WKD (01) ... World Kigo Database . . . (WKD)

WKD . . . Welcome !

2012-12-30T16:50:00.008+09:00

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Welcome to the World Kigo Database !

The World Kigo Database is collecting words from all over the world that may be used as seasonal words (kigo　季語) for haiku of the respective areas. It is based on the concept of a Japanese Dictionary of Seasonal Words (saijiki　歳時記), but addresses all cultures, areas and regions of the world, where people are now writing haiku in languages other than Japanese.

Every haiku poet is welcome to contribute !

................. It is truly a GLOBAL project.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

As of February 2010, BLOGGER is working on a new pageination and not all the posts of my ABC INDEX show on this main page.

. ABC INDEX Part 02 ...
from K to S .

. ABC INDEX Part 03 ...
from T to Z .

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Click here for the
. . . . LATEST ADDITIONS to the WKD

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Caution !
Not all words in the following list are KIGO.
Some are haiku TOPICS (keywords) to be used during the whole year.
Check each entry carefully !

This database is constantly growing.
Please contact me if you want to confirm a kigo!

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. General Items

To Submit your Haiku or Kigo, click here. It's easy !

KIGO – Its use in haiku
The Basics about season words.

Seasons and Categories
Learn the Basics of World Kigo.

. Topics and Keywords used in haiku
The Basics about TOPICS.

General Information Essays about kigo.

- Basic Haiku Theories - Haiku Lessons -
a must read for beginners
(AHA-moment, cut (kire), juxtaposition, ma the pause, pivot, rhyme, riddles, tontoism, wabi sabi, zappai and many more)

Encourageing LOCALISM in your haiku !

the KIGO HOTLINE discussion forum !

AKS any question about kigo !

Translating Haiku Kumarajiva, the Translator 　鳩摩羅什

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Any copyright material mirrored on these pages is intended for the private personal study of haiku poets only. This is a non-commercial site. To have material removed (if they should so desire), copyright owners should please contact me here:
. Copyright Policy .

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

.. .. .. .. .. Regional Kigo Lists and Saijiki

WKD : Alaska Saijiki
WKD : Australian Saijiki
WKD : Bhutan Saijiki
WKD : Canada Saijiki
WKD : Chesapeake Bay Saijiki
WKD : Europa Saijiki
WKD : German Saijiki
WKD : Ghana Saijiki
WKD : Hawaii Saijiki
WKD : India Saijiki
WKD : Ireland Saijiki
WKD : . . . ISSA and the Seasons
WKD : Kenya and Tropical Saijiki
WKD : New England Saijiki
WKD : North American Saijiki Projects
WKD : Romanian Saijiki
WKD : Philippines Saijiki
WKD : Sonoran Saijiki, USA
WKD : South American Saijiki
Southern California Season Words
WKD : Southern Hemisphere, below the Southern Cross
WKD: Trinidad and Tobago Saijiki
WKD : Yemen Saijiki

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

.. .. .. .. Saijiki about special topics

. WKD ... The complete SAIJIKI LIST 　

. . .

Bird Saijiki

Ceremonies and Festivals Saijiki
Buddhist, Shinto and other Japanese Events Saijiki

Fish and Seafood Saijiki 魚歳時記　Sakana Saijiki

Humanity and Daily Life ... kigo for all seasons

Memorial Days of Famous People, Celebrities .....
WORLDWIDE SAIJIKI

Placenames PLACE NAMES used in Haiku Japan and Worldwide
Ortsnamen, utamakura

Personal names, Names of Persons used in Haiku Japan and Worldwide

Sweets Saijiki 和菓子歳時記 Wagashi Saijiki

Tea Ceremony Saijiki 茶道の歳時記　

Vegetable Saijiki 野菜歳時記 Yasai Saijiki

WASHOKU ... Japanese Food Saijiki

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

WKD .. .. Lists of Non-Seasonal Haiku Topics
(Keywords, mu-ki) !!!!!

..... .....

Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets　

Introducing Japanese Culture through Haiku

..... .....

. . . more USEFUL LINKS

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A big THANK YOU to the many haiku poets worldwide who help dilligently to make this database grow!

! CONTRIBUTE ! SUBMISSIONS !
. Contact me! Ask me any question ! 　　

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The World Kigo Database
An interview with Gabi Greve by Flueraşu Petre, 2007
English and German

Kigo, a Key to Japanese Culture Gabi Greve
Inverview with Robert Wilson, Simply Haiku 2009

. WKD ... on FACEBOOK .
since 2009

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

world haiku...
one man's kigo,
is another's topic

~Vaughn Seward [CAN.AB] May 2006

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A final thought about Japanese and English Haiku before we start :

If you take a tom cat,
cut off his head (kigo),
cut off his four legs (5-7-5),
cut off his tail (kire-ji) and
present this creature to the world,
what would it be called?

Gabi Greve
haikku. Dr. med. Gabriele Greve
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

世界季語データベース

NOTE:
sajiki is a misspelling of SAIJIKI.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

. Japan - after the BIG earthquake 　
Reporting since March 11, 2011

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

INDEX A

2012-01-01T04:56:00.000+09:00

.. .. .. .. Alphabetical Index - World Kigo Database

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

.................................................... AAA

Abacus, soroban, Abakus Japan. wasan, Japanese calculation
Abalone (awabi) Haliotis giganitea Japan
Acacia blossoms Yemen, Japan
Acebia, akebia (akebi) Japan. Akebia quinata. chocolate vine.
Acorn (donguri) Japan. and more nuts and berries

Advent Christian Communities

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

.. .. .. .. African Haiku

Afterglow (of the sun after sunset) (yuuyake) Japan
Afternoon sun (nishibi) Japan

AIDS, World AIDS Day Kenya, worldwide
Air conditioning (reiboo) Japan. room cooler

.. .. .. .. Alaska Kiyose

Alberta Family Day, Canada
Alfonsino fish (kinmedai) Beryx splendens
All Saints’ Day
All Souls' Day
Aloe vera (aroe) Japan
Alzheimer's Day worldwide

Amaryllis (amaririsu) Japan
Ambedkar Jayanti, Memorial Day India

Ameyoko shopping alley in Ueno Japan

. . . Amida Buddha Japan
Amida Prayer (Namu Amida Butsu) Japan. Amitabha. Nenbutsu, Nembutsu.

Amihan and Habagat Monsoon Philippines

Anemone
Angelus Prayer (Catholic Communities)
Anglerfish, "frog fish" (ankoo) Japan. Lophiomus setigerus. Seeteufel

ANIMALS IN SPRING SAIJIKI

Anklets (payal) India, Bracelets, Bangles
Ant, ants (ari)Japan, worldwide. Termites, fire ants. Ant lion, doodlebug (arijigoku)

Antidote medicine for summer ailments (dokukeshi) Japan

Aphid, plant louse (aburamushi, arimaki) Japan
Apple (ringo) Japan. Including candy apple, apple pie and many more

Apricot blossoms (anzu no hana) Japan

April (shigatsu) 　　　　　　　　　　
..... April Fool (shigatsu baka) Japan. Worldwide

Arc clam (akagai) "red clam", arc clam Japan. Edo wazurai "the Illness of Edo", and Kagurazaka

Armistice Day Europe (Poppy Day, Rememberance Day, Veterans Day)

..... Aroma, Smell, Fragrance in various kigo

Aronia (kaidoo) Japan. Malus halliana
Arrowhead (kuwai) Japan. Sagittaria trifolia. Pfeilkraut
Arrowroot flower, Kudzu flower (kuzu no hana) Japan
Art festival (geijutsusai) Japan. Geijutsu, Culture events in autumn

Asama Mountain in Shinano Mount Asama. Japan
Ash Wednesday
Ashes and Japanese culture Japan. Tea ceremony, way of incense ...
Ashigara Mountain and the Kintaro Legend Japan
Aso, Mount Aso Kyushu, Japan
Aster (fam. Diplopappus) Europe. China Aster (Callistephus)

Athlete's foot (mizumushi) Japan
Ati-Atihan Festival Philippines

Aum (阿吽) A-Un, Om. India. Alpha and Omega.

August (hachigatsu) "leaf month" (hazuki) ... Japan
August First (hassaku) Japan. August Second.

Aurora borealis, northern lights, arctic fox's tail, Nordlicht

..... Australian Seasons, Australian Saijiki

Autumn (aki) Japan, worldwide
Autumn begins .. Japan. Many related kigo
Autumn comes to an end .. Japan. Many related kigo
. Autum Cherry Shikizakura (Japan)
Autumn deepens (aki fukashi) Japan. Basho's famous haiku translations
. Autumn dusk, autumn twilight (aki no kure) Japan
Autumn flowers . . . KIGO list
Autumn Food ... ... KIGO list
Autumn in your home ... ... KIGO list
Autumn and farmers work ... ... KIGO list
. Autumn Equinox (aki higan) Japan
. Autumn Festival (aki matsuri) Japan
. Autumn Leaves (momiji, Japan) yellow leaves, colored leaves
Autumn entertainment, games, school Japan. feeling lonely in autumn (aki sabishi)
. Autumn Melancholy Europe

Avocado pear (Kikuyu : Mûkorobîa) Kenya

Ayurveda and Herbal Massage India

Azalea (Japan) Tsutsuji, Satsuki, Oomurasaki

INDEX B

2012-01-01T03:57:00.008+09:00

........................................................... BBB

Backup ... of Data and Haiku

Badger, racoon dog, palm civet (tanuki, mujina, anaguma ... ) Japan
Bagworm (minomushi - "straw raincoat bug") Japan. Case moth, basketworm

..... Bahati Haiku Poetry Club, Kenya

Balcony, veranda, terrace (rodai) Japan
Bali IslandIndonesia. Nyepi
Ball, Balls, decorative hand balls (temari) Japan. Ball catching song, ball bouncing song (temari uta)
Ballet (baree) Japan
　Balloon, toy balloon, baloon, Luftballon (fuusen, kamifuusen) Japan
baloon flower, balloon flower, Chinese bellflower (kikyoo) Japan. Platycodon grandiflorus

BAMBOO .. An Asian Plant
..... "Bamboo Wife" (chiku fujin) Asia. Bamboo sleeping companion.

Bhagavad Gita (India)
Banana tree (bashoo) Japan. Musa paradisiaca
..... Banana fruit (banana) Japan. Kenya.

..... Bangladesh Haiku from Bangladesh

Banyan Tree (India)
Banzai ... ten thousand years ! Japan

Barbeque Europe
Barefoot (hadashi, suashi) Japan
Bargain Sales, sales (uridashi) Japan, Worldwide
Barley (mugi) and related kigo Japan
Barrel organ Romania

Baseball Playoff USA, also: Opening Day
..... Baseball Winter Meetings, USA
Basil, sweet basil, holy basil, tulsi Serbia, India. (Ocimum spp.) 　

Basho Memorial Day (Basho-Ki) Japan. Matsuo Bashoo 松尾芭蕉

Bat (koomori, kawahori) Japan
Bath (furo, sentoo) Japan. Taking a bath in various seasons. Hamam, Turkish Bath
Battledore (hagoita) Japan

BeachWorldwide. Surfing.
Beach Pea (hama-endoo, Japan)
Beans and Peas (mame) Soybeans, Adzuki beans, broad beans (daizu, azuki, edamame, soramame). Many human activities involved in growing the beans.
Beans in autumn kigo ... the plants

Bear (kuma)Japan. Bear hunters (matagi), Iomante Festival and many more

Beaver (Castor canadensis) Canada
Bee (mitsubachi)
Beech tree / Fagus sylvatica Ireland, Europe
Beer (biiru) Japan. Bier
Beetle, beetles in all seasons (xyz-mushi) Japan. Käfer
Beggar, begging (kojiki), homeless, poor people (binboonin) Japan. Kanya
Begonia (shuukaidoo, shukaido) Japan

Belgian National Day (Fête nationale de la Belgique)
..... Ghent Festivities, Ghent Festival, Gentse Feesten

Bell, Temple Bell (kane, tsurigane, waniguchi, dootaku) Japan
..... Bell, Temple Bell in India

Bellows Festival (fuigo matsuri) Japan
Belt, sash (obi) Japan
Benten, Benzaiten and the lottery at Minoo Japan. Deity of Fine Arts, Music and Water

Beriberi disease (kakke) Japan
Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer) Cold War (Kalter Krieg), Iron Curtain (eiserner Vorhang). Germany
Berry, berries (berii, kajitsu) and related KIGO. Beeren. Brambles
Between the Years (zwischen den Jahren, Germany)
Bhagavad Gita (India)

........ BHUTAN SAIJIKI .. Haiku in Bhutan

Bible (baiburu)
Bilberries, cowberries (kokemomo), Preiselbeere Japan
Bindweed (Convolvus arvensis) Chesapeake Region, USA
Binzuru, Ceremony for the Arhat Binzuru (Binzuru mawashi) Japan

BIRD SAIJIKI ..... Birds of all seasons
Look here for a Bird Name not listed in this ABC index.

Bird Haze in Spring (torigumori), "birds and wind", torikaze Japan.
..... Including "tori ni kumo" birds and clouds. flower haze, hanagumori. herring haze, nishingumori.
..... Small birds (kotori)
Bird droppings Worldwide
Birthday (tanjoobi, tanjitsu) Japan
Bishamonten, Tamonten (Vaishravana) Japan. Bishamonten Festival, Messenger of Bishamonten
Bison, American Bison

Black (kuro, koku) the color Japan

Blackthorn (Europa)
Blanket (moofu) Japan. Quilt and other warm things.
Blazing sky (enten), scorching heat Japan.

Blind Woman from Echigo (Echigo goze) Japan
Blinds, summer curtains (sudare)Japan. Inclucing bamboo blinds, seating mats (goza), rattan chairs (too isu) and a few more summer items for the home.

