Sparrow (suzume)

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Sparrow (suzume)

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

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Explanation

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

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

House sparrow, Passer domesticus

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


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SPRING

kigo for mid-spring

harami suzume 孕み雀 (はらみすずめ) pregnant sparrow
..... komochi suzume 子持雀（こもちすずめ）
haramidori 孕鳥（はらみどり）pregnant bird
..... komochidori 子持鳥（こもちどり）

. はらみ餅 harami Mochi rice cake amulets .

kigo for late spring

baby sparrows, little sparrows, suzume no ko　雀の子
suzumeko 雀子（すずめこ）
kosuzume 、小雀（こすずめ）
suzume no hina 雀の雛（すずめのひな）



kisuzume, ki suzume 黄雀（きすずめ）"yellow sparrow"
koojaku こうじゃく【黄雀】, oojaku
The beak of the small bird is still yellow inside.

oya suzume 親雀（おやすずめ）sparrow parents

haru no suzume春の雀（はるのすずめ）sparrow in spring


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

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SUMMER

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

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

More kigo about the reed warbler !

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suzume no tago 雀の担桶 (すずめのたご) sparrow eggs
..... suzume no shooben tago 雀の小便担桶（すずめのしょうべんたご）
suzume no tango 雀のたんご（すずめのたんご）
suzume no tamago 雀の卵（すずめのたまご）
suzume no tago 雀の田子


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AUTUMN

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

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

MORE
SPARROWS in AUTUMN KIGO

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late WINTER

kansuzume, kan suzume 寒雀 (かんすずめ)
sparrow in the cold
kogoesuzume 晩冬 凍雀（こごえすずめ）freezing sparrow
fukurasuzume ふくら雀（ふくらすずめ） "inflated" sparrow, plump sparrwo
puffed up the feathers to keep warm


. Plump sparrow and Daruma .
Folk Toys of Japan


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NEW YEAR

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

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

first sparrow -
he opens his wings
and comes down　　

Kijoo 鬼城 (Tr. Gabi Greve)

Have a look here !

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A Problem

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

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

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

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

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


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

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Worldwide use

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

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

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Uruguay

Some links in Spanish about GORRIÓN


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

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

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

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


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Things found on the way


. March 20th - World Sparrow Day .
Mobile phones blamed for sparrow deaths

So this day is also NO CELLPHONE DAY



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HAIKU

Some sparrow haiku from Issa

suzumego ga naka de naku nari kome fukube

the baby sparrow
chirps inside
the rice gourd

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

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


Basho-ki ya hato mo suzume mo kyaku mekasu



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

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

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viento estival
los pequeños gorriones
luchan y luchan

summer wind -
the little sparrows
struggle on

Russian translation:

летний ветер --
борются с ним
крошки-воробьи

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

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

.. .. ..

duro papeleo
afuera persiguiendose
gorriones

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


dark clouds --
the little sparrow
urges his flight

Carlos Fleitas from Uruguay tells us this:

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


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park bench
an old man shares his lunch
with some sparrows

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

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

(Cicada, v.3, #4)


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

(World Haiku Review, October, 2003)

Frosty day -
finches at the feeder
let a sparrow in

Zhanna P. Rader

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

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

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

Isabelle Prondzynski, Kenya


Camel's foot tree, Bauhinia purpurea



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beside the sparrow
only the fragrance
of a lilac blossom

- Shared by Sandi Pray -
Joys of Japan, 2012


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On the thorny branch
A sparrow sits ~ not thinking
Of migration




- Shared by Res John Burman -
Joys of Japan, 2012



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Related words

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


The BIRD Saijiki with all kigo !

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suzumegakure 雀隠れ (すずめがくれ) "enough to hide a sparrow"
when plants are just beginning to grow


muresuzume 群雀 (むれすずめ) Caragana sinica
lit. "a flock of sparrows"

. Plants in Spring .


