō: a modern Japanese martial art, even though the sport has a history spanning many centuries. The sumo tradition is very ancient, and even today the sport includes many ritual elements, such as the use of salt for purification, from the days sumo was used in the Shinto religion.

Origins of sumo
Sumo was mentioned in Nihon Shoki, one of the earliest texts in Japan, under its earlier name sumai, from the 8th century A.D. However, these early forms would not be sumo as it is known today, as in many cases the wrestling had relatively few rules and unarmed fights to the death were still referred to as "sumo".

In addition to its use as a trial of strength in combat, it has also been associated with Shinto ritual, and even today certain shrines carry out forms of ritual dance where a human ceremonially wrestles with a kami (a Shinto divine spirit). It was an important ritual at the imperial court. Representatives of each province were ordered to attend the contest at the court and fought. They needed to pay for their travels themselves. The contest was known as sumai no sechie, or "sumai party."

Over the rest of Japanese recorded history, sumo's popularity has changed according to the whims of its rulers and the need for its use as a training tool in periods of civil strife. The form of wrestling combat probably changed gradually into one where the main aim in victory was to throw one's opponent. The concept of pushing one's opponent out of a defined area came some time later.

It is believed that a ring, defined by more than the area given to the wrestlers by spectators, came into being in the 16th century as a result of a tournament organized by the then-principal warlord in Japan, Oda Nobunaga. At this point wrestlers would wear loose loincloths, rather than the much stiffer mawashi of today. During the Edo period, wrestlers would wear a fringed kesho-mawashi during the bout, whereas today these are worn only during pre-tournament rituals. Most of the rest of the current forms within the sport developed in the early Edo period.

Professional sumo (大相撲, ōzumō) can trace its roots back to the Edo Period in Japan as a form of sporting entertainment. The original wrestlers were probably samurai, often ronin, who needed to find an alternative form of income.

Nations adjacent to Japan, sharing many cultural traditions, also feature styles of traditional wrestling that bear resemblance to sumo. Notable examples include Mongolian wrestling, Chinese Shuai jiao (摔角), and Korean Ssireum. Examples of Chinese art from 220 BCE show the wrestlers stripped to the waist and their bodies pressed shoulder to shoulder.

© More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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Tomioka Hachiman Shrine 富岡八幡宮
is also known as the birthplace of Kanjin-zumō (勧進相撲), founded in 1684 and origin of the current professional sumo.
... In 1900 (Meiji 33), the stone monument to commend successive yokozuna, the Yokozuna Stone (横綱力士碑, Yokozuna Rikishi-hi), was built by Jinmaku Kyūgorō, the 12th yokozuna. Now, the stone inscribed with the shikonas of all yokozuna until Hakuhō Shō, the 69th yokozuna, and "unrivaled rikishi" Raiden Tameemon. The shrine has many other stone muments related to sumo.

. Tomioka Hachimangu 富岡八幡宮 .


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- quote
Sumo Jinja 相撲神社
Sumo wrestling is the national martial art of Japan, in which wrestlers compete for superiority in power and technique. It is said that Sumo Shrine is the place where sumo first began, and it is here, according to records, that Nomi no Sukune 野見宿禰 Nominosukune and Taima no kehaya 当麻蹴速 Taimanokehaya competed before the 11th Emperor, Suijin. The winner of the competition, Nominosukune, is enshrined in a small shrine in the sanctuary. We can still see the remains of the sumo ring where that competition took place.

Nara, Yamanobe road
- source : www.pref.nara.jp/nara_e



CLICK for more images !

. haniwa　埴輪 Haniwa clay figures - Introduction .
and 野見宿禰(のみのすくね) Nomi no Sukune


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way



. Sumo　相撲 　Sumo wrestling dolls .

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hitorizumoo 　一人相撲 / 一人角力 Hitori Sumo
one-man sumo
single-person mimicking a wrestling match

hitori-zumoo o toru 一人相撲をとる
This is a figure of speach, indicating a hopeless situation.

It is also a real "match" of one man with an invisible god, the deity of the rice paddies. presented at the shrine
Oyamatsumi Jinja 大山祇神社 on the island of Omishima in the Seto inland sea.
The performer has to make the audience laugh with his attics at pushing an invisible adversary and finally loosing the match with a loud fall on the ring.
If the Deity wins, there will be a good harvest this year.
It used to be performed at the "Rice Planting Festival" on the 5th day of the fifth lunar month and later at the 抜穂祭 "Rice Harvesting Festival" on the 9th day of the ninth lunar month.



大山祇神社今治市大三島町宮浦

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. daidoogei 大道芸 Daidogei street performance in Edo .



The street performers in Edo often made parodies of the bouts between famous rikishi.
If they were skillful, passers-by would throw money at them.

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There was a Yokai monster called シバテング Shiba Tengu, who took the form of a young man and challenged people to a Sumo match.
That person became bewitched and would do "hitorizumo" all night long.

It was a kind of trick the Kappa 河童, who liked Sumo wrestling a lot, also played on humans.

. - Welcome to the Kappapedia ! .