Blind People and Haiku
Blizzard (fubuki, fuusetsu) snowstorm Japan

Bloodtype, blood-type, blood type, blood group (ketsuekigata) Japan. Blutgruppe
Blowfish (fugu) Japan. .. Puffer fish, Globefish, Swellfish
Blue, the color of sky and water

Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) bird North America
Bodhidarma, Daruma san in Japan
Bog grasses Ireland
Boma Homesteads Kenya
Bombax (Chorisia Tree) Kenya

Bon Festival (o-bon, obon) Japan. Obon
..... Awaodori Dance Japan, Bon-Odori, Bon-Dance. Yosakoi Dance of Kochi.
..... Bon Boats for Souls (shooryoobune) Japan
..... Bon Flowers (bonbana) Japan
..... Jizobon, Jizoo Bon 地蔵盆
..... Bon Stove (bongama) Japan
..... Bon of Wind (kaze no bon) Japan

Boneset (fujibakama) Japan. Eupatorium fortunei

Bonifacio Day Philippines
Bonito (katsuo) skipjack tuna Japan.
Boomerang,bomerang, bommerang, bomring, boomereng, boomering, bumerang .. Australia
Boredom, to be bored (taikutsu) Japan. Langeweile

Botamochi Rice Cakes (Botamochi) Japan
Botamochi Ceremony (Botamochi Eshiki) and Nichiren
Bottle gourd (yuugao) Lagenaria siceraria Japan

Bow and Arrow (yumi to ya) Japan. Archery
Bowing, bow (o-jigi, ojigi) Japanese greeting etiquette
Bowls, begging bowls, singing bowls
Box, stationary box (bunko, tebunko) Japan
Boxing Day Australia, New Zealand, UK. Christmas Box.
Boy's Festival (tango no sekku, kodomo no hi) Japan

Bramblilng bird (atori) Japan
Branches cut off (eda-uchi) Japan

Brazier and handwarmer (hibachi) Japan
Brazier (jiko) Kenya. makaa (charcoal)

Bread (pan) Worldwide
Breakfast (asagohan, asameshi) Japan
Breeding animals, mating animals Japan
Briar Berry Briar Berries
Bridge (hashi) Japan Worldwide
. . . Nihonbashi, Kasaibashi, Setabashi and more

Bright spring weather (uraraka) Japan. "wind shines" (kaze hikaru)

Brigid's Day (Ireland) St. Brigid

Broom tree, summer cypress (hahakigi) Japan. Kochia scoparia
Brush, pen (fude) Japan

Buckwheat (soba), Buckwheat flowers Japan

Bud of trees, treebuds (ko no me, konome) Japan

Buddha Statues and Haiku ... Daibutsu and Hotoke
Buddha, Shakyamuni, Shaka India, Japan
Buddhabird (buppoosoo) (05) Dollarbird and Eurasian Scops-Owl; Japan
Buddha's Birthday, Flower Festival, Flower Hall (kanbutsu-e, kambutsu-e, shuuni-e, hanamatsuri, hana midoo 　 Japan. sweet tea (amacha) and more
Buddha's Seat (hotoke no za)(Japan)

.. .. .. .. Buddhist Ceremonies and Events, a topical Saijiki Festivals of Japan
Buddhist deities and their kigo

Buildings tall and famous, skyscrapers
Bulbul (hiyodori) Japan
Bullfinch (uso) Japan.
Bukusu Culture, Babukusu People Kenya

..... Bulgaria Collection of the Europa Saijiki

Bull Fighting (toogyuu), bull festival (ushi matsuri) Japan. Jallikattu, India

Bunting bird (kashiradaka) Japan
Bunraku and Joruri / Japanese Puppet Theater
Burdock root　(gobo, goboo) Japan. Arctium lappa
Burma, Union of Myanmar

Bush clover (hagi) Japan
Bushfire, wildfire Australia
Business and work in all seasons
Buson Memorial Day (Buson Ki) Japan

Butterbur sprouts (fuki no too) and butterbur (fuki) Japan

Butterfly (choo)Japan. Worldwide
..... Butterfly in Winter(fuyu no choo) Japan including frozen/freezing butterfly (itechoo)

"Buy Nothing Day" Worldwide

INDEX C

2012-01-01T03:56:00.006+09:00

........................................................... CCC

Cabbage (hakusai) , broccoli, brussle sprouts, carrots and more winter vegetables
..... Wild cabbage (habotan) Brassica oleracea. Japan

Cactus (saboten) Dry areas

Calabash (hyootan) Kalabasse Japan, Kenya. Lagenaria siceraria
Caladium (Elephant Ears) Tropics
Calendar and its related KIGO (koyomi, ...goyomi) Japan. Calendar used in daily life.

..... Calendar Systems, Asian Lunar Calendar, 12 Zodiac Animals, 24 Seasons
Helpful reference to understand Japanese Haiku Seasons.

Calla lily (karaa) Japan. Zantedeschia family
Calligraphy (shodoo)

Camel, Dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) Yemen
Camellia (tsubaki) Sasanka, Sazanka, yabutsubaki, ochitsubaki
Camp, camping (kyanpu), tent (tento) Japan, North America

..... ..... Canada Saijiki
Canada Day, July 1
Canadian Thanksgiving

Candle (roosoku) Japan, worldwide
..... Candle Night Japan

Canna Lily Yemen
Card Games (karuta) Japan. hanafuda, uta karuta.

Carnation, Nelke Japan. Wild Carnation (nadeshiko)
Carneval (Carnival) see also Shrovetide
Carp (higoi, koi) family Cyprinidae fish Japan
Carp Streamers (koinobori, Japan)
Carpet, rug (juutan, dantsuu) Japan
Carrot (ninjin) Karotte Japan
Cassia Blossoms (Cassia afrofistula) Kenya. (Cassia fistula) India . Golden Shower Tree
Castle (shiro) Mountain Castle (yamashiro)Japan
Cat (neko, Japan)

Caterpillars worldwide
..... Including : hairy caterpillar, woolybear, kemushi　
..... looper, inchworm, shakutori
..... ..... Caterpillar, Hairy Caterpillar of Kenya

Catfish (namazu) Japan. Wels
Cauliflower, broccoli, komatsuna, naganegi leek, and more winter vegetables

Cause and Effect ... C&E ... some theory

Cease Fire Day (shuusen kinenbi) Japan. End of WW II
Cedar (sugi) cryptomeria Japan. Cryptomeria japonica
Cemetery Sunday Ireland (Roman Catholic parishes)

Centipede, Millipede (mukade) Japan

Chair (isu) Japan
Chameleon, Veiled chameleon (Chamaeleo calyptratus) Yemen
Cheese Europe, worldwide

Cherry Blossoms (sakura) hanami ... and many related kigo
Cherry Blossom Time ... Food Kigo

..... ..... Chesapeake Bay Saijiki (USA)

Chestnut, sweet chestnut (kuri) Japan. Castanea sativa
..... Horse Chestnut (tochi) Aesculus hippocastanum

Chicken and cock (niwatori) Japan
Chidambaram Dance Festival India, Tamil Nadu

Children, teaching Haiku to children ... many tips on HOW TO
Child, Children (kodomo) of all kinds. abandoned child (sutego)
..... Chigo (temple acolytes) Japan. Temple Children.

Chill, chill wind worldwide
Chimney Sweeping, chimney sweep, Schornsteinfeger England, Germany
Chinese Food, Chuka Ryori Japan
Chinz, calico (sarasa) Japan
Chirping, twittering, warbling of spring birds (saezuri) Japan

Chittorgarh Fort (Rajasthan) India

Chocolate (chokoreeto) with many tasts Japan. Schokolade
Cholera (korera) Japan

Chopping board, cutting board, chopping block (manaita, mana-ita) Japan
Chopsticks (hashi) Japan

Christian Celebrations in Japanese Kigo

Christmas (Japan, Guyana, Europa). Jesus Christ　イエス，イエズス,イエス‐キリスト
... Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera bridgesii) Weihnachtskaktus
...Christmas Moon
...Christmas Tree

Christian Celebrations as KIGO

Chrysanthemum kiku, chiyomigusa (Japan)
..... Wild Chrysantheumu (nogiku) Japan
Chrysanthemum Festival (chooyoo, kiku matsuri) Japan

Church, Cathedral, Chapel (Dom) worldwide

Cicada (semi) Japan, other areas
Cider, apple cider (saidaa) Japan, Europe, Australia
Citrus fruit (kankitsurui) in all seasons. Japan

Clam shell, hamaguri, venus clams Japan. Venusmuscheln
Cleaning the home, broom and more Japan
Cleaning in spring, spring cleaning, Osterputz Europa, America

Clear Autumn Sky (ten takashi, Japan) ... high autumn sky, spacious sky
Clear and cold winter season (sayuru) Japan. a KIGO list

Cleavers, cleaver weeds (mugura) Galium aparine and others. Japan

Clock (tokei) and Time (jikan) Japan. Uhr und Zeit
Cloud, clouds(kumo) Japan, worldwide. Various Kigo.
Clover, Alfalfa, Milk VetchJapan. genge, Astragalus etc.

Coal (sumi), charcoal (mokutan, binchotan) kigo around the charcoal fire.
. . . Cock fighting ritual (tori awase) Japan. also ritual bull fighting (toogyuu), ritual nightingale singing competition (uguisu awase)
Cock and chicken (niwatori) Japan
Cockatoo Australia. Kakadu, Parrot.
Cockroach (gokiburi, aburamushi) Japan
..... and more summer insects and little animals ... gnat, slug, leech ...
Cockscomb (keitoo) Japan
Coconut, Coconut palms Philippines, India
Cod fish (tara) Japan

Coin, coins, money (zeni) Japan Worldwide. Cent, dollar, dime . . .

Cold (samusa, samui), cold wave, cold spell (kanpa, kanpa) Japan, worldwide
..... Cold in Spring, Cold in Autumn and other COLD kigo combinations
..... Cold Dew (kanro) Japan
..... "Cold Mountain", Han Shan, Kanzan and Jittoku Zen Hermits
..... COLD DRINKS - SAIJIKI

..... Colors in Haiku Traditional Japanese Colors

Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara), Europa Butterbur Dandelion, fuki tanpopo (Japan)
Columbus Day America

Comets (suisei) Comet McNaught ...
Common cold and flu (kaze) influenza, swine flu, coughing, sneezing, God of the Cold. Japan, worldwide
Computers and Haiku , online as a topic

Conch trumpet plant (horagai soo) Japan. Impatiens textorii. Jewelweed
Confucius, Sekiten, Sekisai, Kooshi, Kung Fu ... Japan
Conger eel (anago) Congriscus megastomus. Japan. Meeraal.

. . . Cool, cold, chilly ... a feeling and related kigo during all seasons.
Coolness (in summer)(suzushi) 　 Japan. Feeling cool (in summer). Cool breeze (ryoofuu) and many more.
..... including: Coolness in Autumn (aki suzushi)　
Cool dry season Kenya

Cooking rice (kashigi) Japan. using the hearth fire
Cookie, bisquit and more cakes and sweets Japan
Coral berries (manryoo :Ardisia crenata, senryoo : Sarcandra glabra,) Japan. kind of Japanese laurel (aoki no mi) and more red berries
Coral Tree Blossoms (Erythrina indica) Tiger's claw, Sunshine Tree. India
Corbicula clams in miso soup (shijimijiru, shijimi jiru) Japan. (Corbicula japonica)
Cormorant Ireland
.... Cormorant fishing (ukai) Japan
Corn shucking, corn husking USA. maize, tomorokoshi, Mais
Cornflower Ireland, Europe

Corpus Christi Procession Trinidad & Tobago, Germany (Fronleichnam)

Cosmos Flowers (Japan)
Cotoneaster Ireland

Cotton (wata, momen) Japan. Georgia. many related kigo about the plant and cotton cloths.
Cotton fly (watamushi) Japan. Snow fly (yukimushi), snow firefly (yuki hotaru, yukibotaru)
Cottonwood Populus deltoides (Midwestern US)
Cotton rose, Rose-Mallow (fuyoo, fuyo, fuyoh) Hibiscus mutabilis. Japan

Couple’s Day (fuufu no hi, Japan) February 2. wagimoko, my beloved wife

Cow, Oxen (ushi) Japan
..... Cow (Pashu, Gai) The Holy Cow of India
..... Cowbells (Kuhglocken, Germany)

Crab (kani) Japan. Chesapeake Bay, USA King Crab (tarabagani), Queen Crab (zuwaigani), swamp crab (zawagani)
Crabapple, Sibold crabapple, "mountain pear" (yamanashi, yama-nashi) Japan
Crane, Grus japonensis (tsuru) Japan
Crape myrtle (sarusuberi) Japan, North America
Crappie (Pomoxis), North America
Cricket (koorogi)Japan 　 and other autumn insects　　　
Crisp, cool autumn weather .. sawayaka, Japan

Crocodile (wani) and shark (same) Japan
Crocodile mating season Australia

Crocus (Europe, worldwide)
Crow, Raven karasu (Japan)
Crucian carp (buna) Japan. Fish fam. Carassius

Cuckoo (kankodori), little cuckoo (hototogisu) Japan

Cucumber (kyuuri) Japan
..... also: see cucumber (namako)
Culture day (bunka no hi), art festival Japan. Culture events in autumn

Curry (karee), Indian curry dishes

. . . CUT and Cut marker (cutting words), kire and kireji ... juxtaposition (toriawase)

Cut glass (kattogurasu, kiriko, biidoro, gyaman) Japan

Cyclamen (shikuramen) Japan. Alpenveilchen

Index from D to J

2012-01-01T03:50:00.018+09:00

Index from K to M

2012-01-01T03:36:00.008+09:00

Index from N to R

2012-01-01T03:28:00.012+09:00

Index from S

2012-01-01T03:18:00.006+09:00

Index from T to Z

2012-01-01T03:16:00.006+09:00

Seasons and Categories

2011-12-30T18:00:00.001+09:00

[ . BACK to worldkigo TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Haiku Seasons, Categories and
their worldwide use

For a general definition of kigo, read the General Information.

Kigo and its use in Japanese haiku.

