Seven herbs nanakusa

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The seven plants or herbs (nanakusa)
in spring and autumn.

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Fern (shida) - types of ferns

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: New Year, others see below
***** Category: Plant

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Explanation

Many ferns with their regular shaped, evergreen leaves are auspicious for bringing good luck to the New Year. The leaves are used to decorate the festive table and are especially necessary for the expensive restaurants. So some villages have started to grow beautiful fern especially for food decoration purposes and the old people can earn quite a bit on the side on this new "leaves business, leaf business" happa bijinesu　葉っぱビジネス”. The people also collect red leaves of autumn for food decoration purposes, especially maple and persimmon leaves.
The village of Kamikatsu in Shikoku has made special effort with this export of leaves, see LINK below.

There are many auspicious fern varieties for the New Year, let us look at some of them.
Below are also more kigo with auspicious plants for the New Year.

Gabi Greve


http://www.kake.ac.jp/~matsuo/Garden/photo1/urajiro.htm

For more about HERBS, see below.


aoshida 青歯朶 (あおしだ) green fern
shida wakaba 歯朶若葉（しだわかば） young leaves of fern
kigo for early summer


shida kari 歯朶刈 (しだかり) cutting fern
kigo for mid-winter


kareshida, kare shida 枯歯朶 (かれしだ) withering fern
kigo for all winter


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kigo for the New Year

fern, shida しだ、歯朶
white backside, resurrection fern, urajiro 裏白
..... Gleichenia japonica, Polypodium polypodioides
mountain grass, mountain plant, yamagusa 山草
long ears, honaga 穂長
facing the other side, moromuki 諸向

to decorate the ferns, shida kazaru 歯朶飾る

This is a plant that grows over many years in the forests of Japan. Urajiro, the fern with the white on the back of each pair of leaves, is especially decorative. The white backside symbolizes the white hair of an old couple and therefore felicitous.

Look at more New Year Food from the Prince Hotel here. You can see the fern on the food.



http://www.princehotels.co.jp/newyear2006/osechi/makuhari/

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kigo for late spring

shida moyuru 歯朶萌ゆる (しだもゆる) fern is sprouting


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葉っぱビジネス Happa Business

徳島県勝浦郡上勝町という町をご存知だろうか？典型的な少子高齢化の進む過疎の山村だったこの町が、近年にわかに話題になっている。　この町にある町の第３セクター「株式会社いろどり」。各地で第３セクターがずさんな経営で赤字を続ける中、この「いろどり」という会社は昨年度年商２億５千万円という売り上げをこの過疎の山村でたたき出しているのである。　その事業の中心は「葉っぱ」。
山に落ちている葉っぱを全国の高級料亭などに「つまもの」として出荷するというビジネスである。町の高齢者などが毎朝、山に出かけその日の相場を聞いて単価の高い葉っぱを集めてくるのである。その収入は少ない人でも２０万。多い人になると80万。年収にすると１０００万を越えるというから驚きだ。
http://goodspeed-group.biz/happa.htm


. WASHOKU - Decorating food with leaves .


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

- - - - - Matsuo Basho　松尾芭蕉

誰が聟ぞ歯朶に餅負ふ丑の年
taga muko zo shida ni mochi ou ushi no toshi

Whose bridegroom is he?
Driving an ox with ferned rice cake.
The year of the Ox!
Tr. Oseko

whose bridegroom is he?
carrying rice cookies and ferns
in the year of the ox
Tr. Reichhold


Written in the year 貞享二年 - Nozarashi Kiko
It is the custom of this region of Iga Ueno to place some fern and kagamimochi rice cakes on an oxen and drive the animal around the village, led by a new bridegroom of last year. This is done to celebrate a new Year of the Ox of Asia.
Here Basho gives a good description of the regional customs.
It is also a pun with words
ushi oi - to lead an oxen, oi - ou - to carry on the back.


本句において、芭蕉は、こうした伝統文化にあやかり、貞享二年が乙丑(きのとうし)の年であることに因んで「牛」に掛け、更に、「牛追い」からの牛の縁語「追い、追ふ」を「負ふ」に掛けており、古風たる貞門俳諧を源流とする芭蕉の、当句に寄せる本情が「此古体(古風な詠み方)に人のしらぬ悦有(よろこびあり) (服部土芳編「三冊子<赤雙子>」安永五年序)の言葉で明らかにされている。.
source : www.bashouan.com/


. kagamimochi　鏡餅 for the New Year .


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餅を夢に折り結ふ歯朶の草枕
mochi o yume ni ori musubu shida no kusa makura

I dream of rice cakes
decorated with ferns
on my pillow of grass
Tr. Gabi Greve


dreaming of rice cakes
fastened to folded ferns
a grass pillow
Tr. Reichhold

Written in 延宝9年, Basho age 38
He lives a poor life in his Basho-An and can not afford anything special for the New Year celebrations. So he can only dream of decorations while resting on his poor man's pillow stuffed with grass from the roadside.

MORE
Food, Mochi and Haiku by
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .





. WKD : Pillows of the Edo period .


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名こそかはれ江戸の裏白京の歯朶
na koso kaware Edo no uraji Kyoo no shida

the names might be different -
Uraji from Edo
Shida from Kyoto
(Tr. Gabi Greve)

Masaoka Shiki

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Related words

***** Pheasant's Eye (fukujusoo) (Japan)

***** Daphniphyllum macropodum (Japan)
Kigo for the New Year
No English common-name, Yuzuri-ha in Japan is used as an “ornament for the new year to celebrate the good relationship of old and new generations.”

Other Japanese names:

yuzuriha 楪, 弓弦葉, 譲葉木 (ゆずりは)
yuzuriki 交譲木 (ゆづりき)
oyakogusa 親子草（おやこぐさ） (Parent-child plant)


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

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***** Shepherd's purse, nazuna 薺
Kigo for the New Year
One of the seven herbs (nanakusa 七草) used for the seven herbs rice gruel (nanakusagayu 七草がゆ) on January 7.
These two words are also kigo for the New Year, which co-incided with spring in the lunar calendar.
Capsella bursa-pastoris. . Hirtentäschel




kigo for all spring

nazuna no hana 薺の花 (なずなのはな) sheperd's purse flowers
..... hana nazuna 三春 花薺（はななずな）
penpengusa ぺんぺん草（ぺんぺんぐさ）penpen plant
shamisengusa 三味線草（しゃみせんぐさ）"Shamisen plant"
Its fruit resembles the bachi used when playing shamisen. 'pen pen' imitates the sound of a shamisen.



nanakusagayu 七草がゆ　－　粥 Kayu, rice gruel with seven herbs
. nanoka gayu 七日粥（なのかがゆ） gruel on day seven .


konnyaku ni kyoo wa urikatsu wakana kana
Matsuo Basho


. WKD : Rice gruel (kayu 粥) .



one of the seven
in the pot on the stove...
gruel for breakfast!