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HAIKU

Kobayashi Issa
Tr. David Lanoue

まけ角力直に千里を走る也
make-zumoo sugu ni senri o hashiru nari

the wrestler's defeat
spreads a thousand miles
quickly

Shinji Ogawa paraphrases,
"The (news of) the defeated match travels over a thousand miles immediately." He comments, "Of course, Issa is using the proverb,
"Bad news travels fast"--in Japan:
"Bad news travels a thousand miles."

. . .


乞食の角力にさへも贔屓かな
koijiki no sumoo ni sae mo hiiki kana

even the beggar
has a favorite
wrestler

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. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu in Edo .

一年を二十日で暮らすよい男
ichinen o nijuunichi de kurasu yoi otoko

this good man
makes a living for the whole year
in just twenty days


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Related words

***** . sumootorigusa 相撲取草 "sumo plant", wire-grass 　
Eleusine indica


***** Harumafuji Yokozuna - 2012 Mongolia, Japan

***** SAIJIKI of Japanese Ceremonies and Festivals

***** Mawashi 化粧まわし belt with Daruma san


Chankonabe and Chicken for Sumo Wrestlers

. Daidôzan Bungorô 大童山文五郎 Daidozan Bungoro .
(1788 - 1822) - The Great Child Mountain

. Legends about Sumo wrestling .

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[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]
- #sumoo #sumo #rikishi #dohyo #wrestling -
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Smelt, American fish

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Smelt (Osmerus mordax)

***** Location: America
***** Season: Late Spring
***** Category: Fish

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Explanation

Technically, rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax); also called
American smelt, leefish, freshwater smelt, icefish, and frost fish.

Originally an ocean fish, the smelt was introduced to Crystal Lake in Michigan as food for stocked salmon in 1906. It soon escaped into Lake Michigan, and by 1930 the rapidly growing population had expanded into Lake Superior. It is now found in all five Great Lakes as well as many lakes and rivers in upstate New York and as far south as Iowa and Illinois. Fishes of other species in the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America are also called smelt.

The smelt is 7˝–9˝ in length, weighs about 3 oz., and is colored sliver with pale green back; iridescent purple, blue and pink on sides.

Charles Trumbull

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The University of Wisconsin further describes the smelt as follows:

In the lower Great Lakes, rainbow smelt were at first regarded as a nuisance, hordes of them invading and becoming entangled in fish nets. In Lake Superior, however, they were welcomed both as a forage fish and as a recreational target during their spring spawning runs. Systematic harvesting began in 1952, and dip-netting and seining in spawning streams has developed into an avid sport.

In the streams, rainbow smelt display the characteristics that inspired their name, shimmering colorfully. Removed from the water, they quickly fade to a lifeless silvery white and give off the odor of freshly cut cucumbers. These carnivorous fish school in both coastal and central regions of the lake. Sensitive to bright lights and warm temperatures, they are usually found in dark, cool depths offshore.

Smelt are not only processed for animal feeds but are also enjoyed by people, and countries as far away as Japan are interested in importing its meat and roe. Unfortunately, smelt populations fell sharply in the early 1980s and the outlook for them is not clear.
http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/Communications/Publications/Fish/rainbowsmelt.html

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Smelt are caught primarily at night during spring spawning season, which begins as soon as the ice breaks up on the lakes. On the south shore Lake Superior this is typically during the last two weeks of April. Great numbers of the fish swim up tributary stream from the lakes into rivers. They are caught by dip netting in the shallows. The smelt run is often a social occasion in Wisconsin and Minnesota. A bulletin from the Cook County, Ill., Forest Preserve District in 1947 noted, “Smelt festivals were annual events in which many thousands of people took part, dipping out millions of the fish by the light of bonfires, using nets, tubs, buckets, and even their hats.”
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/natbltn/100-199/nb105.htm

Smelt are also fished commercially in Lake Michigan and are an object for ice fishermen.


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Worldwide use

JAPAN

kyuuri uo キュウリウオ　(Osmerus mordax dentex)
Because he looks like a cucumber, he is called "Cucumber Fish". From Spring to Summer he swims up the rivers of Japan for spawning.
He tastes best when freshly fried on charcoal.



http://www.zukan-bouz.com/kyuriuo/kyuriuo.html

Smelt, kisu　キス see below.

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RUSSIA

Smelt, Корюшка, korushka (koh-roosh-kah)
Osmerus eperlanus

It is the early-spring fish in St. Petersburg, Russia. It appears in Neva River just after the ice drift is gone, and it is sold everywhere for some days.

запах весны -
у метро продают
с лотка корюшку.

flavor of spring -
a street vendor selling smelt
at the Metro station

Anastasia Nemchuk
St. Petrsburg, Russia

See also:
Fish Kigo from Russia

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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

a few folks absent
from the picket line today:
smelt running

Charles Trumbull
From "Playing Hooky," a rengay with Bill Lerz and Joe Kirschner, 1998, included in 3 x 3 x 3.

For more haiku about SMELT contact Charles directly, there are more in his extensive database.