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Spring light

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Spring light, spring shining, shining spring (shunkoo)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: All Spring
***** Category: Heavens

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Explanation

spring shines, spring light, bright scenery of spring
shunkoo,shunkō 春光
..... haru no hikari 春の光（はるのひかり）

shunshoku 春色（しゅんしょく）"the color of spring"
..... haru no iro 春の色（はるのいろ）
spring scenery; the scenery in spring

haru no nioi 春の匂（はるのにおい）the smell of spring

harugeshiki 春景色（はるげしき）landscape in spring
..... shunyoo 春容（しゅんよう）
..... shunboo 春望（しゅんぼう）
..... shunkei 春景（しゅんけい）

shunkoo referes to the general brightness that comes with spring, not exclusively with the sunshine.


wind shines, kaze hikaru　風光る (かぜひかる)
"shining wind"
soft wind, kaze yawaraka 風やわらか（かぜやわらか）

These kigo refer to the sparkling of spring sunshine and a gentle wind on a sunny spring day.

harunokaze 春の風 (はるのかぜ) spring breeze / spring wind


Some of these Chinese character combinations relate to old Chinese poems.

. . . . .


"bright breeze" is not a kigo, but a topic for haiku.



. uraraka うららか麗らか bright spring weather
hi urara 日うらうら（ひうらら）bright and clear day




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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

春光や三百年の城の景
shunkoo ya sanbyaku nenn no shiro ho kage

"The light of Spring brims over
The shadow of the Castle shows
The history of 300 years"

Sakai Mokuzen
酒井　黙禅〔さかい・もくぜん〕
明治16（1883）年～昭和47（1972）年

Haiku Stone Memorial in Matsuyama, Dogo Onsen Area



This Haiku monument unveiled on the 15h March of 1962 (Showa 37), Mokuzen's 80th birthday. The characters on this monument is Mokuzen's own hand writing.

It was the days of Sadayuki Matsudaira, the first leader of the domain of Matsuyama, of 1642 (Kanei 19), when the dungeon of Matsuyama Castle was constructed. It goes back to the old times of about 300 years ago from the year of 1962 (Showa 37).

The word of "the shadow of the Castle shows the history of 300 years" just implies the deep emotion for the long history of the Castle.We can take a good sight of Castle Hill from this public hall.

The old Mokuzen took on the job of teaching Haiku as many as several hundreds of times, as the leader of the Haiku gathering in Iwaidani public hall, since 1959 (at the age of 77).
http://www.lib.ehime-u.ac.jp/KUHI/ENG/kuhieng61.html

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風光るまことのなたに花ごろも
kaze hikaru makoto no nata ni hanagoro mo

Wind shines
around truth's flag
and the symphony of flowers as well


Japanese manga series by Taeko Watanabe.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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墨絵にもほのかなる紅風光る
sumi-e ni mo honoka naru momiji kaze hikaru

even in this ink painting
a tint of red autumn leaves -
shining wind

Fukushima Kazu 福島加津


. Sumie paintings and Haiku .


momiji here means the color of red autumn leaves in the painting.

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Alan Summers

bright breeze
the kettle warms up
a cloudless day
Publications credits: Presence #44 (2011)


bright breeze
a sighted person fingers
the statue’s eyes
Publications credits:
City: Bristol Today in Poems and Pictures (Paralalia 2004); tinywords.com

. Discussion at Kigo Hotline


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Related words

***** . Spring morning light (shungyoo) 　
spring dawn, haru no akebono 春の曙（はるのあけぼの）


***** . haru no hi 春の日 (はるのひ) sun in spring


***** . Wind in various kigo (kaze)


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Sponge Gourd (hechima)

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Sponge gourd, loofah, luffa (hechima)

***** Location: Japan, other areas
***** Season: Late Autumn
***** Category: Plant

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Explanation

Sponge gourd, hechima, ito-uri　糸瓜, 蛮瓜,布瓜
long gourd, naga-uri, naga uri 長瓜
Luffa aegyptiaca

The translation of "snake gourd" often found in haiku is problematic. Snake gourd is another plant, see below.