Nature provides us with variuos phenomenon during the seasons, but NOT with words about them.

We humans make up words, classify them, write poetry with them and collect them in almanachs.
The Japanese have been the first to put their seasonal words into collections, call the short poems HAIKU and archived them in books called SAIJIKI, that is why even today as haiku poets we stick to these human conventions and we use these books as reference for our own haiku.

Traditional Japanese haiku are about the many changes during the seasons (not simply about nature ! but about the seasonal changes of nature), the changes in the life of plants and animals, heaven and earth, but also the changes in the daily life of humans within the society, like festivals and food.

The Japanese saijiki started in a time when the Asian lunar calendar was used in Japan, so even now we have a sort of timeslip of one month between the ... natural phenomenon.. and the .. kigo about them ...
February, equated to the second lunar month, for example is early spring in the Asian Lunar Calendar system but late winter in the reality of the weather conditions in most parts of Japan.
Consider Northern Hokkaido and Southern Okinawa ... and yet Japanese haiku poets use the same saijiki when they write about natural phenomenon.

The Asian Lunar Calendar and Ceremonies

A lunar month started with no-moon, had the full moon on the 15th and 28 days to go.
The first lunar month of a year started the round of 12 months.
With the calendar reform in Japan, things changed, making the life of a haiku poet more difficult.

Please read the details here:

. The Asian Lunar Calendar and the
changing Dates of Japanese Ceremonies

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

A Japanese saijiki is a handbook of the culture of Japan, a travelouge through our many festivals, a description of our food and drink, a celebration of our nature.
Kigo are not ment to be a weather forecast or a biology textbook, but a reference to these words used in the Japanese poetic cultural context.

Kigo are not simply seasonal words representing animals, plants and natural phenomenon, they also include local festivals and other human activities, and thus carry a lot of cultural background information.

The first advise of a haiku teacher (sensei) in Japan is always:
Go get yourself a saijiki and read it many times.

Seasons

For the worldwide approach to kigo, we must differentiate between the "Haiku Season" and the natural phenomenon and human activites occuring at a certain season at a certain place.

To complicate our endeavor, we also have to deal with the Asian Lunar Calendar and the 24 seasonal points (periods), which were applied in Japan before the introduction of the Western Calendar, when kigo were already used in Japanese poetry. Better read this article before you conitnue.

I compiled the basics about this Asian lunar calendar system here:
The Lunar Calendar in Japan /
The 24 Seasons (juunishi sekki 二十四節季)

They are further divided into

. 72 seasonal points (shichinuniko 七十二候)
72 seasonal spells

Most of them are KIGO.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The classical seasons of Japanese haiku are

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and the New Year.
Each season comes in four sections:

early, middle, late and all the three of them.
http://renku.home.att.net/500ESWd.html#Part

Months will not be used to define a SEASON, because of the differences in the Northern and Southern hemisphere, see below. SPRING is SPRING. (This should not be mistaken. For areas outside Japan, each season is defined by your standards, where a haiku poet writes about it, see below for "Calendar reference kigo".)

Even in Japan, rangeing from Northern Hokkaido to Sub-tropical Okinawa, the seasonal phenomenon do not always correspond with the haiku seasons, which apply mostly to Central Japan. The problem of the lunar calendar defining the traditional Japanese haiku seasons has also to be considered. See below.

For the worldwide context here are some guidelines.
Usually it is necessary to know the area, from where the haiku poet is writing, to appreciate the use of kigo he/she uses in the poetry.

Northern and Southern Hemisphere
If there is not specific mention in the WKD, a calendar reference kigo refers to the Northern Hemisphere as its place of origin, since haiku and the saijiki concept originates in Japan.
For the Southern Hemisphere, add six months.
For a calendar reference kigo originating in the Southern Hemisphere, add six months to get to its Northern counterpart.
These adjustments will not be mentioned specifically for each kigo.
SEE: Adjustments for Australia

Calendar reference kigo
are for example the names of each month and then the many festivals of a specific date and the memorial days of people or things.
Japanese haiku poets up from the North of Hokkaido down to the South of Okinawa have no problem when using DECEMBER as a kigo within the convention of writing haiku, for example. Neither do the Japanese haiku poets who live in Brazil complain about the saijiki.

............... Examples for the use of Japanse Kigo

Example: First Snow, hatsuyuki　初雪
This will be a haiku with a kigo indicating the early winter, never mind the month when it happens in your area.

Example: Butterfly, choo 蝶
This is a kigo for spring (when the first butterflies are seen). To indicate a butterfly seen in a different season, it will be a "Summer Butterfly (natsu no choo)", "Autumn Butterfly (aki no choo)" etc, with the added determining word of the season.

Example: Christmas
a typical calendar time reference kigo
Kigo for Mid-Winter in the Northern Hemisphere. (Will be mentioned)
Kigo for Summer in the Southern Hemisphere. (Will not be mentioned.)
Kigo for "Hot and Dry Season" in the Tropics. (Will not be mentioned, see below.)

to be added.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Non-seasonal words used in haiku have been labeled in many ways：

keywords, non-seasonal topics, all-season topics,
miscellaneous : zakku 雑句; zappai　雑俳
haiku without a season word : muki, mu-ki, 無季, muki no ku 無季の句, muki haiku 無季俳句 ...
"free format haiku" as used by the Shiki Monthly Kukai

... wrongly called : all season kigo (!), quite a contradiction in terms, since KI means season
... "muki kigo": this expression does not exist in the Japanese language !

These words will be collected in the
Non-seasonal Haiku Topics .

The term "all-season kigo, all season kigo" is a misunderstanding and should not be used in this context.

Mukigo ... The Season of 'No-Season'
Problems of Terminology ... a discussion !!!

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Here is a piece of advise from Gabi :

If you are inspired by the nature around you, that is your season !
And if you find a kigo to fit that season, all the better for your haiku!

A butterfly in winter is just that, fuyu no choo, a butterfly in winter! Even in Japan, that is what I see once in a while.

Keep observing what is going on around you and write your haiku about it! That is always the first step.

Read your saijiki (dictionary of kigo) in a leisurely moment to remember some of the words that are used as kigo, and what they mean in a certain culture. Maybe they come in handy at another time when you are about to write your haiku. That is the second step.

The more kigo you remember, the more you can later use them in your haiku, that is the Japanese approach to literature.
More is here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/happyhaiku/message/2498

This is a good piece to read for starters.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SEASONS, by Charles Trumbull

Check the Japanese Beginner's Saijiki to get familiar with some of the Japanese kigo.
Japanese Haiku Topical Dictionary, University of Virginia Library

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

..................The Classification of Seasons
As of Summer 2005

This will be a problem we have to solve as we go along. We do not need to establish definite rules to be followed ...we work as we go and when the necessity arises.
The basic notion we have to keep in mind is that we are dealing with “Haiku Seasons” which even in Japan do not correspond to the calendrical ones.
(The tolerance of Japanese haijin about this discrepance should be our ideal in trying to achive consensus ...)

For the temperate climates, stick to the Japanese definitions. For the rest, see where it leads us, compare with the attempts of others and keep improving our definitions.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Adjustments for some areas

For special areas and seasons around the world, we have to make adjustments. They will not be mentined for most kigo that originate in other regions, for example Christmas, but only for kigo originating in the region.

。。。。。。。　India

According to the classical text of the Ritusamharam we will introduce six haiku seasons in India, two more that the four seasons of the Japanese Saijiki.

Each Indian seaseon comprises only two months, whereas in the Japanese saijiki, each season (except the New Year), comprises three months and is divided in early, middle and late part of the season.

Here are the six seasons for INDIA

Summer – called Grishma –in the months of Jaishthya and Aashadh
approximately May and June

Rains – called Varsha - in the months of Shravan and Bhadrapad
approximately July and August

Autumn called Sharad - in the months of Aashwin and Kartik
approximately September and October

Frost – called Hemant – in the months of Margshishya and Pousha
approximately November and December

Winter called Shishir - in the months of Magh and Phalgun
approximately January and February

Spring known as Vasant - in the months of Chaitra and Vaishakh
approximately March and April

Read more details in the INDIA SAIJIKI.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

。。。。。。。　Kenya and the Tropics

In Kenya and the Tropics, we have the following seasons for Haiku

.. .. .. hot season
.. .. .. long rains
.. .. .. cool season
.. .. .. short rains

Some of the rainy season kigo appear twice in the course of the year.

Read more details in the KENYA SAIJIKI.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

。。。。。。。　Multiple-Season Listings

They will be necessary in very few special cases.

POEMS WITH TWO SEASON WORDS
by William J. Higginson

Wind chimes in Spring, a discussion
http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/2006/11/wind-chimes-fuurin.html

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Online Saijiki for special areas

The World Kigo Database project encourages haiku poets around the world to submit their kigo and haiku about regional items.
Here are the saijiki we support so far

ALASKA Saijiki
AUSTRALIAN Seasons and Saijiki
CANADA Saijiki
Chesapeake Bay Saijiki, USA
GERMAN Saijiki
INDIA Saijiki
ISSA and the Seasons
KENYA Saijiki including the Tropics
North American Saijiki LIST
ROMANIA Saijiki
OKLAHOMA Saijiki (under construction)
SONORAN Saijiki
Trinidad and Tobago Saijiki

Saijiki for Japanese Buddhist and Shinto Ceremonies and Festivals
Saijiki for Memorial Days of Famous People
Tea Ceremony Saijiki

For more Japanese TOPICAL saijiki, see below.
........................................................................................

SEASONS … All about the Seasons of the world
.........................by Waverly Fitzgerald

WKD : Worldwide Calendar Systems

Snow, Moon and Blossoms, SETSUGEKKA 雪月花
Essay by Isamu Kurita Understanding the Japanese Mind

More to be added.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Non-Seasonal Topics

Words which are often used in haiku and renku, but are not specific for any season of their own. To express a season with them, use another kigo with it.
Sometimes Japanese haiku without a season word are called mu-ki muki, 無季, sometimes words without as seasonal aspect are called keywords in America.
The concept of keyword is not common in Japan.

Japanese Haiku without a season word might rather be classified as SENRYU　川柳.

These words are collected here in our Database:
Non-seasonal Haiku Topics .

For more about the concept of keywords, read the General Information.

************************************

Categories

The seven Japanese Categories are:

jikoo　時候　Season, climate, time　
tenmon 天文　Heaven, natural phenomena, astronomy, celestial
chiri 地理　Earth, geography, terrestrial
seikatsu 生活　Humanity, daily life, livelihood
gyooji 行事　Observances, seasonal events, occasions
doobutsu 動物　Animals, Zoology
shokubutsu 植物　Plants, Biology

For Observances and calendar-related season words we have to make adjustments for the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. Thus Christmas will be a WINTER kigo in the North and a SUMMER kigo in the South of the globe.

Since each kigo carries a certain mood or emotional state, the Japanese haiku poet makes sure to study his saijiki and the associations of each kigo.

The Season:
includes general climate, reminders of the previous season, solstice or equinox (i.e., the middle of the season), the months, time and length of day, temperature, approaching the end of the season, anticipating the beginning of the next season.
The name of a month implies a different climatic season in different parts of the world. This is expecially important for the tropical areas, where DECEMBER is a kigo for the hot and dry season in Kenya and the Southern Hemisphere, where DECEMBER is a summer kigo, for example.

The Heavens :
sky, heavenly bodies, winds, precipitation, storms, other sky phenomena, light and shade.
In Haikai, there is also a linking theory involving "heavenly phenomenon" TENSOO てんそう【天相】 and here is one of the eight hattai of the shichimyo hattai 「shichimyoo hattai 七名(しちみよう)八体」theory. With respect to the preceding KU, it links like "cold/warm", "shadow/sun". This theory stems from Kagami Shikoo 各務支考(かがみしこう).
source : 七名八体

The Earth :
landscape, seascape, fields, forests, bodies of water.
©　etext. virginia. university

WKD : the END of each season, expressed in KIGO

Humanity and Observances, two important categories for HAIKU
find the related KIGO of the WKD here !

. SEASON ... a category for KIGO
WKD - complete SAIJIKI

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Saijiki
is a kind of encyclopedia or anthology about seasonal things in Japan, not necessarily only about kigo for haiku.

. . WKD : the COMPLETE SAIJIKI LIST

Collecting Local Japanese Kigo (chibo kigo, chiboo kigo 地貌季語)
Kigo from rural and sometimes remote Japanese areas, even in local dialect, used by the regional haiku poets.
by Miyasaka Shizuo 宮坂静生

We have local saijiki of all the regions of Japan,
from Hokkaido to Okinawa
Furusato Dai Saijiki ふるさと大歳時記

There are many Saijiki available from AMAZON.COM, they have a
list of more than 1500 books:

. WKD : the HISTORY of SAIJIKI

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

The Museum of Haiku Literature (Haiku Bungakukan　俳句文学館) has the world's only library devoted exclusively to collecting and preserving haiku works for future generations.
Hyakunin-cho Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8521, Japan
Museum of Haiku Literature

Gendai Haiku Kiiwaado Jiten
(Modern Haiku Keywords Dictionary)
『現代俳句キーワード辞典』立風書房
夏石番矢（なついし　ばんや) Natsuishi Banya, 1990

Eigo Saijiki (Seasonal Topics in English) 英語歳時記
Narita Shigetoshi 成田成寿 (編集)
ISBN 4-327-16008-3 , 1978.
. Details .

Nichi-Ei Haiku Saijiki 日・英俳句歳時記
Katoo Kooko 加藤耕子, 1991

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A new approach

Muki Saijiki 無季歳時記 -- A contradiction in terms ?
Modern Haiku Association, Japan

Gilbert gives the English as
Muki-Kigo Saijiki ?? 無季季語歳時記 ??
Muki Saijiki ?? 無季歳時記 ??
The Modern Haiku Association Muki-Kigo Saijiki

The above kanji constructions (re-translations from the English) give no results when googeling. "Muki Kigo" is a contradiction in terms and NOT used in Japanese. Kaneko Tohta uses the expression "Mu Kigo 無季語".