- Shared by Dennis Chibi -
Joys of Japan, 2013



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The word HERB, just like that, is not a kigo.

quote
A(n) herb is a plant that is valued for qualities such as medicinal properties, flavor, scent, or the like.

Herbs have a variety of uses including culinary, medicinal, or in some cases even spiritual usage. The green, leafy part of the plant is often used, but herbal medicine makes use of the roots, flowers, seeds, root bark, inner bark (cambium), berries and sometimes the pericarp or other portions. General usage differs between culinary herbs and medicinal herbs. A medicinal herb may be a shrub or other woody plant, whereas a culinary herb is a non-woody plant, typically using the leaves. Any of the parts of the plant, as well as any edible fruits or vegetables, might be considered "herbs" in medicinal or spiritual use.

Culinary use of the term "herb" is much more specific and narrow. Culinary use typically distinguishes between herbs, the leafy green parts of the plant, and spices, all the other parts of the plant, including seeds, berries, bark, root, fruit, and even occasionally leaves. Culinary herbs are distinguished from vegetables in that they are used in small amounts and provide flavor (similar to spices) rather than substance to food.

Any plant contains numerous phytochemicals that have varying effects on the body. Even when consumed in the small levels that typify culinary "spicing", there may be some effects, and some herbs are toxic in larger quantities. For instance, some types of herbal extract, such as the extract of Hypericum perforatum (St. John's wort), or the Piper methysticum (kava plant) can be used for medical purposes to relieve depression and stress. But high amounts of these herbs may lead to poisoning, and should be used with caution.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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nanakusagayu 七草がゆ　－　粥 Kayu, rice gruel with seven herbs
google logo January 7, 2013


Introducing the Seven Herbs of Spring.
Haru no Nanakusa 春の七草

Japanese parsley or dropwort (seri せり),
Shepherd's purse, (nazuna 薺),
cottonweed (gogyo 御行, 五形、御形),

chickweed, stitchwort (hakobera はこべら), hakobe 繁縷 (はこべ) , hakuberaはくべら, ushihakobe うしはこべ、asashirage あさしらげ、mikikusa みきくさ
fam. Stellaria

Buddha's Seat(hotoke no za 仏の座) Lapsana apogonoides,
Japanese Turnip (suzuna　すずな),
Long Radish (daikon)）suzushiro すずしろ.

A package of these herbs sold on January 7.


http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~IR4N-KHR/realia/nanakusauc.html


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obsersvance kigo for the New Year

wakana o kuusu, offering fresh greens 若菜を供す
similar to nanakusa, seven herbs of spring
..... wakano no sechi-e 若菜の節会（わかなのせちえ）
..... picking fresh greens, wakana tsumi 若菜摘 わかなつみ
fresh greens, "young greens", wakana 若菜（わかな）
first fresh greens, hatsu wakana 初若菜（はつわかな）
field with fresh greens, wakana no 若菜野（わかなの）
boat transporting fresh greens, wakana bune 若菜舟（わかなぶね）、
day of fresh greens, wakana no hi 若菜の日（わかなのひ）
..... selling fresh greens, 若菜売（わかなうり）
..... selling sheperd's purse, nazuna uri なずなうり


Natsumigawa no shinji 菜摘川の神事 (なつみがわのしんじ)
ritual of picking herbs at Natsumi river

In Yoshino seven herbs were offered at the shrine
Katte Myojin 吉野の勝手明神.

Natsumigawa is the rital name here for the river Yoshinogawa 吉野川.
It used to be a court ritual, already celebrated in poems of the Manyo-Shu collection.

quote
Katte Shrine located in Yoshinoyama, Yoshino-cho, Nara Pref. is one of the eight Myojin shrines in Yoshino.
It enshrines Oyama Tsumi no Kami and
Konohanasakuya-hime no Mikoto.
Legend has it that in 672, when Prince Oama (later enthroned as Emperor Tenmu), who had stayed in Yoshino and gathered an army to battle with the crown prince, was playing the Japanese harp in front of the hall at this temple, a heavenly maiden appeared and showed him a lucky omen.
It is also said that in 1185, when Shizuka Gozen, who parted with Minamoto no Yoshitsune in Mt. Yoshino, was caught by the pursuers, she performed elegant dance in front of the hall at this shrine to make time for her husband to escape.
The main hall was once destroyed by fire and restored in 1776, but in 2005 it was burned down again by the fire of suspicious origin. Presently, only a part of wooden structure remains and there is little possibility of the restoration of this important cultural property.
source : http://nippon-kichi.jp


君がため春の野に出でて若菜つむ
わが衣手に雪はふりつつ

Kimi ga tame Haru no no ni idete Wakana tsumu
Waga koromode ni Yuki wa furi tsutsu

It is for your sake
That I walk the fields in spring,
Gathering green herbs,
While my garment's hanging sleeves
Are speckled with falling snow.

Emperor Koko Tennoo 光孝天皇

. Ogura Hyakunin Isshu Poems 小倉百人一首 .

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. nanakusa matsuri 七草祭（ななくさまつり）
"festival of the seven vegetables" .
wakana shinji 若菜神事（わかなしんじ）
ritual of the seven vegetables

January 7 was also
jinjitsu 人日　 day of man, day of the human being, "human day"
According to Chinese custums, the days of January were dedicated to animals and the last day of the week to man.