There are many other types of gourds in Japan. Most of them are kigo.
Check them out here :

. Hyootan and Fukube ... Gourds and calabash 　


. Melons and watermelons (uri, suika) 　


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Other Autumn kigo with the Sponge gourd

Shiki's (Death) Anniversary / Shiki's Memorial Day, Shiki-ki 子規忌
September 19, in honor of the famous haiku poet 正岡子規 Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902)

Sponge-gourd Anniversary, hechima-ki 糸瓜忌 へちまき
This naming stems from the sponge-gourd plant (hechima), used as medicine against phlegm for tuberculosis. He used this word in many of his haiku.

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taking water from the sponge gourd,
hechima no mizu toru 糸瓜の水取る
..... hechima hiku　糸瓜引く

water of the sponge gourd, hechima no mizu 糸瓜の水

This liquid is used as medicine or in cosmetics. It is said to be most powerful when collected after the 15th of August (lunar calnedar) on the night of the full moon.
The vines are cut about 30 cm above the ground and the liquid taken from there. There is about one liter coming out in one day and night.

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HECHIMA kigo for summer

seedlings of the sponge gourd, hechima nae 糸瓜苗
sowing sponge gourds, hechima maku 糸瓜蒔く

flower of the sponge gourd, hechima no hana　糸瓜の花
Click HERE to see the yellow flowers

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In Japanese, the name of HE CHI MA is a play of sounds with the IROHA alphabet. For the advanced reader of Japanese, here is the reason:

、「糸瓜（いとうり）」の「と」は、
”いろはにほへとちりぬる・・・”の
「へ」と「ち」の間にある ことから、
”「へ」と「ち」の間” →”「へ」「ち」間”→ へちま

http://www.hana300.com/hechim.html


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Luffa (Luffa aegyptica Mill syn. L. cylindrica),
or Loofah or vegetable sponge,

is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family. Luffa is closely related to and has similar cultural requirements as the cucumber. It is an annual climbing vine, which produces a fruit containing a fibrous vascular system. When separated from the skin, flesh and seeds, the fiber network can be used as a bathroom sponge.

Luffa can also be used as packing material, for making crafts, and as filters. Used as a bath sponge it produces a mild glow on the skin. The blood circulation the sponge induces on the skin has been credited as a relief for rheumatic and arthritic sufferers. The versatility of the luffa goes beyond producing sponges. The young fruit, when small, (around 6 inches) are delicious used in soup or stew. They can also be cooked like summer squash. Older fruit have been reported to develop purgative chemicals.

Because luffa has a compact network of close fibers, its resiliency makes it useful for many products like filters, slipper soles, baskets. Small pieces of luffa sponge are good for scraping vegetables like carrots without having to remove the valuable nutrients by peeling them. You can also wash dishes, scrub your tub, etc. with luffa. When they become soiled throw them in the washer! Luffa is environmentally safe, biodegradable and a renewable resource.

Read more facts about the luffa plant !


Click HERE to see more photos of this plant and its blossoms.


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Worldwide use

Names of this plant in various languages

ENGLISH : Loofah, Smooth loofah, Rag gourd, Vegetable-sponge, Sponge gourd, Dishrag gourd, Dish-cloth gourd, Rag gourd
HINDI : Mozhuku peerkankai, Jhinga, Dhundal, Turai, Meethi torai.
ITALIAN : Luffa, Luffa d'Egitto, Petola, Spugna vegetale.
SPANISH : Lufa, Esponja vegetal, Pepino para paste (El Salvador, Guatemala).

Copyright © 1997 - 2000 The University of Melbourne.
Maintained by: Michel H. Porcher
MULTILINGUAL MULTISCRIPT PLANT NAME DATABASE 　　　　　　　　　　

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Things found on the way

TWENTIETH CENTURY JAPANESE PHILOSOPHICAL HAIKU:
Masaoka SHIKI

I define a philosophical haiku as a haiku which contains either explicitly or implicitly, a universal abstract proposition which is a statement of a philosophy. In my view, philosophical haiku are the superior type.

Read this essay by Hugh Bygott


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HAIKU


堂守の植ゑわすれたる糸瓜かな
doomori no ue-wasuretaru hechima kana

the temple warden
forgot to plant this
sponge gourd . . .

. Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 in Edo .


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- - - - - Masaoka Shiki - - - - -

糸瓜咲いて痰のつまりし仏かな
hechima saite tan no tsumarishi hotoke kana

Masaoka Shiki

The snake gourds are blooming:
here, choked with phlegm, lies a Buddha.

Tr. Hugh Bygott
Read the discussion about translating HOTOKE and HECHIMA


sponge gourds in bloom -
choked with phlegm,
this dead body
(Tr. Gabi Greve)

... ... ...

The loofah blooms and
I, full of phlegm,
become a Buddha.
Tr. Hoffmann : Japanese Death Poems


our loofah is blooming
here's a dead man
totally clogged with phlegm
Tr. Eiko Yachimoto

Quoted from the WHR


Susumu Takiguchi. Quoted from the WHR

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More translated versions of this haiku, quoted from here.


A snake-gourd is blooming;
Clogged with phlegm,
A dying man.
Tr. Blyth


While sponge-gourd was in flower,
through too much phlegm
a Buddha kana
Tr. Harold J. Isaacson


the gourd flowers bloom,
but look--here lies
a phlegm-stuffed Buddha!
Tr. Beichman


The loofah blooms and
I, stuffed with phlegm,
become a Buddha.
Tr. Yoel Hoffman


snake gourd has flowered
choked up with phlegm
ah, Buddha!
Tr. Takiguchi


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Here are what some commentators have written about this haiku:


Blyth:
"Just at this time, the 19th of September, 1902, a snake-gourd was in bloom. The juice of this plant is used for stopping the formation of phlegm, and this is the painful relation between him and the flowers. The last line is literally 'a Buddha,' which means 'soon to become a Buddha,' that is, a dead man."


Beichman:
"Here, the poet is no longer characterized as a sick man but as a dead man, and the separation between himself and the world has become complete and final. ...

"The juice of the gourd, gathered from the plant before it bloomed, was used to relieve coughing such as Shiki's. However, as his condition became past remedy, the juice had become useless and the flowers allowed to come into bloom. The blooming of the flowers, lovely in itself, has a sinister meaning, for it signifies the hopelessness of Shiki's condition, implies his death. Living flowers mean a dying Shiki -- again two opposites, held at one in the mind."


Issacson:
"As the Japanese politely speak of one newly departed as a Buddha (implying that his attainments must have enabled him to get free of the six realms of existence and enter the Buddha realm), the last line-- 'a Buddha kana'-- is a droll way of saying: 'I died.' The larger joke is in the way the haiku burlesques statements found in Buddhist biographies, that while lotuses were in flower some person dying
obtained birth in the Amida Paradise, Sukhavati."

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From a translation project of the World Haiku Review

ototoi no hechima no mizu mo torazariki
Masaoka Shiki, 18/09/1902

since the day
before yesterday, not even gourd water
has been collected

(Version by Sususmu Takiguchi) (1)

Read more translations here:
http://www.worldhaikureview.org/1-3/shikitr5_8_01.shtml

the snake gourd sap..from two days back
.. .. .. .. .. is also left..ungathered
Shiki
http://www.villarana.freeserve.co.uk/zipschool/haiku%20translation%20two.htm


へちまとは　糸瓜のやうな物ならん
hechima to wa hechima no yoo na mono naran

the sponge gourd is
nothing more than a sponge gourd
I guess
source :　Tr. Shiki Museum Volunteers



. WKD - Masaoka Shiki 正岡子規 .



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Gabi Greve about the use of HOTOKE in Japanese

Any deceased person or dead body is referred to as HOTOKE　仏, but that does not carry the strong implication of BUDDHA, rather what it is, a deceased; dead body shitai 死体 is not used in colloquial language. Shisha 死者 is another word for a dead person in the news or legal proceedures.

Let me tell you a story.

Once I was called deep inside our woods to inspect a suicide, a farmer dead in his car. He had put a hose from the gas exhaust to the front room and choked ... (I am a specialist of legal medicine, so I know what I am doing in this case ..)