The correct Japanse for this section of the saijiki is as follows:

現代俳句歳時記　無季
Gendai Haiku Saijiki / Muki
Modern Haiku Saijiki / Haiku without a season word

Mukigo 無季語　... The Season of 'No-Season'
Problems of Terminology ... a discussion !!!

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

.........................The World Kigo Database
maintains an ongoing discussion about the subjects mentioned above.

Join here with your opinions.

Kigo Open Discussion Forum
THE KIGO HOTLINE"

Haiku Topics Open Discussion Forum

BACK TO
Alphabetical Index of the Worldkigo Database

. . WKD : the COMPLETE SAIJIKI LIST

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

KIGO - use in haiku

2011-12-30T06:20:00.010+09:00

[ . BACK to Worldkigo TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The use of kigo in worldwide haiku

*****************************

A traditional Japanese haiku contains one kigo.
Discussion see below.

Kigo 季語　is a word (GO 語) indicating the season (KI　季）in which the haiku takes place.
This is a short form fo kisetsu no kotoba　季節の言葉, season word, seasonal word, seasonal phrase, seasonal expression.
Such a word or phrase does not only refer to a phenomen in nature (the bees and the butterflies, the weather report), but it shows us how things change within each season.
Furthermore it incorporates the seasonal aspects in human life, such as ceremonies and festivals, livestyle and food, as they flow within the seasons. They are the large pool of "social season words".

Traditional Japanese haiku are about the changes of the season (not simply about nature !! ) and the season words help to express this feeling of change.

They carry the weight of Japanese poetic culture and can be called
"cultural keywords", the vocabulary a poet needs to write haiku.
Since many things are with us all year round, it takes the time when they are "at their best (shun　旬 )" usually, to use them in haiku.
WKD : Shun and Vegetables

Japanese Kigo are a Key to Japanese Culture

Worldwide Season Words are
a Key to Worldwide Cultures

Take your time to make yourself familiar with the broad range of Japaese kigo and then, after observing your surroundings, collect new season words for your own region and share them with your haiku friends.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

About Japanese Kigo

"Do you know the true power of a seasonal word?
These words do not belong to the author of the poem, they do not belong to Basho or Issa or Kyorai. They belong to us.
Seasonal words are our national treasures.
They are like jewels, polished and made more precious by time.
Some seasonal words have been in use since the Edo period. When we pick up one of these jewels and use it in a haiku, it is rich with history.
They are the shared consciousness of our people. They capture the essence of Japanese life."

Read more of her thoughts on kigo
©　Kuroda Momoko 黒田杏子

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Sometimes the Japanese kigo is called "haiku no inochi" the lifeblood of the haiku, or "haiku no heso" the navel of the haiku. Beyond the flesh and bone of a haiku is the kigo, the marrow, the essence of it. Season words are one of the important ingredients that have chrystallized as a standard definition of a Japanese haiku during the ages.

Japanese season words, honed throught ages of poetry writing, carry a certain mood, an emotional state of experiencing things that should be reflected in the haiku they are used in. A haiku poet studies his saijiki to make sure he finds the right kigo to express the mood he wants to convey with his poem.

"Kigo o ikasu", to bring the kigo to life, is therefore one of the first words of advise a Japanese haiku sensei will give his students.

"Kigo ga kiite imasu", the kigo worked very well with this haiku, is a sentence of appraisal when the two other lines fit just perfectly to add to the image of this kigo.

"kigo ga ugokimasen"
The choosen kigo can not be replaced by another.
versus
"kigo ga ugoku" 季語が動く
the kigo can be replaced by any other, thus it is rather weak.

The haiku in its relation to the season is also often called "kisetsu no aisatsu", a seasonal greeting, whereby the kigo carries the seasonal message.
We do have days in early spring and late autumn, where the four seasons seem to rush through within a few hours ... but that does not prevent the Japanese haiku poet from using kigo.

Since most kigo were defined before the advent of the modern calendar and adhere to the Asian lunar calendar, they to not always match the acutal seasons we have now in Japan and the vaste differences of seasons from Northern Hokkaido to Subtropical Okinawa.
Yet for the conventions and purpose of writing haiku, we use the saijiki to determine the "season" of a kigo, the "Haiku Season".

The Asian Lunar Calendar and Ceremonies

A lunar month started with no-moon, had the full moon on the 15th and 28 days to go.
The first lunar month of a year started the round of 12 months.
With the calendar reform in Japan, things changed, making the life of a haiku poet more difficult.

Please read the details here:

. The Asian Lunar Calendar and the
changing Dates of Japanese Ceremonies

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

Spring rain (harusame), autumn wind (akikaze), these words might sound like the normal weather forecast to a non-Japanese.
But as Japanese kigo, they carry a lot of cultural associations from the long history of poetry in Japan and even classical China. For a Japanese, these simple words open a large door of associations to the width and depth and essence of human nature within the universe, and reach far beyond normal time and space.

They have been polished over centruies by poets, to reflect the ups and downs, joys and sorrows of human life.

As you can see in the statistics below, obsevances contributet a lot of the kigo. To really undertand a traditional Japanese haiku, you have to know a lot of cultural background that has nothing to do with simple vocabulary translation, but with Japanese and even Asian culture in general.

This "basic meaning" of a kigo is usually called
hon-i, hon'i, #honi 本意 (ほんい)
in Japanese. This is also pronounced ほい ho-i. The basic meaning is something a haiku poet has to learn like a new vocabulary with each kigo. It contains the cultural context of the word used in Japanese poetry.

established essence, genuine purports

A kiyose lists the kigo as a kind of vocabulary, the saijiki adds the hon-i information and gives example haiku to study the skilfull use of the words.

. WKD : hon-i 本意 - "the real meaning"
(honto no imi 本当の意味)

Reference : hon-i

My Daruma Museum is also a good reference about Japanese Culture.

. Daruma Museum Japan

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

You should not try to use Japanese kigo that do not fit your cultural background or region.
The aim of the World Kigo Database is to help you understand the basics of Japanese kigo to enable you to establish a saijiki of your own region, share the treasures of your own culture !
You will be the cultural ambassador of your area via haiku, open a gate to your regional culture via the introduction of your kigo.
Please help create and find new words that carry enough cultural background to be a new kigo for your area!

Even in Japan there are now movements to collect new kigo from rural areas, even in local dialect, to compile "local saijiki" with
"local kigo" (chibo kigo, chiboo kigo 地貌季語).

Kigo used in a worldwide context are
NOT pinned down to a calendar month.

Read the details on this problem HERE:
Kigo, Seasons and Categories

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

The Japanese characers 季語　can be written in Romaji in various ways
KIGO, "kigo", Kigo or kigo, even KIgo or kiGO ...

Some theorists of ELH (English Language Haiku) prefer to use the term "season word" for "kigo" originating in other cultures.
I think our ancestors have been observing nature and drawing conclusions on how the weather will develop, their very life depended on reading nature properly to survive. They used a lot of season words to describe their detailed and keen observations and pass their knowledge on to their children.
But these words are not "kigo". There are many Japanese season words which never became a kigo.

So what does it take
to change a "season word" into a "kigo" ?

A word or expression must be used in a haiku to become a "kigo", so it takes a haiku poet to do this transformation.
As we use the technical terms from Japanese poetic theory to talk about
haiku, saijiki, kire, kireji, ma, wabi, sabi, yuugen . .
we should also use the technical term
kigo
when a season word is used in a haiku in a language other than Japanese.

to be continued as the discussion goes on ... !

Gabi Greve

KIGO HOTLINE
Please join the discussion !

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

In Japanese haiku, we have kigo, seasonal words, which are not only the selected words typical of seasons but also an accumulation of more than a millennium of our poetry.
By making use of this kigo, we can convey the feeling of pain and agony in a simple line.

Emiko Miyashita about Arima Akito

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oasis in The Heart
Toshimi Horiuchi

A haiku without a kigo loses compactness and succumbs to the prosaic. Haiku follows this axiom: ‘The fewer the words, the broader the meaning.’ Season words provide haiku with tone; that is, intellectual and emotional color to embellish contents. Kigo tend to unite and synthesize the elements of words. These elements yield to kaleidoscopic combinations which leap and intertwine among multi-layered mutations in the reader's mind.

source : simplyhaiku/2010/06/24

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Some thoughts at the beginning of 2008
Gabi Greve

After about four years now struggeling with collecting World Kigo, I think we made good progress and I want to thank all contributors for their great efforts.
The many regional saijiki we could establish within the framework of the database speak for themselves. And the many regional efforts listed otherwise are all big steps to the development of worldwide regional saijiki.

To use "Japanese" kigo outside of Japan brings its problems and should be considered carefully, just as the Japanese had to make considerations when writing "Chinese poetry" during the ages. A butterfly, a beloved Japanese kigo, will always be associated with the Chinese philosoper and poet Chuang Tsu.

To use regional kigo in a responsible way is encouraged by this Database project. To collect regional kigo is up to the regional poets and their efforts to produce a saijiki of their area. It does take a lot of effort, believe me, more than just writing haiku ... I have seen some projects die down simply because of petty infighting among regional poets.

I am glad to see the interest in kigo growing everywhere, even if there are also many voices for "haiku without kigo". Haiku is adapting to the needs of the poets worldwide, so are kigo.

The definition of HAIKU in non-Japanese-language environments is still an open problem that needs to be solved, or maybe left vague and open to personal interpretation !?

Enjoy your Haiku Life 2008!

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Kigo Musings at the end of 2010
by Isabelle Prondzynski

Christmas Eve --
the house roof sparkles
in deep frost

New Year’s Eve --
the sundial sparkles
in deep frost

. . . Kigo Practise

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Are kigo just a cliche / cliché ?

cliche : a trite or overused expression or idea.

This question is sometimes asked in ELH discussions.

Kigo that are often used are proof that they are "well liked" and the author of the haiku is in good company with the peers of the genre.
They often refere to situations that naturally turn a person to write poetry, like an autumn sunset, cherry blossoms or a withered branch ...

I think the the problem of becoming a cliche lies in the combination (often called juxtaposition) with the two other lines of the haiku. If they are not fresh and bring a new idea to the situation, the whole haiku might slide into "tsukinami", the most ordinary.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Haiku is a poem born from a "season word."
Inahata Teiko , Japan

Haiku appreciates nature and our daily life by means of season words.
From the time you wake up till you say "good night" and retire in bed, your daily life at home and at school is filled with pleasant and unpleasant events, things you want to do, affairs with your friends or family members. Your life further includes a comfortable night, or sleepless hours as it is too cold or too hot. Have you ever stopped to think that all these routine affairs keep you closely related to all the vicissitudes on earth that follow the change of seasons?

Have you ever been aware of what nature has in store for your unbiased eyes and heart? Season words symbolize the nature-man relations.
Haiku is a poetry that expresses itself through season words:
this is the second condition of haiku.

It is important that we should pass down the seasonal words which our ancestors chose and formed .
I want you to study the correct meaning of each seasonal word and how to use it appropriately by consulting a saijiki.

©　Inahata Teiko
Invitation to Haiku

History of Japanese Saijiki

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

THE IMPORTANCE OF SEASONS
by Charles Trumbull

snip
Arguments against using a season word in haiku are voiced by

(a) people who find it too difficult or artistically limiting to do so,
(b) those who resist the Japanese season-word system because they find it too highly formalized and inappropriate for English poetry,
(c) iconoclasts who want haiku to be whatever they say it is, tradition be damned, or
(d) poets who would really rather be writing senryu or zappai (verses in haiku form that, respectively, treat human nature or are intended as pure slapstick).
But haiku is, after all, nature poetry.

Reprinted from the Haiku World Web site (May 2003)
source : Simply Haiku, October 2010

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The Power of Kigo in different Haiku

In a haiku with only one theme (ichibutsu jitate) the kigo as the hero of the story sets the theme and the two other lines should give further explanations along the line of shasei, sketching from your moment.

In a haiku with a combination of two ideas (toriawase, often translated as juxtaposition), two lines present the theme and the kigo can be changed to set the mood for the scene. You have to choose your kigo carefully from the pool of avaliable options to set the right ambiance. Therefore it is necessary to know as many kigo as possible to choose a suitable one.
You need to choose a kigo that expresses your mood/feeling/atmosphere.
Study (learn by heart) as many kigo as you can while there is time and
use the appropriate one when you need it. The kigo should bring your two other lines "alive". It will carry a certain season as well as a certain mood for your situation.
KIGO are like the basic "vocabulary" you need to study in order to understand and use the "Haiku Language" properly.

MORE
Kireji, the cut in Haiku

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Analyzing the kigo given in a large Japanese saijiki, there was the following distribution:

Astronomy ... 73
Climate ... 94
Geography, Earth ... 43
Human Affairs ... 706
Religion, Observances 357
Animals ... 164
Plants ... 361
Kametaro Yagi

Observances and human affairs do make up a big part of a saijiki!

Ceremonies and Festivals Saijiki

Memorial Days of Famous People, Celebrities Saijiki

my WASHOKU SAIJIKI ... Japanese Food as KIGO

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Read more details about

Juxtaposition, kigo and the CUT in Haiku !

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Quoting Bill Higginson:

Each of the more important seasonal themes has a long history of not just physical associations, but emotional tone as well. The more skilled the haiku poet, the more the poem works with or plays against these associations. A good haikai saijiki (almanac of seasonal topics and season words used in haiku and linked-poetry composition) explains these traditional associations.

For the haiku poet, this list simply represents those few seasonal topics that have deeply engaged Japanese poets for centuries, and, in some cases, for a millennium or more. Such a list can also help poets to know what to look for when they want to write a seasonal poem. In a saijiki, the systematic seasonal ordering of topics serves mainly to collect related phenomena together, and to arrange finished poems in a rational and aesthetically pleasing order.
renku.home.att.net/

and

The rationale behind season words is tradition,
not personal or local experience.
It makes sense to add certain items to a season word list according to local custom, such as holidays, unique cultural features, and particular weather phenomena or creature-behaviors unique to a specific region, provided they are included at times when poets have in fact noticed them and writen about them.