1日を鶏の日 chicken day
2日を狗（犬）の日 dog day
3日を猪（豚）の日 wild boar day
4日を羊の日 sheep day
5日を牛の日 cow/bull day
6日を馬の日 horse day
7日人の日　 day of man

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母のこゑ足して七草揃ひけり　 　
haha no koe tashite nanakusa soroi keri

I add mother's voice
to the seven herbs
of spring　

Aza Yoko あざ蓉子 (1947 - )
Born in Kumamoto


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Daruma market on the seventh day of January
七草だるままつり Nanakusa Daruma Matsuri

at temple Zakooji, Iida town 飯田市座光寺

. . . CLICK here for Photos !


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nanakusazume 七種爪 (ななくさづめ)
cutting the nails on Nanakusa day
..... nazunazume 薺爪（なずなづめ）
..... nazume 菜爪（なづめ）
muikazume 六日爪（むいかづめ）"nails on the 6th day"
nanukazume 七日爪（なぬかづめ）"nails on the 7th day"

tsumekiriyu 爪剪り湯（つめきりゆ）hot water for cutting the nails (tsume).

On January 7 the nails were cut for the first time. Hot water was poored over the seven herbs of spring and the nails made wet in the broth.


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egu tsumi 恵具摘 (えぐつみ) picking arrowhead
..... egu no wakana えぐの若菜（えぐのわかな）young leaves of arrowhead
..... egu no wakabae えぐの若生（えぐのわかばえ）
..... egu no wakatachi えぐの若立（えぐのわかたち）

EGU ゑぐ is an old name of this plant, already used in the Poetry Collection Manyo-Shu. It stems from egui エグイ. Also called kuwai クワイ.
Arrowhead (kuwai) Japan. Sagittaria trifolia. Pfeilkraut

Arrowhead is considered an auspicious plant and used for New Year Dishes.


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source :　maruk-sozai.jugem.jp

kigo for all spring

seri 芹 (せり) Japanese parsley or dropwort

seri tsumi 芹摘（せりつみ) picking dropwort
serita 芹田（せりた） field with dropwort
seri no mizu 芹の水（せりのみず）water with dropwort
tazeri 田芹（たぜり）dropwort from a field
..... hatazeri 畑芹（はたぜり）

nezeri 根芹（ねぜり）dropwort roots
mizuzeri 水芹（みずぜり）"water dropwort"
shirozeri 白芹（しろぜり） white dropwort
dokuzeri 毒芹（どくぜり）poisonous dropwort

oozeri 大芹（おおぜり）big dropwort
obazeri 婆芹（おばぜり）
egisaizeri 益斎芹（えきさいぜり）

sawazeri 沢芹（さわぜり）swamp dropwort
..... numazeri 沼芹（ぬまぜり）
nejirogusa 根白草（ねじろぐさ）"plant with white roots"
tsumimachigusa つみまし草（つみましぐさ）


. "dropwort picking princess" , Seritsumi Hime 芹摘姫 .
and dropwort kigo in other seasons


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***** Flowers of the Sheperd's purse,
nazuna no hana 薺の花
Kigo for Spring

..... hana nazuna 花薺（はななずな）
..... penpengusa ぺんぺん草（ぺんぺんぐさ）
shamisengusa 三味線草（しゃみせんぐさ） "Shamisen plant"
. . . CLICK here for Photos !



***** Seven Herbs of Autumn


***** Spices of India, an overview 　　



*********** NEW YEAR FOOD SAIJIKI


. . . . SPRING
the complete SAIJIKI


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. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 .

草つみのこぶしの前の入日哉
kusa-tsumi no kobushi no mae no irihi kana

sun sinking
just beyond the fist
of the herb picker
Tr. Chris Drake

This hokku is from 1/10 (Feb. 9) in 1805, probably written when Issa went to a famous park in Edo full of blooming plum trees. It's just after New Year's, a time when people traditionally pick many newly growing herbs and then eat them, usually in soups, while praying for good health during the new year. Issa may be doing the herb-picking himself or watching someone else near him pick fresh, young herbs. I take someone else to be doing the picking, with Issa watching both the person and the sun.

The fist is probably the herb-picker's left hand (assuming she [or he] is right-handed), since her left hand holds the herbs she's plucked with her right hand. Most young herbs can be picked rather easily with one hand, but if the person is pulling up a strong-rooted plant, her plucking hand might be fisted as she yanks it upward. Normally, though, the fisted hand holds the plants that have already been picked. As the person picks here and there, the setting sun nears or begins to sink below the horizon. From Issa's perspective the red sun suddenly seems to have come very close to (it's "in front of") the herb-picker and appears to be only a very short distance from the fistful of herbs. Perhaps the herbs held in the picker's fist momentarily seem to be growing out of the sun.

Or, if the fist is yanking hard to pull up a plant, the sinking sun may seem to be replenishing the earth after the plant is pulled out of it. There is no explicit religious reference in the hokku, but the sinking sun often reminded Issa of Amida Buddha's Pure Land in the west, and perhaps it goes without saying that the intimate closeness of the sun to the picker's herb-filled fist is still another indication to Issa of the actual closeness of the Pure Land to everyday life in this world.

It's hard to rule out the possibility that Issa is the one picking herbs, especially because he was probably too poor to buy herbs from a grocer.
Nine days earlier, on 1/1, he wrote:

kake-nabe mo asahi sasunari kore mo haru

dawn sun shining
even on my chipped pot --
this, too, New Year's

Issa probably has only one earthen pot with which to do his cooking, and it's chipped here and there on the edges. Issa seems grateful for the sun's light, but the normally felicitous light of the first dawn of the year ironically also shows how many cracks and chipped places the pot has.
And on 1/3 Issa wrote:

waga haru ya tadon hitotsu ni kona ichiha

my New Year's --
one ball of charcoal
a bunch of stunted greens

Most people have the largest celebration of the year at New Year's, with many decorations and delicious food and drink, but Issa has only one ball of charcoal fuel to keep him warm and one bunch of cheap, poorly growing greens that were pulled up early and virtually discarded by the farmer in order to thin his field.

Chris Drake


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kigo for all summer

***** hitotsuba 一つ葉 (ひとつば) tongue fern
lit. "one leaf". Japanese felt fern
..... iwagumi いわぐみ、iwa no kane わのかわ
kara hitotsuba 唐一葉（からひとつば）hitotsuba from China
sekiran 石蘭（せきらん）"stone orchid"
sekii, seki i 石韋（せきい）
Pyrrosia lingua





. Seven Herbs of Autumn (aki no nanakusa 秋の七草) .