We wanted to make sure it was not murder, so here comes Gabi san and gives instructions to the Japanese local policeman (he had only seen two dead bodies (hotoke) in his whole career ..) and checks it all out, all the time talking about the HOTOKE SAN in his car.

We were just talking about the dead body, die Leiche, believe me, not about the BUDDHA.
It would never have occured to me to translate our conversation of this day as :

Look, the buddha took his shoes off before entering his car. See how the buddha was spitting slime in his last minutes? What shall we say to the wife of the buddha when we have to tell her? (the poor local policeman had never have to do this duty before ...)
and so on, just to show you that the translation of HOTOKE has its problems when it comes to a dead body in a real life situation.

Shiki seems not to have lost his humor, even in the last minute. Talking about himself as already dead !
Just a few weeks ago, in the NHK Haiku program, the sensei talked about this haiku in connection with examples for HUMOUR in haiku !

June 2006

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Haiga by Nakamura Sakuo

へちまづる切って支舞ば他人哉
hechima-zuru kitte shimaeba tanin kana

after cutting
the snake gourd vine...
strangers


歌書や梶のかはりに糸瓜の葉
uta kaku ya kaji no kawari ni hechima no ha

writing the poem
on the mulberry substitute...
leaf of a gourd


世の中は糸瓜の皮ぞみんな露
yo no naka wa hechima no kawa zo minna tsuyu

in this world
are snake gourds
on each one, dewdrops

Issa, Tr. David Lanoue


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Related words



Kawanabe Gyosui (1831-1889)



***** Snake Gourd, karasu-uri 烏瓜
..... karasuuri, karasu uri 玉瓜（からすうり）
kigo for late autumn
Trichosanthes cucumeroides

. . . CLICK here for Photos !
Sometimes the name Snake Gourd is used as a translation for HECHIMA, but that is wrong.

玉章　たまずさ Tamazusa is another name of this plant.
The striking little red fruit makes this a kigo for autumn.

In Japanese, the word means a gourd for the crows, since they come to eat these fruit in autumn.

Sometimes the name Snake Gourd is used as a translation for HECHIMA 糸瓜.
The plant grows like grapewine in other plants. The flowers can be seen in summer, they look almost as delicate as a lace.
When the leaves are dried off, the red fruit hangs in the tree and is a delicious treat for the animals, hence the Japanese naming: Crow’s Gourd.
The vine hangs in the trees and bushes like a snake, therefore the naming. The flowers open in the evening and look pretty like a lace. The seeds have a special form like a lucky mallet and if you keep one in your purse, you will become a rich man! (or so they say!)


Ki-Karasu-Uri 黄烏瓜 The Yellow Snake GourdThe fruit has a yellow-orange color. Trichosanthes kirilowii
. . . CLICK here for Photos !


yamasato no hibi fukamareba karasu-uri

in the mountain village
days get more intense -
snake gourds

With winter coming, there is a lot to prepare and the days are almost too
short for all the work to be done.
Gabi Greve, 2004



烏瓜夕日たぐりて炎えにけり

Snake gourds
In the evening sun
They are glowing

Oota Midori


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kigo for late summer

karasuuri no hana 烏瓜の花 flower of the snake gourd

They look almost like a lace when they open in the evening, but they close in the morning.





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***** Dead body, deceased person, hotoke 仏
Non-seasonal topic for haiku.


***** Melons and Gourds
hyootan, fukube 瓢箪 gourd, calabash




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Spider (kumo)

[ . BACK to Worldkigo TOP . ]
. 蜘蛛と伝説 Legends about spiders .
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Spider (kumo)

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

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Explanation

spider, Spinne, kumo 蜘蛛


***** spider web (kumo no su　蜘蛛の巣)
kumo no i 蜘蛛の囲（くものい）spiderweb, cobweb

***** spider silk, cobweb (kumo no ito 蜘蛛の糸)
lit. "thread of the spider"

joroogumo 女郎蜘蛛（じょろうぐも）"courtisan spider"
Nephila clavata）

fukurogumo 袋蜘蛛（ふくろぐも）"earth spider"
Atypus karschi

kumo no ko 蜘蛛の子（くものこ）baby spider
fukuro no taiko 蜘蛛の太鼓（くものたいこ）
lit. "drum of a spider"




http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/Aff--CONF/CTID--99154147/RFID--054194/TKID--15040621/pd--10018889/posters.htm


Let me tell from my own experience living out here in the countryside, how I came to understand the Japanese kigo for ANTS and SPIDERS as summer. Living here in an old farmhouse is a lot like living in the Edo period, when most Japanese kigo where perceived.