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Related words

***** Smelt, Japanese Fish, kisu　キス
Kigo for All Summer

WHC World Kigo Database : Fish as Kigo -

http://www.jf-net.ne.jp/jf-net/syun/sakana/kisu/kisu_top.html
http://www.suisan.n-nourin.jp/oh/nfish/daihyo/kisu.html

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Please send your contributions to Gabi Greve
worldkigo .....

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

Shiitake Mushrooms

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO　　TOP . ]
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Shiitake Mushrooms

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

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Explanation

Pasania mushroom, shiitake 椎茸
Cortinellus shiitake

drying shiitake, shiitake hosu 椎茸干す　しいたけほす
drying mushrooms, take hosu　茸干す
dried mushrooms, hoshitake　干し椎茸、干し茸
..... hoshi kinoko 干し菌　ほしきのこ

Shii is a species of beech in the southern half of Japan, an evergreen which grows higher than 80 feet. Shii logs are used to plant shiitake mushrooms, also known for the odor when their long white ears, dense with tiny flowers bloom without being seen, in the beginning of May.
© Haiku by Hashimoto Takako

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Growing shiitake in my back yard
Gabi Greve
Read about our experience !

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Many people grow them in the backyard, in a dark and moist place. The implants take about two years to grow and can be harvested in Autumn and early spring. This king of plantation has started during the Edo period.
In our woods, farmers put the logs in the forest and wait and harvest ...

Since the harvest is usually plenty, we dry them for further use or freeze them.
Soup made from freshly harvested shiitake does not need any water, they will provide all the necessary liquid for a delicious healthy broth.

Gabi Greve


Click HERE to see some more photos !

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The shiitake (Lentinula edodes) is an edible mushroom native to East Asia. It is generally known in the English-speaking world by its Japanese name, shiitake ( lit. "shii mushroom," from the Japanese name of the tree that provides the dead logs on which it is typically cultivated).

In Chinese, it is called xiānggū (香菇, lit. "fragrant mushroom" or "delicious mushroom"). Two Chinese variant names for high grades of shiitake are dōnggū (Chinese: 冬菇, "winter mushroom") and huāgū (花菇, "flower mushroom," which has a flower-like cracking pattern on the mushroom's upper surface); both are produced at colder temperatures. Other names by which the mushroom is known in English include Chinese black mushroom and black forest mushroom. In Korean it is called pyogo ( hanja: 瓢菰), and in Thai they are called hed hom (เห็ดหอม, "fragrant mushroom").

The species was formerly known as Lentinus edodes and Agaricus edodes. The latter name was first applied by the English botanist Miles Joseph Berkeley in 1878.

This mushroom is native to China, and has been cultivated for over 1000 years. The first written record of shiitake cultivation can be traced to Wu Sang Kwuang, born during the Song Dynasty (960-1127 A.D.). However, some documents record the uncultivated mushroom being eaten as early as 199 A.D.

During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.), physician Wu Juei wrote that the mushroom could be used not only as a food but was taken as a remedy for upper respiratory diseases, poor blood circulation, liver trouble, exhaustion and weakness, and to boost qi, or life energy. It was also believed to prevent premature aging.

　©　Wikipedia

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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way

Zen Master Dogen and the Tenzo Cook drying shiitake mushrooms

Famous Zen Master Dogen recognized the power of mindful cooking
after two encounters with cooks. In China, he saw an old, hunched
tenzo (head cook or kitchen master) drying shiitake mushrooms in
the heat of the sun.
Here is a recreation of their conversation:

Dogen: How old are you?
Tenzo: Sixty-eight years.
Dogen: Wow, you're old! Why don't you get an assistant to dry the mushrooms?
Tenzo: Other people are not me.
Dogen: But why do this now when the sun is so hot?
Tenzo: (smiling) If not now, when?

Later, Dogen was staying on a ship.
He met a tenzo who came aboard to buy shiitakes.
Dogen: Your monastery is far away. Please stay and let me offer you a meal.
Tenzo2: I'm sorry, but I can't. If I'm not there to prepare
tomorrow's meal, it won't go well.
Dogen: But surely someone else in the monastery knows how to cook?
Tenzo2: This is my practice. How can I leave to others what I should do myself?
Dogen: Venerable sir, why work as a cook in your old age? Why not meditate and study the koans.
Tenzo2: Hahahaha! My foreign friend, it seems you don't really understand practice.

The monk left for his temple immediately.
Two months later, the tenzo and Dogen met again.
Dogen: What is practice?
Tenzo2: One, two, three, four, five.
Dogen (scratching his head): What is practice?
Tenzo2: Everywhere, nothing is hidden.
source :　shobogenzo


statue at the temple 宮昌寺. Gunma : 椎茸典座 Shiitake Tenzo


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HAIKU

the first bite
from the first shiitake -
my life in the woods

Gabi Greve, 1998

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© Haiga by Susumu Takiguchi "floating stone"

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Related words

***** Mushrooms (ki no ko)



karashi shiitake からし椎茸 shiitake pickled with hot mustard
from Yufuin, Oita, Kyushu.