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Evening shower (yuudachi)

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Evening shower (yuudachi)

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

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Explanation

There are many words in Japanese to express a sudden shower on a sunny summer day.

evening shower, sudden summer shower　
（yuudachi 夕立）　（yudachi ゆだち)
sudden shower, cloudburst (yodachi よだち)
white shower (haku-u 白雨)
clouds of an evening shower (yuudachi-gumo 夕立雲)
wind of an evening shower (夕立風)
after an evening shower (yuudachi go 夕立後)
fine weather after a sudden shower (yuudachi-bare 夕立晴)



Japonisme: The Influence of Japanese Prints on Western Art
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/amico/images-disabled/japan/japonisme.html


In summer, there are often strong showers in the late afternoon or evening, sometimes accompanied by wind and thunder. Since they occur mostly later in the day, they are called "evening shower", "evening cloudburst". They last no longer than one hour and afterwards one feels refreshed and it is bright again.

They are formed by a certain weather pattern of upstream winds and regional low pressure systems. In the Kanto Area around Tokyo, in Yamanashi, Nagano and other provinces, they usually start around four in the afternoon and are gone by six. There people use the verbal form of "yuu tatsu　夕立つ". This is usually accompanied by wind, clouds and high waves, the air is blown up in the evening "yuugata ni ki ga tatsu: yuuki tatsu 夕気立つ", shortened to yuudachi.

The meaning of the verb TATSU 立つ in natural phenomenon means something that is seen clearly with your eyes, the kanji should be arawareru, 顕れる, to reveal itself. This word is also used for mist and fog, the moon, a rainbow and other natural phenomenon. This verb TATSU 顕つ, revealing of natural phenomenon, is usually used during the summer season.

The noun yuudachi 夕立 is used for the rain and the clouds that bring the rain. It is already used in the poetry collection of the Manyoo-Shu and others.

Gabi Greve

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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way

Weather words in Japanese.
降水用語
http://www.kishou.go.jp/know/yougo_hp/kousui.html

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HAIKU

- - - - - Kobayashi Issa　小林一茶 - - - - -

夕立のとりおとしたる小村哉
yuudachi no toriotoshitaru komura kana

the cloudburst
missed one
little village

This is a hokku from the 6th month (July) in 1822, when Issa was either living in his hometown or traveling around to villages in the vicinity, so the small village is probably one that Issa was visiting or that he heard about. It's possible to take the cloudburst as a needed source of water for a village, but the time of the poem is at the end or just after the end of the rainy season, so I take the cloudburst (as opposed to ordinary rain) to be something villages would probably like to avoid, since it could bring flooding and other damage from lightning and strong wind. In another hokku Issa mentions cleaning up his gate to get ready for an approaching cloudburst, and in the hokku following the one above in Issa's diary there seems to be water overflowing from a downpour or a flood in one village:

yamashimizu hito no yukiki ni nigorikeri

pure mountain water
muddied by so many people
walking through it
Tr. Chris Drake

My impression in the first hokku above is that there is a bit of irony in it. Issa might be wryly saying that the fierce storm hit every village in the area and overlooked or failed to hit only one little hamlet -- that is, it was a quite a storm. Or Issa might be expressing thanks for the one small omission the storm made.

Chris Drake



夕立や大肌ぬいで小盃
yuudachi ya oohadanuide ko-sakazuki

big cloudburst --
we strip to the waist
holding small sake cups
Tr. Chris Drake

This humorous summer hokku was written in the 6th month (July) of 1818, a month after Issa's baby girl Sato was born. Issa seems to have been in very high spirits at this time; and his evocation of Sato's death the next year is in Year of My Life. During the 6th month of 1818 Issa's wife, as was common, stayed with her baby at her mother's house in the next village, while Issa, after visiting his wife and daughter for a while, made many short trips, staying with his students in the area. It seems likely that he took part in quite a few sake-drinking celebrations during this time.

In the hokku, a sudden short, hard downpour is literally roaring down outside, giving an edge of excitement to the drinking party that's beginning. It's no doubt hot, so Issa and the others may have slipped off the top parts of their robes and sit stripped to the waist, though Issa may simply be using "strip to the waist" in its metaphorical sense, which is similar to "roll up your sleeves" in English. When there was heavy lifting to be done or a difficult task or job at hand, people would often speak of stripping to the waist and getting down to work with all their might. I take Issa to be using the phrase both literally and metaphorically. Perhaps Issa is beginning the drinking bout by noting how everyone has properly prepared for the major job that is about to commence by stripping down for action, and he reminds them that they'll have to work extremely hard with their small sake cups to be able to handle the large amount of sake they have to drink. The downpour outside suggests the sake will flow almost as freely as the rain.

In the next hokku in Issa's diary, the falling of the rain and the flowing of sake become aspects of each other:

yuudachi ya ima nisanbai nome-nome to

sudden downpour --
hey, come on, just two
or three more cups!

The to at the end of the third line indicates the second and third lines are reported speech. I take these two lines to be Issa's translation from rainese into Japanese of what he thinks the downpour is saying. The powerful sounds and force of the rain seem to be urging Issa and his companions to say things like, "Drink! Have a little more, just a little more!"

Soon after the second hokku above Issa suggests in the another hokku in his diary that the hard rain is inspiring not only humans but also animals:

yuudachi ni hyooshi o tsukeru tsubame kana

a swallow moves
to the rhythm
of the downpour


A swallow hears the hard rain as music, and its steps and body movements accompany the rain, accentuating its rhythm, which is perceptible through all the noise.

Chris Drake

- - - - -

夕立を見せびらかすや山の水
yuudachi o misebirakasu ya yama no mizu

mountain water
shows off
a sudden downpour
Tr. Chris Drake

This humorous hokku is a variant written in Issa's hand of a hokku from the 6th month (July) in 1821. A short but intense cloudburst on the afternoon of a hot summer day completely soaks the mountain, and everywhere rivulets, streams, and waterfalls fill and overflow as the water rushes and splashes down the slopes. Trying to imagine how the mountain water must feel, Issa suggests the water is very proud of being so plentiful and full of energy at the moment, and it enjoys showing off the magnificent gift of water it has just received by performing endless acts of amazing spouting and splashing and falling through the air both on the slopes and in the streambeds that extend out from the foot of the mountain.