The overriding factor here is that, unless one is in a very distinctly different climatic zone than mid-temperate central Japan, on which the Japanese saijiki is nominally based, and the phenomenon in question is already recorded in a common Japanese saijiki, then *millions of poets* already relate to it that way.

Read the full quote here
. WKD : Bill Higginson
The rationale behind season words

Read more about this important topic here:
WKD : Seasons and Categories

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Nature and Seasonal Words

One of the major differences between English-language haiku and Japanese haiku is the use of the seasonal word (kigo). There are two formal requirements of the hokku, now called haiku: the cutting word, which cuts the 17 syllable hokku in two, and the seasonal word. English-language haiku poets do not use cutting words per se, but they use the equivalent, either in the punctuation (such as a dash), with nouns, or syntax. The effect is very similar to the cutting word, and there have been many good poems that depend on the cutting.
However, there is no equivalent to the seasonal word. In fact, the use of a seasonal word is not a formal requirement in English-language haiku, as it is for most of Japanese haiku.

MORE

. Beyond the Haiku Moment
Haruo Shirane

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The Poetics of Japanese Verse:
Images, Structure, Meter
Kawamoto Koji, 1999

Translations frequently do not, or cannot, convey the structural accomplishments of poetry, but this book reveals some of that underlying beauty through close readings and analysis of haiku and other forms.

The use of old 'waka' words was therefore, not inconsistent with 'haikai's' effort to renovate traditional poetry. The reliance upon classical poetic diction does not mean that 'haiku' was a slave to long-standing conventions. On the contrary, the legitimacy of the 'haiku' as a full-fledged poetic genre was made possible by the existence of a poetic lexicon comprising thoroughly stereotyped expressions evolved over the course of a thousand-year old tradition. Within this tradition, the mere mention of a single word automatically translated into a specific complex of thoughts, emotions, and associations.

The class of words known as 'kigo' or seasonal words, provides the representative example of such poetic diction. ...
However, it was not until after the maturing of 'renga' that artificial 'kigo' classifications systematically and inseparably yoked particular seasons to particular phenomenon ... including those which are not in reality exclusive to a single season. In other words, it was through the discretionary rules of 'renga' that things like the moon, deer, and fog became inextricably linked to autumn.
...
The justifications for these classifications derived from antecedent texts, particularly the dominant tendencies found in works that were widely regarded as superior poems. Here again, concern was not with reality, per se, but with a literary world .. mostly poetic in nature .. and the relative position of a word within a network of traditional literary expressions.
It is true that large numbers of new 'kigo' were established during the age of 'haikai'. Yet even in these instances poets continued to apply the same fundamental crieteria. As a result, any newly established 'kigo' generally remained subject to strong regulating influences of the initial and therefore paradigmatic verses in which they first appeared ... regardless of later changes in reality.
. Reference .

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Up with Season Words
Michael Dylan Welch

As with most things in life, the key to successful haiku lies in finding a balance between extremes.

So, how to find the balance? I’m not sure I have an answer, except to say that the degree to which each individual haiku writer adapts the use of seasonal references into his or her haiku is likely a reflection of the poet's personality, poetic spirit, or deference to Japanese models.

source : Michael Dylan Welch / graceguts

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

In 2007 at the HNA meeting, the concept of "personal kigo" has been discussed.
Wheather a personal kigo can be understood and be relevant as kigo for other poets and readers will have to be shown.

For example:
The poet's yearly visit to the dentist every autumn.
The poet's birthday or wedding aniversary.

Birthday (tanjoobi)

...

personal kigo
the same pain
as this time last year

John Stevenson
Upstate Dim Sum -
A Biannual Anthology of Haiku and Senryu

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Calendar reference kigo and time words

A special problem are the Calendar reference kigo, for example the names of each month and then the many festivals of a specific date and the memorial days.
You can add six months to a kigo from the Northern Hemisphere (the most common ones are still the Japanese kigo in this database) to get to its counterpart in the Southern Hemisphere. Some relevant kigo of this kind for the tropics which we covered so far are listed in the Kenya Saijiki.

The name of a month denote a well-defined season of an area, they are even listed in the category of "SEASON" in the Japanese saijiki.
But we must keep in mind that this season varies in each part of the wide world. December in the Northern Hemispere denotes a different season than December in the Southern Hemisphere or the Tropics.

Time words like "evening", "Sunday" are considered Topics for Haiku.

More is here
WKD . Seasons and Categories

Haiku poets from all parts of the world are encouraged to contribute their information about the moods and associations of a calendar reference kigo (for example, name of a month) from their area and a few haiku about it to finetune our understanding of these words in a worldwide poetry and haiku context.
It takes the positive co-operation and effort of all regional haiku poets to help with this calendar reference kigo issue.
And I am sure it can be solved in a positive way.
Please send me your contributions !

For starters, review these explanations for each kigo month of Japan:
(Remember, according to the Asian Lunar Calendar.)
"Haiku in Twelve Months"
Inahata Teiko

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

One or more kigo in traditional Japanese haiku ?

"Each haiku is composed of 17 syllables, and the 17 are divided into three groups: five, seven, and five.
We must use one kigo (a symbolic seasonal word) and must not use more than one."
Kyoshi Takahama, a Japanese Haikuist

One kigo in one traditional Japanese haiku is the guideline (yakusokugoto, promise), the "general rule", the advise a Japanese haiku sensei will give his student at the first encounter and keep reminding him afterwards.
(My own experience, passing on the instructions from Michiko sensei:

Write ten years according to the yakusokugoto, then you are able to judge for yourself when not to do so!
But first try to eliminate one of the kigo from your haiku, if your draft has more than one.).

But of course, there are exceptions. Gendai Haiku (Modern Japanese Haiku), Haiku in languages other than Japanese ...
Still for a beginner in the genre in any language, it seems a good piece of advise.

Some kigo are weak, like the butterfly or mosquitoe, which we encounter in many seasons.
Some kigo are strong, like summer, winter, events which occur only once a year and so on.
If two kigo are used in one haiku, one must be strong and the other a weak one to make sure the two kigo do not collide.

To be on the safe side,
only use one kigo in your own haiku and
enjoy the ones with two by the master poets ...
is another piece of advise I often hear in Japan.

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

Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac
by William J. Higginson
ISBN 4-7700-2090-2
Kodansha International [Tokyo, New York, London], 1996

Many thanks to Bill Higginson for granting permission to share the following information from the introduction to his modern classic, Haiku World.

POEMS WITH TWO SEASON WORDS

In Japanese as well as English and other languages, one occasionally encounters a poem with two season words. Should that happen, there are three possibilities, resulting in the following placement in this saijiki. Whichever season word dominates the seasonal understanding of a poem, and thus its placement in the saijiki, is said to be the season word of that peom. (I draw examples from the old masters to show that this is not just a modern phenomenon.)

Same season: When both season words relate to topics in the same season, the poem goes under the topic most central to its meaning if there is no conflict between the topics as to the time period within the season. If a time conflict does exist, it will be resolved in favor of the more limited time period. Sample poem:

uguisu o tama ni nemuru ka aoyanagi

with a warbler
for a soul is it sleeping?
graceful willow

Basho

BUSH WARBLER (uguisu) is an all spring topic, but WILLOW (yanagi) is specific to late spring, so the poem belongs under the latter topic. This poem is mainly about the willow, so the placement seems doubly appropriate. Basho changes Chuang-tsu's famous butterfly-dreaming man into a warbler-dreaming tree.

Different seasons, one dominates: When season words relate to topics in different seasons, usually one or the other obviously governs, and the poem will be placed under that topic in its season. Sample:

ogi nite sake kumu kage ya chiru sakura

with a fan
I drink sake in the shade . . .
falling cherry blossoms

Here Basho mimics a noh actor; when the play calls for drinking sake (rice wine, pronounced "sah-kay"), the actor mimes the motions using a closed folding fan as a prop. Since FALLING CHERRY BLOSSOMS (chiru sakura) is not only a topic appropriate to spring but actually happens in spring, the poem is definitely placed in spring. A FAN (ogi), normally a summer seasonal topic, can easily be present at other seasons

harahara to arare furisuguru tsubaki kana

ploppity-plop
the snow pellets come down
on these camellias

Buson

SNOW PELLETS or graupel (arare--often translated as "hail") may fall any time of year, but has long been recognized as a winter seasonal topic. When it is coupled with a topic strongly associated with springtime, such as CAMELLIAS (tsubaki), the poem in question must also find itself in spring. With the camellias, Buson does not have to say "spring snow pellets" (hara no arare), though that is a seasonal topic in its own right. NOTE: These camellias are most likely red.

Different seasons, neither dominates: When season words relate to topics in different seasons and there is no way to say definitively that the experience belongs in one or the other, the poem will be placed under the most appropriate topic in the all-year section. Sample:

tsuki hana ya yonjukunen no muda aruki

moon and blossoms . . .
forty-nine years of
pointless walking

Issa (1762 - 1826)

Though MOON is an autumnal topic and BLOSSOMS belongs to spring, here Issa uses "moon and blossoms" to mean poetry. Rather than preaching to others about art, Issa is mumbling to himself that his life has amounted to nothing but worrying about "moon and blossoms" -- a pointless task. Since the theme of the poem relates to "years" it belongs in the all-year section, under the topic YEAR or YEARS.

Note that most apparent conflicts between a season word and a word or phrase in a poem that might place the poem under a topic in the all-year section of the saijiki resolve in favor of the appropriate seasonal topic.

Bill Higginson
Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac
http://tinyurl.com/6eaob

... ... ...

Haiku
Handbook: How to Write, Share and Teach Haiku
Excerpts online

Haiku
Handbook: How to Write, Share and Teach Haiku
Glossary about kidai and kigo

William J. Higginson

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Double Seasonal Words" season word duplication
overlapping kigo
futatsu no kigo 二つの季語 two kigo
ki kasanari, kigasanari 季重なり, kigasane "doubling of seasons"
kizure 季ずれ two kigo of different seasons, to overlap seasons

At the time of Matsuo Basho, two kigo were used more often than nowadays, since three were not so many saijiki in print. The printing of saijiki was just beginning and kigo where added as poets started to write about more things.

　WKD : History of Japanese Saijiki

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Generally speaking, in the case of double kigo one becomes the "leading" kigo, and the other "auxiliary". However, what is important is whether it works or not, whether it enhances the quality of the haiku or not, or at least whether it is an irritant or not.

The rejection of "yamabuki-ya" in favour of "furuike-ya" (the old pond) is an example of Basho's originality and innovative faculty, quite apart from the fact that the former would have constituted kigasanari (season word duplication), which probably would not have mattered at that time.

Susumu Takiguchi, WHR 05
worldhaikureview.org/5-1/

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

Q: Is this a double kigo??

A: yes. but the presence of two kigo is not always a fatal error. double kigo should be avoided when they contradict each other or when they constitute redundancy. in some cases, one is subordinate to the other. it's often a matter of judgement. in order to avoid the effort of making the judgement, many people avoid using two kigo in the same haiku altogether.

timothy (Peshtigo) russell, SHIKI archives 2000

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Kigo and Seasonal Reference:
Cross‑cultural Issues in Anglo‑American Haiku
By Richard Gilbert

http://research.iyume.com/kigo/kigo-cross-cultural-issues.htm

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The use of words: season words, keywords . Banya Natsuishi

Seasoning Your Haiku
Ferris Gilli / WHCschools 2001

List of Season Words, from The SHIKI Haiku Salon

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

古季語と遊ぶ Ko Kigo to Asobu
古い季語・珍しい季語の実作体験記

Enjoy Old Kigo !
By Uda Kiyoko, 2007

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Launching of WHCworldkigo 2004

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

(C) Photo by Andrea D`Alessandro
WKD : german-kiyose

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

. Kigo, a Key to Japanese Culture:
An Interview with Gabi Greve, Japan
Robert D. Wilson, Interviewer
from　Simply Haiku, Winter 2009, vol 7 no 4 　

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Millikin University Haiku Writer Profile
William J. Higginson

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::　

General Information

2011-12-29T06:49:00.000+09:00

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

General Information

! WKD ... Read this first !

　Seasons and Categories for haiku

The use of kigo in worldwide haiku

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

THE FIVE HUNDRED ESSENTIAL
JAPANESE SEASON WORDS
Bill Higginson
http://renku.home.att.net/500ESWd.html

For haiku composition, on a superficial level whether a season word refers to early, middle, or late in a given season--or to the whole season--means little; presumably a single haiku reflects the events and emotional values of a particular time. But as we connect more and more with the depths of the haiku tradition, we begin to understand that a great haiku makes use of seasonal themes in a deeper way.

Each of the more important seasonal themes has a long history of not just physical associations, but emotional tone as well. The more skilled the haiku poet, the more the poem works with or plays against these associations.

A good haikai saijiki (almanac of seasonal topics and season words used in haiku and linked-poetry composition) explains these traditional associations. For the haiku poet, this list simply represents those few seasonal topics that have deeply engaged Japanese poets for centuries, and, in some cases, for a millennium or more.

Such a list can also help poets to know what to look for when they want to write a seasonal poem. In a saijiki, the systematic seasonal ordering of topics serves mainly to collect related phenomena together, and to arrange finished poems in a rational and aesthetically pleasing order.

The seasons of traditional Japanese poetry are not the same as our common notion of each season today. Rather, as in earlier times in Europe, each season centers on its solstice or equinox. We know that the European view used to accord with the Japanese tradition because even in English today "midsummer" and "midwinter" refer to times near the solstices of their respective seasons. (The same is true of "Mittsommer" in German and its cognates in other Germanic languages; the Feast of Saint John [le Saint-Jean in French, il San Giovanni in Italian, 26 June] is understood as comparable to Midsummer's Day in England.)