. WASHOKU
shiitake karashizuke 椎茸からし漬け with hot mustard 　


WASHOKU ... Japanese Food SAIJIKI

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

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Scarecrow (kakashi)

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Scarecrow (kakashi)

***** Location: Japan, India, worldwide
***** Season: Autumn, others see below
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation



CLICK for more photos !

scarecrow, kakashi 案山子 かかし
..... kagashi　鹿驚 (かがし)
odoshi, おどし/ odose、おどせ/ odorokashi　おどろかし/ toboshi　とぼし/ some　そめ/ kamashime　鎌しめ/ yakishime　焼しめ

bird scarers, tori odoshi 鳥威し
..... odoshi zuchi 威しづち

rattles, bird clappers, naruko　鳴子
..... hiki ita　ひきいた　引板
..... naru zao 鳴る竿
rattels on strings, narukonawa 鳴子縄


With all the crows and sparrows around, we need these useful "little people" in our fields. They come in many forms nowadays, usually made from sticks, straw and old cloths. A scary face is often painted on a white sack.

Some villages have scarecrow festival and competitions,
kakashi matsuri かかし祭.
Click HERE for some photos !

In the Edo period, this word was pronounced "kagashi", meaning something that smells hineously, because the farmers used to hang up rotten fish or hides from animals. In my area, somethimes they hang up dead crows or even small wild boars to let them rot .. and smell.

Nowadays bird clappers or other devices with noise are also used. My neighbour tried 24 hour radio, but we complained about the noise. Now he has a 24 hour tape during 3 months before the apples are harvested. There is the death cry of a crow every five minutes wailing through our valley .... yaaaaaak yakyaaahkkkk ...

Gabi Greve


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Yama no Kami　山の神 has only one eye
Amanomahitotsu no kami　天目一箇神（あめのまひとつのかみ）
Amatsumara 天津麻羅


This deity with one eye and one leg
comes to the fields to protect them before the harvest, now in the form of a kakashi, with one leg and one eye.
Even the modern yellow plastic balloons with one black ring, which hang in the fields, are a modern version of this deity with one eye.




. Yama no Kami 山の神 Deity of the Mountains .



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Worldwide use

India

I don't think in India we have thought about it as a kigo word as such - because year round we do have our scarecrows on the fields.

But rice and wheat being our chief stable food - and the fact that our harvest months are mainly in December / January - when we have Sanskranti or Pongal [ Harvest Festival - Thanking the Gods especially the Sun-god - Aditya] then definitely it stands to reason that even our scarecrow is an Autumn kigo word - for the paddy fields are in full growth then!

Kala Ramesh


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country walk ~
scarecrows in hiding
in the cornfield

Sunil Uniyal


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Vogelscheuche


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Things found on the way




. Naruko 鳴子 clappers with Daruma


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In many parts of Japan, wild boars are becoming a great nuisance, since the hunters are too few and old (or dead), but the boars thrive in the abandoned fields of remote villages.

Our neighbour puts out stuffed animals in winter . . .








. Wild Boar (inoshishi) kigo


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HAIKU

- Yosa Buson

秋風のうごかしていく案山子かな
akikaze no ugokashite yuku kagashi kana

The autumn wind
on its way
sets a scarecrow moving
Tr. Merwin/Lento

An autumn wind
passes by, and swaying with it
a scarecrow.
Tr. Ueda


水落て細脛高きかがし
mizu ochite hosohagi takaki kagashi kana

The water is drained,
and tall on its slender leg
a scarecrow.


kiso-dono no ta ni izen taru kagashi kana

In Lord Kiso's
rice-field, still stands
a scarecrow.


Buson uses three different Chinese characters to express the word KAKASHI (kagashi).
Tr. by Makoto Ueda

Read more about these translations here:
Compiled by Larry Bole, 2008


MORE - about the scarecrow by
. WKD : Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 in Edo .

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秋までに　休すんでおくれ　案山子かな

until next autumn,
please rest in peace -
dear scarecrow

© Gabi Greve, Ohaga, March 2006



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first day of fall
the scarecrow greets
another sunrise

Chen-ou Liu, Canada

December 2010
http://chenouliu.blogspot.com/


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Issa has many haiku about the scarecrows.
Tr. David Lanoue

鎌倉や今はかがしの屋敷守
kamakura ya ima wa kagashi no yashiki mori

Kamakura--
these days scarecrows
are the gatekeepers

This is Issa's earliest haiku that we have on the subject of scarecrows. The "gatekeepers" (yashiki mori) might also be translated, "keepers of the mansions." Kamakura is one of Japan's ancient capitals, on Sagami Bay southwest of Tokyo.


ぬっぽりと月見顔なるかがし哉
nuppori to tsukimi kao naru kagashi kana

that gentle
moon-gazing face...
a scarecrow



案山子にもうしろ向かれし栖哉
kagashi ni mo ushiro mukareshi sumika kana

even the scarecrow
turns his back to it...
my home


. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .


とぶ蝶を憐み給へ立かがし
tobu choo o awaremi-tamae tatsu kagashi

don't just stand there,
scarecrow, show kindness
to the passing butterfly

This humorous hokku was written while Issa was on a trip to Edo and areas around it in the second half of the 8th month (early October) of 1814. Most of the crops have been harvested, and a scarecrow stands alone in a cut dry field or rice paddy. Butterflies and other insects, however, are still busy, flying here and there all day.
The hokku uses a warm, friendly, vigorous voice and teases the scarecrow for simply standing in the field after his job of protecting the crop has finished for this year. My friend, he implies, using -tamae, in Issa's time a moderately polite but friendly imperative popular among commoners, please show compassion for the butterfly, who's still very busy. Don't scare it away -- let it rest on you. Of course Issa is talking to humans as well.
Tr. and comment : Chris Drake



fui to tatsu ore o kagashi no kawari kana

suddenly I'm
standing, mind gone --
their new scarecrow

This hokku is from the eighth month (August, the beginning of lunar autumn) in 1818, when Issa was in his hometown and various towns nearby. In the hokku Issa seems to have suddenly found himself in a standing position, but he unable to understand why he stood up. Evidently he planned to do something, but by the time he has stood up the reason is gone and his mind temporarily empty or perhaps setting off in a new direction. Issa says someone -- he doesn't say who -- will surely be able use him as a new scarecrow to replace an old one discarded in the fall. In another hokku Issa associates this kind of absent-mindedness with a flash of lightning, so perhaps his forgetting is due to his trying to keep up with the constant flow of images and moments of connection that flash through his mind, some of which take form as haikai.

Issa may be half-seriously suggesting that many of his neighbors regard him as a strange, impractical person who would be more useful to the community if he were a scarecrow. In the hokku following this one in Issa's journal a scarecrow politely tells Issa that it stands pointing in the direction of Mount Obasute (also Ubasute), literally the Mountain Where An Old Aunt Was Abandoned, which is located in Issa's home province, and in another hokku Issa writes of a worn-out scarecrow actually being left on Mount Obasute.

In the most famous legend, portrayed in the No play Obasute, a man, hearing false rumors about his old aunt, carries her to the top of the mountain and leaves her there, where she dies and becomes a stone. Basho wrote a famous hokku about the old woman on the mountain from her point of view, and Issa may believe the legend. In any case, he evokes it in order to claim that he, straw-headed, impractical, and addicted to constantly thinking about new haikai, will soon be in the same situation as the old woman, since he's clearly becoming a scarecrow to be used and then discarded by some farmer after a season in the field.

The first (1814) version of the hokku translated above contains a similar image:

uka to kite ware o kagashi no kawari kana

my mind
floating -- they'll use me
as a new scarecrow

The image may be an attempt by Issa to write about the great flow of haikai images going through his mind, a flow that became even stronger after he moved back to his hometown.

Tr. and comment : Chris Drake


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cyclonic rains-
a battered scarecrow
turns to a new direction

Kala Ramesh, 2007


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netko, gle tamo
sluša zričke u polju! -
staro strašilo

***

the fellow in the field
listening to the crickets -
an old scarecrow

- Shared by Tomislav Maretic -
Joys of Japan, September 2012


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Related words


***** guardian of the fields 田守 (たもり) tamori
oda mamoru 小田守る（おだまもる）protecting the fields
inaban 稲番（いなばん）guardian for the rice fields
ta no io 田の庵（たのいお）hut for the guardian
. . . tabangoya 田番小屋（たばんごや）
kigo for all autumn


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. tane kagashi 種案山子 (たねかがし)
scarecrow in the bed for seedlings 　

kigo for spring

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kagashiage, kakashi age 案山子揚 (かがしあげ)
taking the scarecrows down
some no toshitori そめの年取り（そめのとしとり）
some is the local name in the Azumi region.

observance kigo for early winter


Usually done on the tooka 十日 tenth day of the tenth lunar month.
A custom of Nagano prefecture.
The scarecrow is taken from the field and placed in the garden of the home, harvest offerings to the god of the fields (ta no kami) are then made.

. Ta no Kami 田の神 Tanokami, God of the Fields .

. tookanya 十日夜 (とおかんや) night of the tenth 　　





little sparrows
come and show their faces -
taking down scarecrows

Rikuyo san 陸陽さん
haiku.blog.livedoor.com/ichiran.php?kg=751&pg=20

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***** India Saijiki

***** Farmers work in Autumn

. SAIJIKI
OBSERVANCES, FESTIVALS, RITUALS


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[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]
[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]

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Salmon (sake)

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Salmon (sake)

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

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Explanation

Salmon and trout (masu 鱒) are the representative fish of Hokkaido.
Its roe and eggs, ikura, are quite a delicacy too.

Ainu Pattern

http://www.azumino.cnet.ne.jp/WORK_SHOP/NISSEN/AINU/AINU.html

There are many kigo for this fish.

salmon, sake (when in the water) 鮭　
... pronounced shake when used as food on the table

flavor of autumn, aki aji　秋味
first salmon, hatsuzake 初鮭
salmon with a bent nose, hanamagari sake 鼻曲がり鮭
autumn of the salmon, sake no aki　鮭の秋

fishing for salmon, sakeryoo 鮭漁
net for salmon fishing, sake ami 鮭網

outlook for salmon, sake banya 鮭番屋
hut for salmon fishermen, sakegoya 鮭小屋
.... wherer they live and process the catch during season

hitting the salmon, sake uchi 鮭打ち
..... See the Ainu Legend below.