The original hokku from Issa's diary in 1821 is equally humorous:

yuudachi o misebirakasu ya yama no kami

the mountain god
shows off
a cloudburst

A great many Japanese mountains were (and some still are) themselves regarded as gods -- as the divine bodies of the god of each mountain. Most mountain gods are believed to be female or sometimes a divine female-male couple, although the god of a mountain is often overlapped with the souls of ancestors from neighboring villages, so the "god" in the first line of the hokku may just as easily be "gods." For hunters and woodcutters, the mountain god is mainly a god of fertility who gives birth to and nurtures the plants and animals living on the mountain, but for farmers the mountain god is above all a god of water who supports and protects rice and other crops.

Like other nature gods in Japanese shamanic folk religion, mountain gods are not almighty and are enmeshed in a wide-ranging divine social fabric. The mountain god in the hokku tries to provide water and other sustenance to people and animals who live near her, but she can't control when the weather gods will decide to drop rain or snow on her slopes. In Issa's hokku the mountain god is extremely happy to receive the divine gift of a real cloudburst, and she feels proud of her ability to now help the local farmers. She's hardly modest, and she shows off for all to see her new abundance not only with streams rushing down her slopes but with water surging through the various streambeds below the mountain that pass through many villages nearby, in one of which Issa lives. No doubt the villagers are very grateful for the mountain god's equally prodigious love of showing off and of giving away everything she gets. Unless there is a flood, that is.

Chris Drake

. WKD : Yama no Kami　山の神 .


. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 Issa in Edo .


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夕立や枕にしたる貧乏樽
yuudachi ya makura ni shitaru bimboodaru

cloudburst--
using an old keg
for a pillow
Tr. David Lanoue


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あっさりと朝夕立のお茶屋哉
assari to asa yuudachi no ochaya kana

with a light touch
morning's cloudburst...
teashop
Tr. David Lanoue


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夕立や舟から見たる京の山
yuudachi ya fune kara mita Kyoo no yama

cloudburst--
watching from a boat
Kyoto's mountain
Tr. David Lanoue

Haiga by Sakuo Nakamura
http://blog.livedoor.jp/sakuo3903/archives/12999737.html


Here is an evening shower in Kyoto,
woodblock from Hiroshige



http://www.asahi-jc.com/woodblck.htm


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夕立や草葉をつかむむら雀 / 夕立ちや　
yuudachi ya kusaba o tsukamu murasuzume
(1776)

sudden shower -
clinging to blades of grass,
the village-sparrows
Tr. Haldane


An evening shower--
Clutching unto the blades of grass
Village sparrows.
Tr. Nelson/Saito


An evening shower!
Holding onto the bushes,
a flock of sparrows.
Tr. Sawa/ Shiffert


An evening cloudburst
sparrows cling desperately
to trembling bushes
Tr. ?

. Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 in Edo .



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evening rain—
I braid my hair
into the dark

Penny Harter
http://www.millikin.edu/haiku/writerprofiles/PennyHarter.html

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Sommerwiese, spröd, hart
Zu kurz der Abendregen
Es bleibt die Hoffnung

summerlawn, so hard
evening shower too short
hope remains

S.Albert - 2000
http://www.webmoment.at/albert/webMoment/Sprache/Sommer.htm


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Related words

***** .. .. .. .. Rain in various KIGO


.SAIJIKI ... HEAVEN
Kigo for Summer 　



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Eagle (washi)

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Eagle (washi, Japan)

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

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Explanation

Bold Eagles and more, let us look at some related kigo.　Most of them live in Hokkaido or the great forests of Northern Japan.


Eagles of Hokkaido
原野の鷲鷹―北海道・サロベツに舞う
ISBN:4894533359

............................................eagle, washi 鷲
big eagle, oowashi 大鷲
dog eagle, inuwashi　犬鷲
white-tailed eagle, oshirowashi 尾白鷲
bald eagle, hagewashi　ハゲワシ　禿鷲

wild eagle, arawashi 荒鷲
eagle on the coast, isowashi　磯鷲

Family Accipitridae (hawks, eagles, and relatives)
Eagles, members of the large Accipitridae family

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Smaller birds of prey

隼 はやぶさ hayabusa peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus)
gray-faced buzzard, goshawk, crested eagle.


The gray-faced buzzard, Bustatur indicus (sashiba 差羽) and the honey buzzard, Pernis ptilorhynchus (hachikuma 八角鷹) are kigo for summer.

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The family Accipitridae encompasses many of the diurnal birds of prey, including the familiar hawks and eagles. The Howard and Moore Checklist of the Birds of the World recognizes 233 species in 67 genera in this family worldwide.

Read a lot more here :
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Accipitridae.html

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American Bald Eagle



Haliaeetus leucocephalus

The bald eagle's story is one of recovery. With the banning of chemicals such as DDT, this majestic bird has made a comeback. While there are still many threats, its future looks good.

Bald eagles are believed to mate for life.

Bald eagles normally lay two or three eggs. Two eggs is more common. Eggs are normally incubated for about 35 days, typically starting in March with chicks hatching in April. The chicks stay in the nest growing bigger until August.

From April to August, the parents will bring lots of food to the chicks, so we might be in for an interesting array of dead wildlife on our Web cam! Much of the food will be fish, but it can also include seabirds or seals.

The chicks take their time leaving the nest. Gradually, they will work their way out on the branches near the nest after they are about 12 weeks old. Then they will fly but stay in the area. For these many months, they spend most of their time crying to their parents asking for food. In September they will start to forage on their own.

Young eagles are on their own until they are about five years old, when they'll look for a mate. They may return to their old nests to visit their parents, but there is no way to tell if a returning juvenile is related to the pair or not.

There are not really any predators that threaten the bald eagle chicks or eggs as the parents are almost always on the nest and they are quite powerful large birds.

© 1996-2006 National Wildlife Federation

Look at a life camera in the Eagle's nest, march 2006
http://www.nwf.org/wildlife/baldeagle/webcam.cfm


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Read in our library about
Eagle Lore, by Phebe Westcott Humphrey

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Worldwide use


Germany

Adler.