If we abandon the traditional view and insist on understanding "spring" as running from the spring equinox to the summer solstice, one-third to one-half the items in the traditional seasonal arrangement will be out of place. Since the progress of a renku normally involves not only the seasons, but movement within the seasons, I believe renku poets will be best served if we adhere to the traditional arrangement, which will keep our renku in accord with all the linked poems of hundreds of years past as well as others being written today.

Bill Higginson
http://renku.home.att.net/500ESWd.html
(Posted with permission)

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Comments of members of the WHCworldkigo Discussion Forum
on an article about KIGO in the Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kigo

By Michael Baribeau

There is much debate as to what is haiku, most of which is due to the divergent Western style from the Japanese style and the confusion of which style is being defined. Except for a few exceptions (muki), JAPANESE haiku have kigo. The Japanese culture has a much greater affinity and emphasis on the seasons than the West does. When the West adopted haiku, their
interpretation of Japanese translated haiku was that they were about nature in general instead of about seasons in specific.

Being that many Japanese kigo are too subtle by Western standards, Western readings of JAPANESE haiku usually missed the seasonal association. So WESTERN haiku are free form in that they don't require kigo and although the WESTERN haiku were once required to be about nature instead (which often had kigo incidentally) they don't anymore and now the focus is placed on the topics being chaste.

However, if you intend to use a definition that WESTERN haiku require a kigo then may I suggest labeling the haiku a style of haiku such as neo-classical haiku. I wouldn't recommend the terms classical or traditional which might also suggest the 5-7-5 form. Although Western haiku originally had a syllabic form of 5-7-5 most are now written in free verse.

The article speaks that kigo are culture/region specific and uses pumpkins for an example but than goes to describe Japanese seasons in detail. I don't sense a clear distinction between Japanese and other region's kigo.

In the West the 'harvest' moon or 'autumn' moon is an autumn kigo but not the moon in general, while depending on adjectives and phrasing it is actually a kigo used in all four seasons by the Japanese.

Although the article is very informative and clear for the most part, I would like to see it clarify when it is speaking of Japanese kigo or some other region's.

Michael Baribeau

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Kigo - go or no go"

by Dennis Holmes

I was a student of the late Fujita Akegarasu (1934 - 2004).
Akegarasu sensei believed kigo is essential to the art of haiku. Kigo to the Japanese writer of haiku is part of the foundation of the poem. From my (non-Japanese studying Japanese haiku) view, what this means is a melding of feeling using the kigo as an anchor.

I am not sure if "anchor" is the right word, perhaps, "catalyst" is better, in that, kigo, does not itself change, but, rather acts to help the reader feel the depth of the verse. That is, the "heart" of the haiku. As has been mentioned earlier in previous discussions on haiku being from the beginning of a "renga" sequence, then, more stand-alone as Shiki sensei believed, it became haiku from the hokku. The hokku gives a strong hint as to what haiku should be.

Hokku was the "greeting" to get the linked verse started. In this, hokku set the framework, season and setting for the group to continue. These aspects were retained in what became haiku. In fact, if you take the hokku by itself, you essentially have haiku.
This is still very valid in haiku of Japan today. If you want to confirm that assessment, just look at any collection of haiku from the proliferation of haiku circles (haiku writer groups) in Japan today. I would like to see the rest of the world adhere as closely as possible to this Japanese spirit when writing poems that represent the haiku art.

Retain both kigo and kireji in spirit and practice as essential components of any haiku. The techniques I currently feel sound are: developing a world seijiki; and using equivalent punctuation for the Japanese kireji. Also, there are many more reusable components such as kakekotoba (word play) that may cross the translation bridge between English and Japanese.

As with any literary congress between two diverse cultures... something will inevitably be lost in translation, but, the essential spirit of the haiku art supported by "ARTifacts" such as kigo and kireji (to mention just two) will limit that loss to a minimum, I do so hope.

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

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

By Carlos Fleitas

I read the Wilkipedia article and i liked it, especially when it raised the issue: Must haiku include a kigo? In my view that question leads to a more general one, at least if one observes what is going on today, particularly in the international internet haiku community: This question could be What is haiku?

This shouldn't be so suprising to us. In the 20th. century in the West due to the amazing revolution in the arts, the question was: What is Art? All the aesthetics, technical and traditional rules were just tossed away. Let's take for example music. Beginning with Schoenberg, Berg, Von Webern, Varese, later with Pierre Schaffer, John Cage, Ligetti etc. Many musicians, even now, think that modern and contemporary music is not "music" at all. Some go a little bit furhter saying that they are just "noises".

But this has happened age after age in music. Bach's early pieces where sometimes doomed because they accused him of introducing "shocking variations (viele wunderliche Variationen) and strange notes (viele fremde Tone)", in the church hymns (Malcolm Boyd) and finally he lost his job! (Arnstad period). Music of the Middle Ages, which is so extraordinarily rich, went through periods of intense confrontation. "Romantics" where suspicious of "destroying" the meaning and quality of music. Therefore, in the entire history of arts debate of opposing argument was normal, and often very passionate.

At some point, elder generations thought popular music such as rock was not music and that it was just "noise". Therefore we have two sets of opinions: traditional and contemporary in music and art in general.

Back to haiku. Let me point out some ideas. Some are obvious, but that helps me express my thoughts.

1) Haiku was born in Japan.

2) Ancient or traditional or classical haiku (Basho, Issa, Buson) was a fixed form that included kigo and kireji, except for some few exceptions.

3) As time went by, frontiers were pushed, for example by Santoka, Ogiwara Seisensui, Ozaki Hosai, Nakatsuka Ippekiro and many others. Even metaphor was widely used in classic (Haruo Shirane) and "free haiku" in Japan .

4) Shiki restored haiku to it's origins as you well know. He kept kigo and 5.7.5 and also freshend it up. He gave new life to it.

Bottom line:
From its Japanese origins, haiku has gone a long way and some haijin write a totally different kind of haiku compared with the classical or neo-classical ones. I.e. with no kigo, no 5.7.5. They also explore new subjects unknown to classic haiku

5) Haiku was introduced to the West.

6) In the West something very similar happened, although some Spanish and LAm haijin started directly writing a very diferent kind of haiku. Even religious nuns and monks wrote what they called "religious haiku" (Ty Hadman) The first haiku written in Spanish was by Tablada. This great poet surprisingly called them haikai. It was because he felt they where closeer to the "spirit of haikai" (he meant some humorous detail in the poems), but they where as Octavio Paz stated haiku in themselves.

Other great Latin American writers such as Borges wrote haiku which he identified as such, with no kigo but for few exceptions (i recall one), or kireji, although he mantained the 5.7.5 syllable issue. And other writers did this also. But it is true that they did not consider themselves as haijin, i mean, they wrote haiku as an exception.

7) If we observe what is going on in the Haiku International Community nowadays, there are haijin who write neo-classical haiku, and think that not keeping to the 'rules' makes a composition unworthy of being called haiku.

8) On the other side, there are haijin who claim they are writing true haiku, but do not use kigo or any fixed form at all.

9) Things are going so far that we nowadays can read "urban haiku" and even "sci-fi haiku". No kigo at all, no 5-7-5. And sci-fi haiku!!! This influence has come from the USA as far as i know.

10) So now in the West we have the same division of opinions - traditional and contemporary.

My opinion these days is that both of them are right. It is just that they are different styles of haiku. My main concern is trying to express rationally what is the essence of haiku, the so called "spirit of haiku" that is present in neo-classical, free, urban, sci-fi, vanguard haiku, and others to come. Haiku today is a polysemic term, it has multiple meanings.

This sort of "crisis" from my point of view is healthy, because it fosters diversity.I do not know what Japanese haijin think of Western haiku, but sometimes i have found that Western haijin are more "japanese" than Japan's haijin. There is an extraordinary article by Serge Tome (Belgian editor and haijin) who compares contemporary japanese haiku with western haiku. One issue is the use of the personal pronoun "I" in haiku. In the West, the great majority of haijin have banned it, (at first i did also) and if you submit a haiku with it, they decline to consider it a haiku. Maybe this comes from the influence of zen in the West, particularly in the States, but this is a guess.

In his article Tome finds out that in Japan nowadays the use of "I" in a haiku is not banned at all if i remember well.

The difference between Western Haiku is cultural, not a poetic or a literary one. (See below paragraphs of Haruo's Shirane.)

Maybe we should call it "Western haiku" instead of haiku in this part of the world. I think this would be more accurate.
Spanish and LAm haijin are getting used to calling their work: "haiku written in spanish" to emphazise the cultural environment where it began.
I do remember Kerouac fostering what he called "American haiku".

Bottom line:
I think we should face the questions: Must haiku include a kigo? What is haiku? with an open-mind reminding ourthelves that haiku has an extraordinary reach in the world today. The diversity of haiku now is something that enriches it and maybe a new idea is wating to be born in haiku. Also i think we should keep close to what is happennig at the present time. I mean, a new kind of haiku, that may be developing throughout the world, even sci-fi haiku. Maybe we are living in an age of transition. I can't tell, but it would not be impossible if we look to history.

Here are several magnificent paragraphs excerpted from a paper by Haruo Shirane :
"Beyond the haiku moment" but although it focus on the USA, i think it could be applied to all international haiku communities.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was once told that Ezra Pound's famous metro poem first published in 1913, was not haiku.

The apparition of these faces in the crowd: Petals on a wet, black bough .

If I remember correctly, the reason for disqualification was that the metro poem was not about nature as we know it and that the poem was fictional or imaginary. Pound's poem may also have been ruled out since it uses an obvious metaphor: the petals are a metaphor for the apparition of the faces, or vice versa. This view of the metro poem was based on the three key definitions of haiku - haiku is about direct observation, haiku eschews metaphor, and haiku is about nature - which poets such as Basho and Buson would have seriously disputed."

"One of the widespread beliefs in North America is that haiku should be based upon one's own direct experience, that it must derive from one's own observations, particularly of nature. But it is important to remember that this is basically a modern view of haiku, the result, in part, of nineteenth century European realism, which had an impact on modern Japanese haiku and then was re-imported back to the West as something very Japanese. Basho, who wrote in the seventeenth century, would have not made such a distinction between direct personal experience and the imaginary, nor would he have placed higher value on fact over fiction."

"In short, while haiku in English is inspired by Japanese haiku, it can not and should not try to duplicate the rules of Japanese haiku because of significant differences in language, culture and history. A definition of Engish-language haiku will thus, by nature, differ from that of Japanese haiku. If pressed to give a definition of English-language haiku that would encompass the points that I have made here, I would say, echoing the spirit of Basho's own poetry, that haiku in English is a short poem, usually written in one to three lines, that seeks out new and revealing perspectives on the human and physical condition, focusing on the immediate physical world around us, particularly that of nature, and on the workings of the human imagination, memory, literature and history. There are already a number of fine North American haiku poets working within this frame so this definition is intended both to encourage an existing trend and to affirm new space that goes beyond existing definitions of haiku."

"One consequence of a narrower definition of haiku is that English-language anthologies of haiku are overwhelmingly set in country or natural settings even though ninety percent of the haiku poets actually live in urban environments. To exaggerate the situation, North American haiku poets are given the alternative of either writing serious poetry on nature (defined as haiku) or of writing humorous poetry on non-nature topics (defined as senryu). This would seem to discourage haiku poets from writing serious poetry on the immediate urban environment or broader social issues. Topics such as subways, commuter driving, movie theaters, shopping malls, etc., while falling outside of the traditional notion of nature, in fact provide some of the richest sources for modern haiku, as much recent English-language haiku has revealed, and should be considered part of nature in the broadest sense."

"However, if haiku is to rise to the level of serious poetry, literature that is widely respected and admired, that is taught and studied, commentated on, that can have impact on other non-haiku poets, then it must have a complexity that gives it depth and that allows it to both focus on and rise above the specific moment or time. Basho, Buson and other masters achieved this through various forms of textual density, including metaphor, allegory, symbolism and allusion, as well as through the constant search for new topics. For North American poets, for whom the seasonal word cannot function in the fashion that it did for these Japanese masters, this becomes a more pressing issue, with the need to explore not only metaphorical and symbolic possibilities but new areas - such as history, urban life, social ills, death and war, cyberspace, Haiku need not and should not be confined to a narrow definition of nature poetry, particularly since the ground rules are completely different from those in Japan."

In Basho's day, haikai was two things:
1) performance and social act, and
2) literary text.

As a social act, as an elegant form of conversation, haikai had to be easily accessible; it had to be spontaneous; it had to perform social and religious functions. Thus, half of Basho's haiku were greetings, parting poems, poetic prayers. They served very specific functions and were anchored in a specific place and time, in a dialogic exchange with other individuals. For Basho, however, haikai was also a literary text that had to transcend time and place, and be understood by those who were not at the place of composition.

To achieve this goal, Basho repeatedly rewrote his poetry, made it fictional, gave it new settings, added layers of meaning, emphasized the vertical axis (linking it to history and other literary texts), so that the poem would have an impact beyond its original circumstances. One hopes that more North American haiku poets can take inspiration from this complex work."

Post Scriptum:
Two or three years ago, some haiku concerning Windows failures spread all over the Net. They were 5-7-5 and awesome!

Carlos Fleitas

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Chibi answers:

Dear Carlos san

Kigo is essential to the art of haiku. Also, I disagree with Shirane sensei, respectively. I have to take a strong stance in this because I see transfering the art form to another language can retain artifacts such as kigo and kireji. These are at least two essential components to retain haiku form, fit, and function. If there is divergence, then, I contend, the result is not haiku.

We should take advantage of the amount of direct communication that the internet allows. The internet is a tremendous connectivity tool and can afords us with a tigher (closer cultural proxsimity) understanding and association with teachers and practisioners of Japanese haiku. Given our modern technology, perhaps, this will facsilitate a deeper understanding. Regional kigo can be allowed and readily understood as we become aware of more of the world.

I fully support the idea of the "World Saijiki". Though, historically, as is my understanding, the saijiki was sanctified by a sensei or group.