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Ainu Legends



Why you should always use a willow stick to kill salmon, this revered fish
Among freshwater fish the salmon and salmon-trout hold the highest place. This is what one would expect, inasmuch as these are the largest and most useful fishes to enter the rivers. The true salmon is called shibe, and this word means either "the great thing" or "the chief food." It is also known as kamui chep besides, and that means "divine food" or "divine fish," and it is reported to have originally come down from Paradise....

When the Ainu go salmon fishing they always provide a thick willow stick about two feet long with which to strike the salmon's head and kill it. This stick is called isapa-kik-ni, "the head-striking wood" ....
The Ainu say that the salmon do not like being killed with a stone or any wood other than good sound willow, but they are very fond of being killed with a willow stick. Indeed, they are said to hold the isapa-kik-ni in great esteem. If anything else is used, the fish will go away in disgust.

Read all about Ainu Culture here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/hokkaido/legsal.html

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Spawning Salmon in Hokkaido



http://www3.famille.ne.jp/~ochi/eng/hokka10.html

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Kigo for All Summer

cherry salmon, yamame 山女 Oncorhynchus masou;
Literally "mountain lady", "Mountain Maiden".
Cherry Salmon Fish, yamameuo 山女魚
fishing for cherry salmon, yamame tsuri 山女釣

Fishing for this fish is a great hobby of many anglers, seen commonly at the local rivers.

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The Salmon Museum in Chitose, Hokkaido

Chitose Salmon Aquarium is located on the Chitose River in Hokkaido Japan. This river originates from the beautiful waters of Lake Shikotsu in central Hokkaido then joins Hokkaido's largest river the Ishikari, which in turn flows into the Sea of Japan.



http://www.city.chitose.hokkaido.jp/tourist/salmon/e-html/e_index.html

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Worldwide use

North America

shad
http://saltfishing.about.com/cs/fishingreports/a/aa030413a.htm
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/shadart.htm
http://espn.go.com/outdoors/fishing/s/f_fea_shad_tactics_CA_Rychnovsky.html

cherry salmon, steelhead trout
the Alaskan King or Chinook salmon, which is a very important fish along the west coast US and Canada.

There is a trout that is a rainbow trout if it happens to live its life in a river but becomes a steelhead trout if it can get access to the ocean--like the salmon, they return to the river to
spawn, leaping through rapids to get upstream. Dams, of course, make this difficult.

http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/pubs/notebook/fish/chinook.php
http://www.kanada-british-columbia.de/en/salmon_run/
http://www.sunnywalter.com/WhereView-WNW-SalmonLinks.html

Linda Papanicolaou

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kigo for spring
in Pacific North-West of America

spring chinook


spring chinook ~
the end of its migration
to my table

- Shared by Elaine Andre -
Joys of Japan, 2012


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Things found on the way

Child's Salmon Skin Coat

Originally all Ainu garments were made of skin, fur, and feathers, and these types of clothing survived in Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands into the twentieth century. Salmon skin was highly prized for making strong, light, durable waterproof garments. Sakhalin Ainu decorated fishskin garments with delicate appliqué, as did their neighbors in the lower Amur River region.

This child's coat has a Sakhalin Ainu cut but was collected in Hokkaido – like people, artifacts often end up far from home. This coat may have come to Hokkaido with Ainu refugees expelled when Sakhalin was turned over to the Russians in 1875. In 1896 it was sold to Mrs. Mabel Loomis Todd, a participant in an Amherst College expedition that came to Hokkaido to view a solar eclipse.

Smithsonian Museum
http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/ainu/html/room04.html


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salmon slices and sardines
Tsuchida Bakusen 土田 麦僊 (1887-1936)


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HAIKU

雪の朝独リ干鮭を噛み得タリ　
yuki no ashita hitori karazake o kami etari

snow in the morning -
alone with dried salmon
to chew on
Tr. Gabi Greve

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

. . . . .


While sleeping in a lodge in the capital and hearing each night the sorrowful chanting of the Kuya pilgrims:
乾鮭も空也の痩も寒の中
karazake mo Kuuya no yase mo kan no uchi

Dried salmon
the gauntness of a Kuya pilgrim
in the cold season
Tr. Shirane


The shriveled salmon
the thinness of the ascetic
in the bitter cold
Tr. Miner and Odagiri

Written in December 1690 元禄3年12月, Basho age 48, in Kyoto


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



. Kuuya Shonin, (903-72)　空也上人 Saint Kuya .