Surely we have spiders all year round, but in summer, they are at their best.
They are everywhere and every morning when I go out to get the newspaper I run into Aunt Eulalia, who has been putting up her net between the beams of the entrance doorway, again and again.Her many sisters are hanging between the flowers luring mosquitoes, her hairy uncles, Mr. Crab and his tarantula friends, are coming down from the bamboo roof to partake of our food and life... In winter, they are seldom guests.

Gabi Greve

Read more about my Spiders in Paradise.
http://happyhaiku.blogspot.com/2005/02/spiders-in-paradise.html


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Spiders are ancient animals with a history going back many millions of years. They have always been with us, an ancient source of fear and fascination. They are abundant and widespread and are natural controllers of insect populations. Wherever you live, you're always close to a spider.

Differences between spiders and insects?
Relatively speaking - the Arachnida
Midgets to monsters
Spider origins
Living fossils
The largest 'spider' ever?

Read a lot more about these animals here:
http://www.amonline.net.au/spiders/


.. .. .. .. .. .. Spiders in History

What do Mohammed, Yoritomo, David and Robert the Bruce have in common? Spiders changed their lives ... and they went on to change the course of history!

Approximately 3060 years ago David was being pursued by King Saul when he hid in a cave near Jerusalem. A spider made its web across the opening. When Saul saw the web, he called his men away, saying that it was useless to search the cave because the web showed that no one could have entered. So David's life was saved and he lived on to become King of Israel.

Eight hundred years ago Yoritomo, a warrior from Japanese mythology, was running from his enemies after a defeat in battle when he hid inside a large hollow tree. While he was hiding, a spider built a web across the opening. When his enemies found the hollow tree, they were convinced that Yoritomo was not inside because of the web. Yoritomo escaped to become a shogun (an important military leader).

In 1306, Robert the Bruce and his army had been fighting against King Edward I of England for control of Scotland. Robert was lying exhausted in a barn when he noticed a spider try to fix its web to a beam six times. On its seventh attempt, the spider succeeded. Robert was inspired, saying,
"Now shall this spider teach me what I am to do, for I also have failed six times."
He then gathered together some more followers and they won the next battle. After a successful campaign they eventually defeated Edward's army in 1319.

Fourteen hundred years ago the prophet Mohammed was being chased by his enemies near Mecca when he hid in a cave. Miraculously, an acacia tree sprang up out of the ground in front of the cave. A wood-pigeon nested in the tree and a spider made its web between the cave entrance and the tree. As a result his enemies overlooked the cave and Mohammed escaped to become the Prophet of Islam.
http://www.amonline.net.au/spiders/culture/history.htm


.. .. .. .. .. Related links
Spider Myths and Legends Links
http://www.arachnology.be/Arachnology.html
Museum of Victoria Spider site: Legends and Myths
http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/spiders/myths.html
University of California Riverside, Spider site: debunking urban myths about spiders
http://spiders.ucr.edu/
Some Tarantula myths
http://www.earthlife.net/insects/myth-tar.html
Encyclopedia Mythica: search under 'spider'
http://www.pantheon.org/mythica.html

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All about Spiders (Arachnids)
http://www.spiderzrule.com/


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Worldwide use

Australia

Spiders in Aboriginal art
In the Northern Territory, Aboriginal people have depicted spiders in their bark and rock paintings.
Spiders are an important Burnungku clan totem for the Rembarrnga/Kyne people in central Arnhem Land. Spiders in their webs are associated with a sacred rock on the clan estate and the design is connected with a major regional ceremony. These spider totems provide a link with neighbouring clans who also use spider totems in their rituals.
http://www.amonline.net.au/spiders/culture/aboriginal_art.htm

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West Africa

"The wisdom of the spider is greater than that of all of the world together."