Kireji, the cut, the pause, is essential to the form of haiku. I look at it as one of the touthstones. I also feel if you allow any errosion of this... you are not writing haiku.
I feel I am not skilled to explain deeper, but, the cut is very much Japanese and intrinsically "natural".

chibi

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

CARLOS answering

Dear friend:

I appreciate your sincerity. Diversity of opinions from my point of view enrich us and make us feel we are an active part of this wonderful kigo project lead by our dear Gabi-san, and also as members of the worldwide haiku community.

There maybe a misunderstanding.

*) I just uploaded parts of Shirane's article because i thought it was a different, diverse approach to haiku and kigo issue that may interest gk, and also i wanted to share with all the members of this list.

*) I am not a Shirane's partisan, although i admire his work.

*) What i like most about Shirane's paper is that it "shook my ideas", but that is something concerning my personal style. The core of what i learned reading his paper is this: haiku is more subtle than i thoughr it was. And that encourages me to perfect, if i am able to, my haiku in the future.

*) I understand your point of view in fact i am a "neoclassical haijin (or at least i hope i am a haijin), therefore i foster the use of kigo and kireji. (Kireji is different in spanish haiku than in japanese haiku. We do not have the cutting syllable "ya", so we use another kind of caesura, mainly the natural pauses in language). I have written many essays in Spanish and English and they are full of my great concern and support for kigo in haiku.

*) I have been writting since a a sort of haibun, in Spanish for a couple of years in Spanish, titled Cuaderno de Haiku (Haiku Notebook). All the haiku there have kigo and kireji (as we use it in Spanish) My haiku in Spanish and the ones in English (except some few exception) also contain kigo and kireji. There are other reasons why i am very fond of kigo in haiku, but this would go beyond the limits of our subject.

*) I support strongly the idea that there are regional kigo, and that is why i joined WHCkigo.

*) Now i am open to explore new frontiers in haiku, such as vanguard haiku. Recently i wrote a mandala "haiku" and send it to WHCvanguard.
Maybe it is not haiku, i can not claim it is. If it is not, at least i think haiku has inspired it. Furthermore, nowadays i have changed my previous opinion and consider "urban haiku" which is evolving rapidly in Spain and LAm community, genuine haiku, although many of them do not have kigo. Some of them maybe are senryu, that is true also.

*) The issue whether this is or is not haiku, depends in my view, on what one considers haiku to be. I.e. if one considers that haiku has to have its essential axis on kigo and kireji. Of course everything that is out of the definition will not be considered haiku. I understand it. And i find it is not only a good point, but that everyone has the right to have his/her opinion, and no doubt yours is very well-founded. I was very impressed when you wrote:
"I see transfering the art form to another language can retain artifacts such as kigo and kireji."
It is a very strong and good point indeed.

I think Basho or Buson would not have considered sci-fi "haiku" as haiku at all.
Or the computer generated one's or many other similar "haiku" varieties. Yesterday i conducted a web search and i found strange kinds of "haiku" I had not time to read them all but there is a web dedicated to Harry Potter's "haiku" and Frida Kahlo "haiku"!!.
Amazing this Internet of ours!

*) I also think that all this diversity of opinions makes me feel we are alive and moving on, and exploring with passion, because passion in our case means enthusiasm, which is the major drive humans have to explore, and could help me produce better haiku, i think.

*) And last but not least, i think that haiku is a tiny yet powerful ambassador that extraordinarily, has made it possible for people from all over the world to come toghether and know each other. Personally it has enrichened my life very much. I also foster the idea that folks should communicate as much as possible, freely and without restrictions. And haiku makes it possible. I have made an enormous number of friends from all over the world, which pleases me very much.

I am proud and delighted to be a member of the worldwide haiku community, and of this WHCworldkigo project.

Carlos Fleitas

End of the Comments. May 6, 2005

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Further Reading

* Kigo Versus Seasonal Reference in Haiku:
Observations, Anecdotes and a Translation
... By Richard Gilbert (quoted from Simply Haiku, Autumn 2005)

* Kigo and Seasonal Reference, by Richard Gilbert March 2006

* The Importance of Season Words, by Kametaro Yagi

* Beyond Kigo, by Jim Kacian

* Season words, keywords, and others. by Ban'ya Natsuishi

The ideas presented in the further reading essays mentioned above do not all correspond to the promotion of kigo as pursued with this WKD database.

Seasons and Categories, used by the World Kigo Database

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Launching WHC worldkigo 2004

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

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

History of Saijiki

2011-12-28T11:20:00.003+09:00

[ . BACK to worldkigo TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

History of Japanese Saijiki

The origines come from the Chinese chronicles of regional yearly events, called Fuudoki 風土記 in Japanese. These local records of regional specialities started to be writtin in Japan in 713, with the "Almanac from Izumo, Izumo Fudoki　出雲風土記" being one of the oldest.

Saijiki 歳時記　means
saiji no kiroku 歳時の記録 "almanac about things going on in one year",
almanach about the four seasons.
The KI　記 in saijiki is not the same as the KI 季 in kigo, season word.

(The sound of KI does have quite a lot of different meanings in Japanese, all expressed with different Chinese characters. 木　a tree. 　気　life energy. 　忌 memorial day and so on. )

hon-i 本意 - "the real meaning" (honto no imi 本当の意味)
poetic essence, “essential implications”
“genuine purports” （Kawamoto)

The cultural context establishes this "true meaning" of a kigo within Japanese poetry. The WKD tries to add as much of this cultural context as possible.
(Please bear in mind that I am only one person with limited time . . .).

When adding new season words of other parts of the world, I try to explain its cultural context as best as I can with my haiku friends from the region.
A great thank you again to all who contributed.

Chinese Saijiki 中国歳時記

Keiso Saijiki 荊楚歳時記
written in China in the 6th or 7th century.
Since China was a rather large place even at that time, the author wrote about the customs, festivals, food and other specialities of his area, Keiso. It is a valuable chronicle of anthropology rather than poetry.

In the Nara period, this was introduced to Japan and a Japanese Saijiki 日本歳時記 was then compiled under the supervision of Kaibara Ekiken 貝原益軒 and his nephew Kooko 好古.

. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other early almanacs are

野々口立圃『花火草』 Hanabigusa
by Nonoguchi Ryuuho ［1595～1669］

斎藤徳元『俳諧初学抄』 Haikai Shogakushoo
by Saitoo Tokugen , ［1559～1647］ comp. 1641

松江重頼『毛吹草』 Kefukigusa
by Matsue Shigeyori ［1602～1680］

北村季吟『山之井』 Yama no I
by Kitamura Kigin ［1624～1705］comp. 1647-8
It contained 1300 kigo.
............... later republished as
Zoo yama no i "Expanded Mountain Well "Yama no I" 1667

Kigin was the teacher of Matsuo Basho.
. Kitamura Kigin Memorial Day
Kigin Ki 季吟忌 (きぎんき)

These books have most probably been used as guides for writing linked verse, renga, at their time.

In 1803 the first Haikai Saijiki Shiorigusa (Kanzoo) 俳諧歳時記栞草 was compiled by Takizawa Bakin, with about 2600 seasonal themes (kidai) and 3300 kigo.
滝沢馬琴 (1767-1848) Takizawa Bakin :
other names : 曲亭馬琴 Kyokutei Bakin, 澤興邦 Takizawa Okikuni

http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/2006/07/history-of-saijiki.html
In 1933, the first four seasonal volumes of the modern Haikai Saijiki were published.

Katoo Ikuya 加藤郁乎
Edo haikai saijiki (1983) 江戸俳諧歳時記

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

For a modern haiku poet, a small saijiki to carry around during the haiku walk, ginkoo, is an essential.
And the Nihon DAI saijiki 大歳時記, the big saijiki, is a constant companion on the study desk.
カラー図説日本大歳時記

It contains many local kigo from all the regions of Japan.

online 日本大歳時記
ISBN4-06-128646-3

季語と歳時記 (Kigosai)
長谷川櫂, Kigo to Saijiki no Kai. Online Saijiki
and a Korean Saijiki 韓国歳時記
Hasegawa Kai

Enjoy Old Kigo !
by Uda Kiyoko
古季語と遊ぶ . 宇多喜代子

ザ・俳句十万人歳時記春
Saijiki written by 10.0000 people - SPRING

宇多喜代子 (監修) Uda Kiyoko
松田ひろむ (編集) Matsuda Hiromu
有馬朗人, 廣瀬直人, 金子兜太
with Arima Akito, Hirose Naoto and Kaneko Tohta

Versions for the other seasons are available.

The New Year

These books include 18.0000 haiku over 400 years.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

We have local saijiki of various regions of Japan

Furusato Dai Saijiki ふるさと大歳時記
角川版. Regional Saijiki
8 volumes in A4-size, richly illustrated, from Hokkaido to Okinawa
Editors : Yamaguchi Seison, Takaha Shugyo et al.
Published in Heisei 4 (1992)

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

. "Local kigo" (chibo kigo, chiboo kigo 地貌季語)
語りかける季語ゆるやかな日本
Katarikakeru kigo
yuruyaka na nihon
by Miyasaka Shizuo 宮坂静生
Published in 2006

Satoyama Saijiki
by Uda Kiyoko
里山歳時記 . 宇多喜代子
(Published in 2004)

WKD : SATOYAMA
The Traditional Rural Landscape of Japan

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Haiku Publications in the Edo Period

江戸俳諧歳資料館

編者は、京の僧蝶夢
Edited by the Monk Chomu.

編：蕪村、序：千代尼、跋：田女
Edited by Buson, with contributions by Chiyo-Ni and Denjo

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

quote from Simply Haiku

Kaneko Tôta:
"Takahama Kyoshi said kigo must be a rule,
Bashô wrote seasonless poems.
Before Kyoshi kigo was only a promise not a rule."

That kigo before Kyoshi was not a rule but a “promise“ is a statement of Tôta Kaneko similarly, in various places and texts. If you look at the history of haikai literature, it will become clear. There were no authorized “rulebooks” in Bashô's time and only a few compilations of keywords; in fact, there was only a single case of a limited season-keyword compilation, from the unique haikai poet Kitamura Kigin (b. 1625-1705) of the Teimon school.

Bashô himself recommended a different haikai “rulebook” to his disciples, the Haikai mugonshô [Haikai book without words] published in 1676, which presented the techniques and philosophy of haikai, rather than being a dictionary of keywords.

And Bashô included haiku without kigo in his haiku philosophy. Even the founder of modern haiku, Masaoka Shiki (b. 1867-1902) accepted haiku without kigo and wrote such haiku himself. Shiki’s treatment of non-kigo haiku follows the example of Bashô, and other haiku poets of the Edo period. In the last years of Shiki’s life Kyoshi, one of his main disciples, became de facto chief editor of Hototogisu.
©　Itô Yûki / Simply Haiku Summer 2008

Haikai Glossary
俳諧無言抄 Haikai Mugon Sho

promise, yakusokugoto 約束事

WKD : Kitamura Kigin 　北村季吟

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

List of Season Words
Kiyose 季寄せ

Haiku Appreciation Almanach
Haiku Kansho Saijiki 鑑賞歳時記
kanshoo kanshou / kanshô

. 信州歳時記 online
Shinano Mainichi Shinbun　
A collection of local festivals, ceremonies and specialities.

Boosai Saijiki of Disasters and Catastrophies
防災歳時記

Here are some more Saijiki from AMAZON.COM, they have a
list of more than 1500 saijiki books:

男の俳句、女の俳句 For Men and Women
色好み江戸の歳時記 Love and Colors of Edo
酒場歳時記 Places to Drink

フランス歳時記―生活風景12か月 French Saijiki
ヨーロッパ歳時記 Europe
旅の歳時記 (春) Travelling in the Seasons

料理歳時記 Food
食のことわざ歳時記―伝承の食生活の知恵120 Food and Proverbs
旬菜歳時記 Fresh Vegetables of the Season

うたの歳時記 (1) Songs (many volumes)きもの歳時記 (242) Kimono

俳句の鳥・虫図鑑―季語になる折々の鳥と虫204種 Birds and insects
唐詩歳時記 Chinese Poetry

里山歳時記田んぼのまわりで Local Mountains and Fields, Village Saijiki
北国俳句歳時記 Hokkaido
山の歳時記 (1) Mountains
鉄道歳時記 (1) Railway
お天気歳時記― Weather
ことばの歳時記 Words

勘九郎ひとりがたり―中村屋歳時記 Kabuki and Kankuro Nakamura
歌舞伎歳時記 Kabuki
..... WKD : Kabuki Saijiki
オペラ歳時記 Opera
江戸風俗東都歳時記を読む Customs of Old Edo
江戸たべもの歳時記 Food of Old Edo
京都歳時記 Kyoto

おむすびの祈り―「いのち」と「癒し」の歳時記 Prayers and Healing
宗教歳時記 Religion and Saijiki
昭和歳時記 The Showa Period Saijiki
元禄歳時記 The Genroku Period Saijiki

There are many many many more here:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/489986/250-5295438-8170633
Input 歳時記。

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

kigo 季語（きご）

a word that represents the season in haikai and renga poetry.
KI means season
GO means word

In olden times, these words were simply called
ki 季, season or
ki no kotoba 季の詞（ことば）word of the season or
shiki no kotoba 四季の詞 word of the four seasons

The meaning is almost similar to kidai 季題, a seasonal theme, which comprises various kigo, season words.

The utamakura 歌枕（うたまくら） "poetic words" of the Heian period were already divided into the 12 months.

In the renga book of 1672 連歌至宝抄 (renga shihooshoo) by Satomura Joha (Jooha) 里村紹巴（じょうは）there were 270 kigo mentioned.

Since the Edo period, the number of kigo has grown rapidly and kiyose and saijiki have been compiled, see above.

Modern saijiki contain more than 4000 kidai and more than 9000 kigo.