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whitewater
a trout leaps
through the rainbow

Linda Papanicolaou

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Negi wa naku sake ya kirimi ni seiki-zamu

> No leeks,
> Salmon cut in slices;
> Century-cold.**

Keiko Imaoka

** newly coined by the author, for which this Ku is famous.
http://haiku.cc.ehime-u.ac.jp/~shiki/shiki.archive/html/9601/0419.html

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quiet cove--
an eagle plucks a salmon
from the clouds

Billie Wilson
Haiku Cycles (2001)
http://home.gci.net/~alaskahaiku/saijiki.html

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Salmon Haiku Duel
TheTyee.ca
The majority of the haiku entries came from the passionate pens of wild salmon lovers, but many also came from ardent and lyrical supporters of salmon farming, and from budding poets skeptical of the controversy on the whole.

Bye lovely tyee
I have turned my back on you
To work farming fish

Jeff Ardron


We swim forever
gravel rivers ocean sky
giving life we die

Marilyn MacPherson


Coho burn, dark red
Water boils in icy pools
Cold fire in the stream

Charles Thirkill

http://www.thetyee.ca/Life/2005/01/03/Salmon_Haiku_Duel_Winners/

More are here
http://www.thetyee.ca/Life/2005/01/10/TheCollectedWorksofTyee/

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Some Japanese Salmon-Haiku

乾鮭の背骨にふれて刃をすすむ
小桧山繁子


没日みる乾鮭の口地に立てて
小桧山繁子

翔ぶものへ鮭のはららご炎えてゐる
栗林千津

驛にころがる出稼の荷と鮭の荷と
能村登四郎

骨の鮭アイヌ三人水わたる
金子兜太

骨の鮭鴉もダケカンバも骨だ
金子兜太

風三日銀一身の鮭届く
成田千空

鮭の切身の鮮紅に足止むる旅
能村登四郎

鮭食ひし肉感夜のひとひら雲
豊山千蔭

Gendai Haiku Database
http://www.haiku-data.jp/kigo_list.php?season_cd=3#sa



. Yamaguchi Seison -
Salmon Haiku from Michinoku 　


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から鮭も敲ば鳴ぞなむあみだ
karazake mo tatakeba naku zo namu amida

beating time
on a dried salmon too...
praise Buddha!

Kobayashi Issa
(Tr. David Lanoue)

WKD . Namu Amida Butsu, the Amida Prayer



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Related words

***** Spring King Salmon Derby
Kigo for Spring in Alaska.


Running through Juneau all year with a peak run from May to July, the chinook -or king salmon-- is Alaska's state fish.
The month-long derby sets itself apart from the rest with shore fishing, festivities and competitions ranging from the eldest veteran to weigh in to the largest weigh-in by a child.

King salmon, the largest and least abundant of the salmon species, average 36" and weigh around 30 pounds. Last year's Spring King Derby winner brought in a 42.3-pound king.
http://www.traveljuneau.com/juneautravelnews/spring2004.cfm#sports
http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/2006/12/alaska-kiyose.html

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***** coho (silver) salmon start to run
Kigo for Summer in Alaska.


***** Golden North Salmon Derby
Kigo for Summer in Alaska.


***** Salmonberry
Kigo for Summer in Alaska.

http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/2006/12/alaska-kiyose.html

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Sake, Masu and Ayu : Salmon, trouts and sweetfish ... the naming


WASHOKU ... Japanese Food SAIJIKI

. sake 鮭　legends about the salmon - Lachs Legenden .


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Safflower (benibana) and RED

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Safflower (benibana)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Mid-Summer
***** Category: Plant

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Explanation

Safflower, beni no hana　紅の花、紅花, 紅藍花, 紅粉花
..... suetsumu hana 末摘花
saffron flower, サフラワー
Carthamus tinctorius, benihana, benibana

This flower originates in South and West Asia and was introduced by Korean Buddhist monks to Japan in the 6th and 7th century. Lately it is often grown for its oil. The most importand growing area is the Yamagata prefecture, where the "Safflower Festival" (benibana matsuri 山形紅花まつり) is held every year in July.

It flowers in June and July, almost looking like a thistle (azami).
Formerly, the red extract from the flower was used for cosmetics and dyeing. The name is already mentioned in the "Tales of Genji".


光源氏は末摘花の琴の音を立ち聞きした後、頭中将と左大臣邸へ行く。


http://www.nijl.ac.jp/~t.ito/HTML/R1.4.1_Kanako06.html

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Safflower
is a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual, usually with many long sharp spines on the leaves. Plants are 30 to 150 cm tall with globular flower heads (capitula) and commonly, brilliant yellow, orange or red flowers which bloom in July. Each branch will usually have from one to five flower heads containing 15 to 20 seeds per head. Safflower has a strong taproot which enables it to thrive in dry climates, but the plant is very susceptible to frost injury from stem elongation to maturity.

Traditionally, the crop was grown for its flowers, used for colouring and flavouring foods and making red and yellow dyes, especially before cheaper aniline dyes became available, and in medicines. For the last fifty years or so, the plant has been cultivated mainly for the vegetable oil extracted from its seeds.

Safflower oil is flavorless and colorless, and nutritionally similar to sunflower oil. It is used mainly as a cooking oil, in salad dressing, and for the production of margarine. It may also be taken as a nutritional supplement. INCI nomenclature is Carthamus tinctorius

There are two types of safflower that produce different kinds of oil: one high in monounsaturated fatty acid (oleic acid) and the other high in polyunsaturated fatty acid (linoleic acid). Currently the predominant oil market is for the former, which is lower in saturates and higher in monounsaturates than olive oil, for example.