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Mongolia


. Golden Eagle Festival .
October 2-3
Ulgii, Bayan Ulgii province


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

bright winter sky
the eagle soars high above
the doves

Gabi Greve


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The golden eagle
flying swiftly through the air
looking majestic.

Leland W.
http://www.kidpub.org/kidpub/kidpub-display-story.php?SID=22151

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Proud, lonely eagle
Surveys the far horizon --
And sits on its egg.

Gareth Jones
http://modena.intergate.ca/personal/gslj/haiku.html

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Her wings extended
She soars above the river
Majestic eagle.

By Ben West, Grade 5
200 5poetskids


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an eagle glides
beneath the grey clouds ---
silence

- Shared by Surmeet Maavi -
Joys of Japan, August 2012


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Related words


BIRDS of WINTER


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THE BIRD SAIJIKI


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Dragonfly (tonbo)

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Dragonfly (tonboo, tomboo - Tombo)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: All Autumn, and see below
***** Category: Animal

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

The dragonflies are the real harbingers of autumn here in the air! They come in many forms and sizes, some almost like small helicopters. And our cats love to chase after them when they start hopping over water puddles.



Shared by Pat Geyer
Joys of Japan, February 2012


Japan was once called Akitsushima meaning
"The Island of the Dragon-fly".
So this animal is very dear to the Japanese heart!

They are also a symbol of good luck here, because they never go back.

Most dragonflies are of course seen during other seasons too, but they are at their best, so to say, in autumn, therefore this is their use as a code word for poetry (kigo) .

There are also different kinds of dragonflies, some are kigo for other seasons, see below.

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Dragonfly and larva
Mori Shunkei　森春渓　 (active around 1800-20 in Osaka)

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Let us look at some kigo with these animals.

dragonfly, tonbo (tombo, tonboo) 蜻蛉
..... seirei せいれい
..... akitsu あきつ
..... chan ちゃん
..... shibuchan 渋ちゃん（しぶちゃん）
..... yanma 蜻蜓（やんま）
..... enba えんば, enma えんま, tonboo とんぼう


big dragonfly, devil's dragonfly, oni yanma 鬼やんま（おにやんま）
Anotogaster sieboldii
silver dragonfly, gin yanma 銀やんま（ぎんやんま）
dragonfly with a small body, koshiboso yanma 腰細やなま
black yanma, kuro yanma 黒やんま（くろやんま）
green dragonfly, ao yanma 青ヤンマ、青やんま
"chinz yanma", sarasa yanma 更紗やんま（さらさやんま）
kiyanma 胡黎（きやんま）


green dragonfly, ao tonbo, aotonbo 青蜻蛉（あおとんぼ）
butterfly dragonfly, choo tonbo 蝶蜻蛉

salt dragonfly, shio tonbo 塩蜻蛉（しおとんぼ）

"salt store dragonfly", shioya tonbo 塩屋蜻蛉（しおやとんぼ）
Orthetrum japonicum japonicum


. . . . .

"shiokara tonbo" 塩辛蜻蛉（しおからとんぼ）
Orthetrum albistylum speciosum
. shiokara . is made from seafood pickled in salt.
A very common dragonfly. The belly of the male is white or light blue. The abdomen of the female is brown, she is called
wheat straw dragonfly, mugiwara tonbo
麦藁蜻蛉（むぎわらとんぼ）
..... straw dragonfly, mugi tonbo 麦蜻蛉（むぎとんぼ）

. . . CLICK here for Photos !

. . . . .

. shoojoo tonbo 猩々蜻蛉（しょうじょうとんぼ）
Shojo Dragonfly, "Tipster Sprite dragonfly
Crocothemis servilia mariannae


shooroo tonbo 精霊蜻蛉（しょうろうとんぼ）
lit. "lantern for the dead"
. . . . . or
"Buddha dragonfly", hotoke tonbo 仏蜻蛉（ほとけとんぼ）
Pantala flavescens


wide belly dragonfly, harahiro tonbo,
腹広蜻蛉（はらひろとんぼ）harabiro tonbo
Lyriothemis pachygastra


"tiger spotted dragonfly", torafu tonbo 虎斑蜻蛉（とらふとんぼ）
Epitheca marginata Selys


dragonfly in high mountains, takane tonbo
高嶺蜻蛉（たかねとんぼ）
Somatochlora uchidai


koshiaki tonbo こしあき蜻蛉（こしあきとんぼ）
Pseudothemis zonata


old dragonfly, mukashi tonbo 昔蜻蛉（むかしとんぼ）
Epiophlebia superstes


fishing with dragonflies, tonbo tsuri
蜻蛉釣（とんぼつり）


. . . . .

red dragonfly, aka tonbo　
赤蜻蛉　赤とんぼ . アカトンボ

http://www.kagiken.co.jp/new/kojimachi/mushi.html


Sympetrum darwinianum

..... maybe the most loved one in Japan due to a children's song about it.

夕焼小焼の、赤とんぼ
負われて見たのは、いつの日か

You can listen to it here : Akatonbo Song

Other kigo names for this special red dragonfly are:

noshime　のしめ
noshime tonbo のしめ蜻蛉
akienba 赤蜻蛉、赤卒
aki akane 秋茜 "red autumn"
akaenba 秋卒（あかえんば）

hatchoo tonbo 八丁蜻蛉（はっちょうとんぼ）
Nannophya pygmaea



Red Dragonfly deep in the mountains

http://ww4.tiki.ne.jp/~quercus/satoyama/224-12.html
miyama akane　深山茜

Red Dragonfly with high eyebrows

http://pd-hino.hp.infoseek.co.jp/Y2005/M507/z_mayutateakane5071.html
mayutate akane 眉立茜 マユタテアカネ


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kigo for mid-summer

tonbo umaru 蜻蛉生る (とんぼうまる) dragonfly is born
..... yago やご, larvae of dragonfiels
yamame やまめ、taikomushi 太鼓虫（たいこむし)
tonbo no ko 蜻蛉の子（とんぼのこ）"dragonfly children"

. . . CLICK here for Photos !

Libellenlarve


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Dragonfly
Anisoptera: Flying colors

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. We're not talking about the colors of the rainbow...we're talking dragonflies! When you consider that these common insects have been around for more than 200 million years, you could say that our planet has always been a very colorful place! But the dragonfly isn't born with his smashing fashion sense. He enters the world as a tiny egg--one of hundreds laid underwater by momma dragonfly. Next, he enters the larval stage, and is then known as a nymph. During this stage, the dragonfly nymph hangs out underwater, growing larger and larger, until he "sheds" his skin--and out pops a full-grown, full-blown dragonfly.