The ONLINE Nyūmon Saijiki of the University of Virginia Library includes approximately 800 kidai, or headwords, and 2,100 kigo, or subtopics.
The Japanese text is intended for the Japanese readers. The English is a translation.

utamakura 歌枕 poetry pillow words" utamakura　
Placenames used in Haiku

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

Time in Saijiki

In the traditional lunar calendar,

spring was from the first month through the third month,
summer from the fourth month through the sixth,
autumn from the seventh month through the ninth, and
winter from the tenth month through the twelfth.

Even after 1873, new saijiki were edited one after another.
The saijiki of the new era, however, could not just attach the season words to similar dates of the solar calendar, so that, for example, an observance of the ninth day of the ninth month (old style) would be attached to 9 September (new style). Events and customs that were firmly bound tothe old calendar still remained throughout the country.

Read more :

. Time in Saijiki
by Hasegawa Kai

*****************************
Reference

***** Seasons and Categories
Learn the Basics of World Kigo.

Izumo Fudoki (Izumo Fuudoki 出雲風土記) Records of Ancient Izumo

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

New Year Collection

. Kidai and Kigo　季題と季語

. WKD : The use of kigo in worldwide haiku

. WKD : the COMPLETE SAIJIKI LIST

. WASHOKU ... Japanese Food Saijiki

MY Japanese Reference
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

We Day

2011-09-28T13:36:00.006+09:00

[ . BACK to Worldkigo . TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

We Day

***** Location: World
***** Season: Autumn
***** Category: Observance

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

We Day is a day-long event held on September 27.
It is intended to ignite a year-long program for change, called
We Schools in Action --
"a movement of young people leading local and global change."

Chen-ou Liu

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The Children's We Day is more than just one day of celebration and inspiration. We Day is the movement of our time

source : www.weday.com

We Day 2009 - with Japanese
フリー・ザ・チルドレン
source : www.youtube.com

*****************************
Worldwide use

*****************************
Things found on the way

*****************************
HAIKU

sunny We Day
twelve first graders
share a cake

Chen-ou Liu
Canada

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

***** . World Days .

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Mulberries (kuwa no mi)

2011-06-10T11:14:00.023+09:00

[ . BACK to Worldkigo . TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Mulberry, mulberries (kuwa no mi)

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

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

mulberries, kuwa no mi 桑の実 (くわのみ)
..... kuwa ichigo 桑苺 (くわいちご)
(lit. "strawberries of the mulberry tree")

The trees flower in May and June and shortly after that bear fruit.　The dark black-purple fruit are quite sweat and juicy.
They are called "strawberries" and given to children, who love to eat them.
Sometimes the juice is used for natural dying of cloth.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

. Mulberries and Silk Kigo

*****************************
Worldwide use

Maulbeere, Maulbeeren

黒き赤き桑の実散らし風騒ぐ　
kuroki akaki kuwa no mi chirashi kaze sawagu　

Die schwarzen roten Maulbeeren verstreut,
tobt der Wind.

Hori Kochoo 堀古蝶（1921-）
(訳:佐　藤　貴白草: Tr. SATOH Kihakusoh)
source :　kihakuso

*****************************
Things found on the way

soomon 桑門 "mulberry gate",
then shamon 沙門（しゃもん)
sanskrit : samana
another name for butsumon 僧門, priesthood

In India this word used to describe people who were not part of the Brahman caste, but left their home and became monks and priests.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

mulberry sake 桑酒 kuwazake , kuwashu
Made from mulberries. "Mulberry wine".
Another medicine type is also made with the bark and roots of the tree.

It is made since more than 470 years ago, in the villages of Hokuriku, where mulberry trees were abundant for the silk production.
Around 1570 travellers brought the brewing secrets to Kyoto.

kuwa no mi ya hana naki choo no yosute-zake

mulberries -
without blossoms they are the hermit wine
for the butterflies
Tr. Gabi Greve

Butterflies like to suck the sweet juice of mulberries. They do this in the season when there are no more blossoms and they relish it like a hermit relishes his sip of sake.
source : 椹や花なき蝶の世捨酒

More:
. Comments by Larry Bole .

The mulberries--
Without flowers, they are the butterfly's
Hermit wine.
Tr. Pei Pei Qiu

"Inventing the New Through the Old:
The Essence of 'Haikai' and the 'Zhuangzi'
", by Pei Pei Qiu, Asian Studies,

Qiu points out that:
"The image 'mulberries' has long been used in Chinese poetry to signify rustic country life. Since the foremost Chinese recluse poet Tao Qian [T'ao Ch'ien or Tao Yuanming] (365-427) uses the image in his famous poem "Returning to Gardens and Fields to Dwell" (Gui yuantian ju'), the mulberry tree has been used as a typical image to signify the life and taste of a recluse. ...
In 'waka' tradition, too, the image is always associated with pastoral scenes. Since Basho's works often make direct quotations from Tao Qian's poetry, his depiction of the mulberries as the hermit wine here is apparently a careful choice that evokes the association between his immediate experience of the hut life and the long recluse tradition."

MORE compiled by Larry Bole
source : Translating Haiku Forum

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

kuwa no hacha 桑の葉茶 tea from mulberry leaves
kuwa cha , kuwacha 桑茶

The leaves are later eaten, over a bowl of white rice.

100%!!岩手県産◆桑茶◆
From Iwate
If you buy now, money will be given to charity for the earthquake.

. Japan after the BIG earthquake March 11, 2011

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The Chinese character 栂 reads tsuga, not toga or taga.
The tree grows in Central Japan.
栂(つが)、マツ科の常緑高木
Japanese hemlock

tsugazakura つがざくら【栂桜】kind of azalea, flowering in July

Mokuboji 木母寺 temple Mokubo-ji
Chinese characters for tree and mother.
- - see Basho haiku below

*****************************
HAIKU

Compiled by Larry Bole
. Kigo Hotline Forum .

In every city in the world that has mulberry trees growing next to sidewalks, in June (at least in the northern hemisphere) you get mulberry-stained sidewalks. The fallen mulberry fruit can be squishy and slippery underfoot, and the stain is disturbingly dark, at least in my opinion.

Doing a web-search on the phrase "mulberry stained sidewalk," I find this is true even in a place as remote from the United States as Azerbaijan:

"When their fruit becomes ripe each June, it tends to drop to the ground and stain the sidewalks. That's how you know it's mulberry season in Azerbaijan..."

Some people walk around a mulberry-stained patch of sidewalk, while others don't mind walking through it, some not even watching where they step!

I haven't found too many "kuwa no mi" haiku, but there are a couple.

One by Matsuo Basho:

桑の実や花なき蝶の世捨て酒
kuwa no mi ya hana naki choo no yosute-zake

mulberry's fruit / flowerless butterfly of / a hermit's wine
(literal translation by Jane Reichhold)

mulberry fruit
without flowers a butterfly
is a hermit's wine
Tr. Reichhold

Reichhold's comment:
1683---summer. 'Yosute-bito' is a euphamism for "priest." The idea is that whoever lives behind a mulberry gate or fence is cut off from the rest of the world. Basho changes 'bito' ("man, person") to 'zake', or sake [the liquor] and keeps the connection to mulberries. There is a wine made from mulberries called 'soochinshu', but Basho is so poor that he can only get drunk by watching the flight of a butterfly. The butterfly has no flowers to visit because the tree bears only fruit, and thus Basho has no wine.
[end of comment]

This may be the only English translation of this haiku besides Oseko's in his two-volume translation, "Basho's Haiku."

. . . . .

黒くまた赤し桑の実なつかしき
kuroku mata akashi kuwa no mi natsukashiki

A glimpse of mulberries black and red -
memories of childhood come flood[ing] through my head

. Takano Sujuu 高野素十 (1893-1976)
Tr. Avi Landau

source : blog.alientimes.org

. . . . .

桑の実や忠治の墓へ駅３分　
kuwa no mi ya Chuuji no haka e eki sanpun

the grave of Chuji
is three minutes from the station -
oh these mulberries

Rakuga
Tr. Gabi Greve

I haven't found another translation of a Rakuga haiku in English, so this may be the only one! I'm not sure what the connection is between mulberries and Chuji, but he was a folk-hero yakuza gambler and murderer whose execution sounds like it was quite bloody, so maybe mulberry stain is suggestive of that.

. Kunisada Chuji 国定忠治 .
(1810-1851)

. . . . .

And although not a mulberry fruit haiku,
here is another 'fallen fruit' haiku I find interesting:

木母寺や実桜落ちて人もなし
Mokuboji ya mizakura ochite hito mo nashi
栂寺や実桜落ちて人もなし<
Togadera ya mizakura ochite hito mo nashi

Toga Temple;
The cherries lie fallen,
Nobody there.
-- Masaoka Shiki
Tr. Blyth

An excerpt from Blyth's comment:
Between the reddish-black cherries that lie scattered on the ground like warriors after a battle, and the absence of men in the garden of the temple, there is a subtle connection which may be felt but not explained. The loneliness that the verse expresses is however in the fallen cherries, not in the lack of people present...
[end of excerpt]

. Temple Mokubo-Ji and Umewakamaru
木母寺と梅若丸伝説

I can see how the fallen cherries could look like "warriors after a battle," so, here is my mulberry haiku, written after reading what seems like an endless stream of news about gunned-down protesters and suicide bombers:

news of violence:
the mulberry-stained sidewalk
suddenly gruesome

Larry Bole

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

あら恋し木曾の桑の実くふ君は正岡子規
ありきながら桑の実くらふ木曾路哉正岡子規
古桑の実のこぼれたる山路かな飯田蛇笏霊芝
山桑の実をふくみつつ熔岩の道大久保幸子
島の長桑の実の酒醸しけり菅原師竹
指の力抜いて摘みたき桑苺中村芳枝
掌に桑の実寒き浴衣かな碧雲居句集大谷碧雲居
木曽川の瀬のきこえ来し桑の実よ水原秋桜子
木曾川の瀬きこゑ来し桑の実よ水原秋櫻子
松下童子に問へば桑の実を食うて夫る尾崎紅葉
桑の実いろの月がのぼりぬ痘の神鈴木貞雄

桑の実のうれける枝をやまかゞし泉鏡花
桑の実のしみ新しき桑籠かな富安風生
桑の実の一枝を供へ繭供養熊田鹿石
桑の実の少年の日を口中に黒坂紫陽子
桑の実の手を零れけり草隠れ尾崎紅葉
桑の実の毛虫に似たる恨み哉正岡子規
桑の実の熟るゝ匂ひや通り雨黒川龍吾
桑の実の熟れて靄立つ高嶺村飯島愛
桑の実の甘き旧道坂急に杉本寛
桑の実の紅しづかなる高嶺かな飯田龍太涼夜
桑の実の紫こぼる石舞台柴崎左田男
桑の実の落ちてにじみぬ石の上佐藤漾人
桑の実の落ち散らばれる飼屋かな松原正子
桑の実の葉うらまばらに老樹かな飯田蛇笏山廬集
桑の実の赤き入日や半夏生菅原師竹句集
桑の実の青き八十八夜かな上田花勢

桑の実やその葉がくりに瑞乙女石塚友二
桑の実やそゞろありきの掌巌谷小波
桑の実やちゝはゝ今も在します倉田紘文
桑の実やふるさとことばもたらせり小島千架子
桑の実ややうやくゆるき峠道五十崎古郷句集
桑の実や児にまいらす李氏が環高井几董
桑の実や奥多摩日々に小雷飯田蛇笏春蘭
桑の実や家家に残るランドセル石田仁子
桑の実や幼くて父亡ひし天野逸風子
桑の実や廃宮の庭の甃竹冷句鈔角田竹冷
桑の実や擦り傷絶えぬ膝小僧上田五千石田園
桑の実や旧家は町の史料館下間ノリ
桑の実や棺をくくりし繩あまり大峯あきら鳥道
桑の実や洋傘帯にさし写生する長谷川かな女雨月
桑の実や湖のにほひの真昼時水原秋櫻子
桑の実や父を従へ村娘高濱虚子
桑の実や男素直になる歯並み椎塚つね子
桑の実や窓よりじかに老婆出づ武田伸一
桑の実や端山に白雨きらめきて柴田白葉女『月の笛』
桑の実や経し世は常に炎なす落合水尾
桑の実や花なき蝶の世すて酒松尾芭蕉
桑の実や行きて返さぬ渡舟小島昌勝
桑の実や諭してつづく父の文高橋悦男
桑の実や軍用倉庫まだ残る金元喜代子
桑の実や轆轤たちまち壺をなす吉良蘇月
桑の実や馬車の通ひ路行きしかば芝不器男

桑の実を口にし手にし下校の子佐藤栄男
桑の実を口に含めば雲の照り坂巻純子
桑の実を口のうつろに落す音高浜虚子
桑の実を喰ふは鴉と山童子鈴木保彦
桑の実を噛めり若さはとゞまらず佐野まもる
桑の実を夫と食みつつ畦越大高千代
桑の実を見あげふるさと皆ちがふ阿部みどり女
桑の実を食ぶ師弟の永かりき根岸たけを
桑の実を食むや他郷の風の中岡部名保子
桑の芽だ山帰来の実が枯れて北原白秋

泳ぎ子の出ては桑の実喰ひにけり雉子郎句集石島雉子郎
舐めてまだ渋い桑の実水の国河合凱夫
般若波羅蜜小声に桑の実をぬすむ高井北杜
葬り路の桑の実黒く踏まれけり西島麦南
鮮烈に桑の実あかき殉教址佐藤国夫
黒き赤き桑の実散らし風騒ぐ堀古蝶

source : HAIKUreikuDB

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

kigo for all summer

natsuguwa 夏桑 (なつぐわ) mulberry in summer
A mulberry tree in summer, with so many green leaves.

夏桑や裾をあらはに蔵王山　
natsuguwa ya suso o arawa ni Zao san

mulberry tree in summer -
appearing at the foot of
Mount Zao

Ikeda Shuusui 池田秀水（1933-）

. Mount Zao and Yoshino

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

***** . Berries of all kinds

***** . Mulberries and Silk Kigo

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::