© wikipedia.org

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Look at more flowes here !

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There is even a Japanese doll with cloth safflowers :
紅緒ちゃん

http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~f-doll/page127.html


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A Film about this flower
"Only Yesterday" おもひでぽろぽろ, a Studio Ghibli production created by both Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Only_Yesterday


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The color RED in Japanese Culture

The color red is first mentioned in Chinese chronicles, when Princess Himiko send woven robes at presents to the court.

kooseiken 絳青縑（こうせいけん） "red and green robes"

The red color KOO 絳 was produced dying with akane red.

shutan 朱丹 mix of crimson and red

taisha たいしゃ色, 代赭 #bb5520
soho 赭 an old name for red
masoho, masuo, masoo 真赭 red earth (with mercury sulfide)
shado しゃど【赭土】red ocher (ocre), terra rosa

Painting the body with red earth (akatsuchi 赤土 / 赭土) would protect the person from misfortune.

entan 鉛丹色 (えんたんいろ) #ec6d51 . mixture with lead, trilead tetraoxide


Reference : Japanese color table with # numbers


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kurenai くれない【紅】 crimson red, deep red
kure no ai 呉の藍 turned kurenai (meaning indigo from ancient China)
shinku 真紅 / 深紅 deep scarlet
Carthamus tinctorius

nisekurenai 偽紅 "false kurenai" died with
akane あかね【茜】 (Rubia akane Nakai) instead of safflower

kara kurenai からくれない 唐紅/ 韓紅 "crimson from China"
a rather dark crimson


beni no ame　紅の雨 "crimson rain" rain on beautiful blossoms
beni no namida 紅の涙　"crimson tears" bloody tears
these two words are not often used in haiku.

Beni lipstick made in the cold
(kanbeni 寒紅, ushibeni 丑紅)



enji えんじ【臙脂】dark red
#b94047


hanezu iro はねずいろ唐棣花色/ 唐棣色（はねずいろ）light pink
#f0908d


suou iro 蘇芳色（すおういろ）"sappan wood red"
#973C3F

toki iro 鴇色 ときいろ / 朱鷺色 pink
#F5C9C6



. akane 茜草 (あかね) madder, Indian Madder
lit. "red root"
The plant was introduced from China in the Heian period.
It was very popular and there are poems in the Manyo-Shu poetry collection about
akane sasu 茜さす　shining madder red
and refers to the daytime sunshine.


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. Aoni Yoshi 青丹よし Aoniyoshi
"the green and cinnabar is good" 　

. Niutsuhime 丹生都比女
She is related to cinnabar (shu　朱) and then mercury.
Tanden 丹田 the Cinnabar field


. Bengara ベンガラ red pigment
from Fukiya town 吹屋, Okayama


. Smallpox and the color Red 　　


. Why is Daruma always RED ?



. The Red Fuji, Akafuji, 赤冨士 　


. red dragonfly, aka tonbo　赤蜻蛉


. Red autumn leaves 紅葉 momiji

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Auspicious food

. Red Beans, "small beans" (azuki 小豆 ) 　

. sekihan 赤飯(せきはん) "red rice" 　
cooked for celebrations



hi no maru 日の丸 Japanese flag

. Japanese Flag Bentoo (hi no maru bentoo　
日の丸弁当) 　





. Koohaku 紅白 red and white, an auspicious combination 　


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Worldwide use



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Things found on the way

safflower oil, benibana abura 紅花油
salad oil, べにばなサラダ油

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The Benibana Museum (The Safflower Museum)
From the Horigome Residence of a Wealthy Farmer to the Museum
(豪農堀米邸から資料館へ)

This Benibana Museum was once the residence of Shirobe Horigome (堀米四郎兵衛) - a wealthy farmer around this area in Edo period. The total of the farm land was about 80 ares of the land and the residence had 6 warehouses and 7 wood-made warehouses. But, up to now, the most of the warehouses and the dwellings were withdrawn because of their advanced ages. But even now about five thousands of stuffs of the weapons and life necessities and old documents were preserved.
In 1982 after the Town was donated these historic stuffs and properties, they restored and consolidated them in a good order. The Town opened them as "the Benibana Museum" in May, 1984.

source : benibana/bunken

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HAIKU



source :　www.po-holdings.co.jp
cosmetic tools for the aristocracy of the Edo period


まゆはきを俤にして紅粉の花
mayuhaki o omokage ni shite beni no hana

reminiscent
of eyebrow brushes –
safflower blossoms
Tr. Haldane

Oku no Hosomichi, Obanazawa
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


. hake 刷毛 craftsmen's brush, brushes .

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Related words

***** Annemone, Benibana Okinagusa 紅花翁草



. kigo : LIPSTICK from Benibana
kanbeni 寒紅 かんべに "crimson lipstick made in the cold"
ushibeni 丑紅（うしべに） "bull lipstick"


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