© Animal Encyclopedia
http://www.animaland.org/asp/encyclopedia/dragonfly.asp

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Link with photos of this animal.
http://www.flowers.vg/flowers/bug09.htm

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An impressive page with all about the dragonfly, as symbol, in religion, in art and so on:
Cultural Odonatology References
http://uci.net/~pondhawk/odonata/cultural_odonatology.html

My safekeep copy is here:
All about the Dragonfly by Ron Lyons


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Worldwide use

France

Dragonflies (Odonata), or odonatoptères - more known as dragonflies - are one order of insects with elongated body with two pairs of membranous wings generally transparent and whose compound eyes and generally allow them to large effectively hunt their prey. They are aquatic in the larval state and terrestrial as adults. They are predators that may be encountered occasionally in any type of environment, but are more common in the vicinity of of areas freshwater to brackish , stagnant at current low, they need to reproduce.
In French language , the term dragonfly is generally used in a broad sense to refer to the Odonata, which include two sub-orders : damselflies ( Zygoptera ) and dragonflies strict sense ( Anisoptera ).
A third sub-order, Anisozygoptères ( Anisozygoptera ) has only Himalayan species and one Japanese. In 1996, Günter Bechly combined the two suborders Anisoptera and Anisozygoptera in Epiproctophora including their analogy in the larval stage (presence of épiproctes and not of caudal lamellae as in Zygoptera).



At edge of the pond
to keep me company
a young lady.

(Other word in french for dragonfly)

- Shared by Patrick Fetu -
Haiku Culture Magazine, 2013



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Germany

Libelle, Libellen



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Things found on the way

The Dragon-fly
by Alfred Lord Tennyson apparently from ``The Two Voices''

Today I saw the dragon-fly
Come from the wells where he did lie.
An inner impulse rent the veil
Of his old husk: from head to tail
Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.
He dried his wings: like gauze they grew;
Thro' crofts and pastures wet with dew
A living flash of light he flew.
http://uci.net/~pondhawk/odonata/cultural_odonatology.html


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. Tonbodama とんぼだま【蜻蛉玉】 Dragonfly Glass Beads



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稲妻や浪もてゆ（結）へる秋津しま
inazuma ya nami moteyueru Akitsushima

lightning -
the Islands of Japan
are surrounded by waves
Tr. Gabi Greve


quote
lightning --
girdled by waves
islands of Japan

In this hokku, the light from the lightning (inazuma), a seasonal word for autumn associated in the ancient period with the rice harvest (ina), enables the viewer to see the waves surrounding all the islands of Akitsushima (an anceint name for Japan that originally meant the islands where rice grows richly). This is not the result of direct experience. It is a spectacular aerial view - a kind of paean to the fertility and beauty of the country - that would only be possible from far above the earth.
source : Haruo Shirane

A flash of lightning--
Wound around with waves
Akitsu Islands
Tr. Nelson/Saito



蜻蛉や村なつかしき壁の色 　
tonboo ya mura natsukashiki kabe no iro

this dragonfly -
the color of the walls
of my hometown village　

The cut marker YA is at the end of line 1.
natsukashii a direct expression of his loving and longing emotions toward the village and the old walls.

. Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 in Edo .



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HAIKU

蜻蛉釣り今日はどこまで行ったやら
tombo-tsuri kyoo wa doko made itta yara

catching dragonflies -
how far did we go
today ?
(Tr. Gabi Greve)

Chiyo-jo千代女 (Chiyo-Ni)
http://www.takase.com/Haiku/HaikuSource01.htm

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Takarai Kikaku 宝井基角 wrote:

赤とんぼ羽をとったら唐がらし
akatonbo hane o tottara toogarashi

red dragonfly
when the wings are taken off
just a red pepper


When Basho saw Kikaku's haiku, he said:

"No, this is not a good haiku, because you kill the dragonfly.
If you want to make a good haiku,
you must give it life and say instead:

唐がらし羽をつけたら赤とんぼ
toogarashi hane o tsuketara akatonbo

red pepper -
put wings on it to get
a red dragonfly
.


Basho and Kikaku

Kikaku was just clever.

But to make a good haiku, you need more than cleverness:

You need compassion towards nature. So this was a great message to Basho's
students about the importance of nature and the importance of our attitude
towards nature.
- Good Advise for Writing Haiku -



source :　oyamabatyan


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垣竹と蜻蛉と映る障子かな
kaki-dake to tombo to utsuru shooji kana!

on my paper window
the shadow of a dragonfly
and the bamboo fence

許白
http://symnet.ishikawa-c.ac.jp/salon/haiku1.html

Bamboo as kigo, in art and in my garden


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The Haiku Photo Gallery
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/ph_detail?photo_sn_in=1454
Museki Abe

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- - - - - Kobayashi Issa - - - - -

mikazuki o nirame tsumetaru tombo kana

scowling
at the sickle moon...
a dragonfly
Tr. David Lanoue


- - - - -


罪人を済度に入れるか赤とんぼ
zainin o saido ni ireru ka aka-tombo

red dragonflies,
are you here to lead criminals
to enlightenment?
Tr. Chris Drake

There may be other versions of this hokku, but I use the one in Issa's collected works 1.543. It's from a manuscript from 1823 and is an autumn hokku. Issa seems to be deeply moved by the many red dragonflies darting here and there, ignoring gravity in remarkable ways. They fly so freely they resemble bodhisattvas to Issa, and he uses Buddhist language (saido) to ask them if they are here in this world like bodhisattvas to guide even criminals to enlightenment and the other shore.

Surely he also means to Amida's Pure Land. Amida has promised to accept into the Pure Land even the most hardened and cruel criminals if they call out his name with an unwavering and utterly devout heart, and when Issa sees the dragonflies he also seems to feel a wave of utter devotion coming over him. He is no doubt acutely aware of his own imperfections, and he may feel no decisive difference between himself and the condemned criminals who often pass westward through his hometown on their way to work in the prison silver mines on Sado Island, out in the Japan Sea. To me this hokku may be asking the dragonflies if they would be willing to guide Issa, too.

