Another Monoku and Some Kigo

not so close, small skunk, running in the road


If you'd like to check out English language haiku currently being published in Japan, here's a link to a site that publishes one a day: Mainichi Daily News.
Scroll down the page, and after Features is their Daily Haiku Selection. Their guidelines state that they take haiku of any style, but that it "should have a seasonal element."

Years ago, when we lived in Indonesia, I volunteered at a college library and the two main sources of materials for Gadjah Mada University Library were gifts from Japan and the U.S. I came across this publication there and sent a few haiku via very snail mail (ship). A few months later I received a folded copy of this paper with my haiku.

I'd forgotten about this publication until the tragic earthquake and tsunami this year in March. Afterwards, I began searching for "firsthand" news of Fukushima and came upon this newspaper again.

In Japanese, a seasonal word is called a kigo. An emphasis on the seasons has always been important to Japanese poetry. As far back as the mid-8th century, the earliest Japanese poetry anthology was published. This collection called the Manyoshu included several sections that were organized by season. Some kigo (they can be phrases too, such as cherry blossoms) seem obviously connected to a particular season, for example, pumpkin. But for Japanese haiku writers, the moon evokes autumn because much longer nights allow people to follow the moon's phases more closely.

Just tonight I discovered a new Japanese term that's related to haiku--saijiki. It's a "collection of season words (kigo), references, and inspirations for haiku poets and so much more." This definition precedes the Alaska Haiku Society Saijiki which was started and is updated by Billie Wilson. Another cool link is: World Kigo Database Choose a county you have visited or long to and then treat yourself to some specific words that mark their seasons.

Because I also spent a few years in Alaska, I couldn't resist their list of kigo. One seasonal phrase for an Alaskan spring that is included is "first skunk cabbage." Because the world if full of connections, I just spotted a few of these plants in the Olympics in Washington State. However in summer, they are missing their bright yellow spathes in the center of each plant. Another spring Alaskan kigo (though not on this list) should be fiddlehead ferns which grow abundantly in the mountains above Alaska's capitol city in early spring. Steamed and coated with butter, they were a local favorite and made a good excuse for trumping around in the rain on top of old snow.

To close with another monoku:

how curled the fiddlehead fern in the awakening forest