A traditional saying from the Akam people of West Africa

Anansi stories
West Africa is the home of Anansi, a folk hero, who is both spider and man. He is a trickster, a provider of wisdom and a keeper of stories. His role is both light hearted and profound, often providing the link between people and the supreme being.

One of the stories is about Anansi's involvement in the creation of the world. Anansi was ordered by the sky god to spin the fabric from which people would be made. Anansi then acted as the messenger between people and gods. Through Anansi's skill as a messenger the sky god gave people day and night, rain and wind.

In another story, Anansi put all wisdom in a pot to keep it safe But the pot was so big he couldn't carry it. When his son wisely suggested that he put the pot on his back, Anansi realised that all wisdom wasn't in the pot. In a fit of temper he tipped the wisdom out of the pot. Now wisdom is available to all people.
http://www.amonline.net.au/spiders/culture/west_africa.htm


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Things found on the way

Spider Posters



Spider and Fig Tree, by Anita Munman
http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/PD--10057836/SpiderandFigTree.asp?ui=711C336C94984D9EA2FA092EEE159C8F


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HAIKU

watering flowers -
the spider's hammock
filled with diamonds



© Haiku and Photo by Gabi Greve
http://happyhaiku.blogspot.com/2005/02/spiders-in-paradise.html


.. .. .. a first spider
.. .. .. dangles in my view -
.. .. .. circles of life

Gabi Greve, March 31, 2005


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© Haiku by Origa, Olga Hooper, 2004
http://thegreenleaf.co.uk/HP/Duets/Olga/00olga.htm
© Haiga by Ashe
http://thegreenleaf.co.uk/files.htm

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© Carol Raisfeld
http://www.poetrylives.com/CAROL/


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Chilling howl of the wind;
a house spider
keeps on weaving

1. Ko, 1987.
2. Four Seasons. Haiku Anthology Classified by Season Words In English and in Japanese, 1991. Edited by Koko Kato. Published by Ko Poetry Association


Fresh-cut zinnia…
a white spider so difficult
to shake off

On the window’s
web-like crack,
a tiny spider

Lake-side house –
webs I knocked down yesterday
replaced

Zhanna P. Rader

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autumn deepens -
my spider still weaves
sunbeams

　©　PHOTO and Haiku: Gabi Greve, November 2007



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Related words

***** Insects of autumn (mushi)



. ANIMALS in SUMMER
SAIJIKI


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Soap Bubbles (shabondama)

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Soap bubbles (shabondama)

***** Location: Japan, worldwide
***** Season: All Spring
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation



Miyagawa Shuntei (1873-1914)


A word of caution:

baburu　バブル　bubble

Words like bubble, bubbles, bubbling
economic bubbles, housing bubbles and so on
bubbles of mineral water or champagne and Sekt

just like that, are not kigo, but topics for haiku.


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Who would not fondly remember childhood with the shimmering bubbles.

soap bubbles, shabondama　
しゃぼんだま、シャボンダマ、石鹸玉
... tamaya たまや
... suikengi すいけんぎ、　水圏戯


source: Cocolog

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Liquid saturated with soap or dishwashing liquid is blown throuth a straw pipe, wand or other contraption to produce these fine bubbles.
Nowadays you can see them all year round, but as a kigo in Japan, they belong to spring, when you first see them again.
This is a kigo that should bring a smile to your face, remembering childhood.

TAMAYA are the old sellers of soap bubble contraptions for kids. They started walking around in spring, with the head covered by a special headgear and carrying a box with their goods.

Gabi Greve


Click HERE to look at them !