Chris Drake

- - - - -

づぶ濡にぬれてまじまじ蜻蛉哉
zubunure ni nurete maji-maji tonbo kana

rain drips steadily
from unblinking
dragonfly eyes
Tr. Chris Drake

This hokku is from the 8th month (September) of 1817, when Issa was traveling around to see various haikai poets who lived near his hometown. Issa seems fascinated by the large, compound eyes (with 30,000 lenses) of a dragonfly staring hard at something in the rain. Bulbous eyes that resemble large goggles are wrapped around the dragonfly's head and neck, making possible 360-degree vision, and they have no eyelids, so raindrops strike the dragonfly's big eyes directly and then drip off them, allowing the dragonfly to stare intently despite the rain. Perhaps Issa wishes he could use his limited human eyes to stare equally hard and unflinchingly at everything in the world around him, even through rain and through various human restrictions that try to limit human vision.

Chris Drake

. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .

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yuku mizu ni onoga kage ou tombo kana

over the flowing water
chasing its shadow -
the dragonfly

Lady Chiyo-ni

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蜻蜒や取りつきかねし草の上　
tonboo ya tori tsuki kaneshi kusa no ue

this dragonfly -
it tries so hard to hold on
to a blade of grass
Tr. Gabi Greve

Written in Genroku 3 (1690).

. WKD - Matsuo Basho Archives 松尾芭蕉 .





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red dragonfly: a gust bends the reeds

a red dragonfly hovers -- Daruma's robe

"chibi" (pen-name for Dennis M. Holmes)

Read more of Chibi's haiku on the dragonfly here:
http://darumasan.blogspot.com/2004/02/daruma-haiku-by-chibi.html


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石垣に蜻蛉の蔭の踊りかな
ishigaki ni tonbo no kage no odori kana

old stone wall -
the dancing shadows of
dragonflies

alte Steinmauer -
die tanzenden Schatten
der Libellen

Click HERE to look at the wall.

Gabi Greve

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Japanese link with many many many haiku about the dragonfly!
... ... ... とんぼの俳句

赤とんぼ空に流れる竜田川　（柳多留一）


亡き人のしるしの竹に蜻蛉かな　几薫

http://symnet.ishikawa-c.ac.jp/salon/haiku1.html

safekeep copy is here
http://blog.livedoor.jp/worldkigo/archives/30837644.html

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akatonbo sugu furusato ya nihonjin
赤蜻蛉　すぐ故郷や　日本人

red dragonfly -
the Japanese soon think of
their native place

Gabi Greve
red dragonfly in the heart

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asamauathu
ore mazha ~
thumbikalellam olivil
[Malayalam]

untimely rains ~
dragonflies all
in hiding

Narayanan Raghunathan
http://www.wonderhaikuworlds.com/


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Shared by Pat Geyer
Joys of Japan, February 2012





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

***** damselfly, itotonbo 糸蜻蛉
tooshin tonbo 燈心蜻蛉（とうしんとんぼ）
toosumi tonbo とうすみ蜻蛉（とうすみとんぼ）
kigo for all summer




first damselfly -
prince frog rolls out
his carpet

первая стрекоза-красотка -
принц-лягушка раскатывает
свой длинный ковёр

Nancy Stewart Smith
http://www.worldhaikureview.org/4-1/whcrussian_files/slides/11.htm

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gentle breeze
a damselfly at rest
on a blade of grass

Bill Kenney


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pair of damselflies....
in an ephemeral life,
wish a great blessing

- Shared by Taisaku Nogi
Joys of Japan, March 2012


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kawa tonbo 川蜻蛉 (かわとんぼ) "river dragonfly"
kanetsuke tonbo かねつけ蜻蛉（かねつけとんぼ）
ohaguro tonbo, o-haguro tonbo 鉄漿蜻蛉（おはぐろとんぼ）
Mnais nawai, Mnais pruinosa etc.
kigo for all summer



natsu akane 夏茜 (なつあかね) "summer akane"
kigo for all summer


. . . . .


sanaetonbo, sanae tonbo 早苗蜻蛉 (さなえとんぼ)
"dragonfly in the young rice plants"
kigo for mid-summer
. . . CLICK here for Photos !



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***** Ephemera, kageroo, kagerō,
hiomushi　蜉蝣
early autumn. Some saijiki list it in spring.



Other Japanese names are:

かげろふ　 hiomushi　虫秀
dragonfly with a white belly, shirahara tonbo 白腹蜻蛉
spreckled dragonfly, madara tonbo 斑蜻蛉
shoosetsu tonbo 正雪蜻蛉 Shosetsu dragonfly
named after
. Yui Shōsetsu 由井正雪 Yui Shosetsu (1605 - 1651) .


Ephemera with a spot, mon kageroo 紋蜉蝣


This is a fly that lives only a few hours after it appears from its three years under water as a larvae. In German it is called: One-Day fly, Eintagsfliege. In English, it is also called May fly, although in Japan it is seen only from July to September.

Since it has such a short life, it is a symbol of the tragic life on earth. The flies come out in great crowds on Autumn evenings and dance like crazy, like snow.

The larvae of the the ant lion (arijigoku　蟻地獄) are called "usuba kageroo" usubakagerō 薄翅蜉蝣.
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Kagero Nikki the Gossamer Years, 974
The Kagero Diary (Kagero nikki) Kageroo Nikki -

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かげろうに妻奪われて急ぐなり
前田吐実男

十九歳蜉蝣の胴紙に貼る
四ッ谷龍

幽すいにたらふくなつてかげろへる
松澤昭

現代俳句データベース

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beim Schreiben des Gedichts:
eine Eintagsfliege läuft
über meine Hand

writing this poem:
a may fly crawls
over my hand
(Tr. Gabi Greve)

ziemlichkraus
http://www.ziemlichkraus.de/haiku/haiku.htm


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kigo for early summer

hoonenmushi 豊年虫 (ほうねんむし)
"kagero for a good harvest"
mon kageroo 紋蜉蝣（もんかげろう）
Ephemera japonica

. . . . .


kigo for late summer

kusa kageroo 草蜉蝣 (くさかげろう) lacewing fly
fam. Chrysopidae


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Chinz さらさ, sarasa and kigo

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