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Worldwide use

Seifenblasen



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sæbebobler
in Danish

rainbows balls
a swarm of soap bubbles
followed by laughter

regnbuekugler
en sværm af sæbebobler
følges af latter

Johannes S. H. Bjerg

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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

わが吹いてしやぼんの善玉悪玉とぶ
waga fuite shabon no zendama akudama tobu

I blow soap bubbles
some good ones, some bad ones
flow along

. Takaha Shugyo 鷹羽狩行 .


zendama akudama is now used for cholesterol in the blood.


source : www.yoroiya.jp

quote
“Sanja Matsuri”- a dance

This dance was dramatized about a hundred and thirty years ago in connection with the festival of Sanja (Three Shrine) at Asakusa in Edo. According to tradition, the two fishermen in this dance, Hamanari and Takenari, who pulled up a statue of Kannon (a goddess of mercy) while they were casting their nets in the Miyato River, now known as the Sumida River.

The two fishermen perform
the dance “Zendama” (good spirit)
and
the dance “Akudama” (evil spirit)
because in those days there was a popular and widely read novel called the “Good and Bad (evil) spirits”.
source : www.immortalgeisha.com


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waga iki no kagayaki noboru shabondama

my breath
shimmering, ascending -
soap bubbles

mein Atem
schimmernd, aufschwebend -
Seifenblasen

Nakamura San
Haiku with Hundred

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doing the dishes -
a tiny soap bubble rises
toward heaven

Geschirrspülen -
eine kleine Seifenblase schwebt
gen Himmel

Gabi Greve, August 2006

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this soap bubble
I control the world
for just a second

Fay Aoyagi, Chrysanthemum Love

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forget-me-nots
a soap bubble caught
in his hair

lazy afternoon
a cloud of soap bubbles
over the bluebells

autumn reflections
her face in the back
of a soap bubble

Copyright © 2000-2002 by Heather Madrone

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Floating soap bubble
Rising without direction
Above giggling hands.

Gary Warner - Hoover, Alabama, 1994

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this life . . .
a soap bubble beautiful
before it bursts

Kala Ramesh
First appeared in Bottle Rockets - Fall 06


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smell of shampoo
departs together with
a soap bubble

- Shared by Gennady Nov
Joys of Japan, 2012



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Related words

***** Child, Children (kodomo)

***** . go shinsui sekken 御神水せっけん soap from sacred water .
Kifune Shrine 貴船神社 Kyoto


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Soap Bubbles,
Jean Siméon Chardin, probably 1733/1734
source :　www.nga.gov


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

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Snapper fish

nnnnnnnnnnnn TOP nnnnnnnnnnnnn

Snapper (Pagrus auratus)

***** Location: Australia, other areas
***** Season: Late Spring
***** Category: Fish

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Explanation

Here in Victoria,(Australia) the fish come into Port Phillip Bay in early November, and the run coincideswith the coastal ti-tree blooming.

http://www.anbg.gov.au/leptospermum/leptospermum-laevigatum.html

The Kooris knew this, and everyone interested in fishing learnt it from them, so now it's common knowledge. Also the best snapper appear at the market during November. It's a delicious fish to eat.

"Even today, fisherman use the flowering of the Coast Tea-tree in early November to mark the entry of Snapper into Port Phillip Bay."

... the spelling of 'ti-tree' is also in dispute :) ... 'tea-tree' referring usually to the melaleuca species from which 'tea-tree oil' is made, and historical differences in spelling between NSW and Vic.

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~herring/seasons.htm

I've used the spelling 'snapper', which seems to be the more usual now, though Victorians still spell it 'schnapper', which is probably originally correct, seeing the fish was named by two German men. We have a Point Schnapper, and that was named after the fish. The snapper/schnapper isn't the same as the one caught in Japanese waters, but it's related.

lorin ford

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Snapper are usually pinkish to brown on the upper sides and silvery below. The body is covered by small blue spots that are most obvious in small fish (see third image).

Young fish are known as Squires and old fish are called Old Man Snappers. Old fish develop a prominent hump on the top of the head (see top two images). The hump develops in both sexes but is more prominent in males.

This species is one of the most popular food fishes in Australia. It grows to 1.3m in length and at least 20kg in weight.

Copyright © Australian Museum 2005
http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/pauratus.htm


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

snapper run
my father's cigarette
bobbing on the bay

lorin ford

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Related words

***** ..... FISH as a kigo


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

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

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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