Micro-Season: “The Cotton Lint Opens” (2023)

August 23 to August 27 is the micro-season of “The Cotton Lint Opens”. This is the first micro-season of the season of Limit of Heat.  All the micro-seasons in Limit of Heat are:

• The Cotton Lint Opens (Aug 23-Aug 27)
• Earth and Sky Begin to Cool (Aug 28- Sep 1)
• The Rice Ripens (Sep 2 – Sep 6)

These seasons were established in 1685 by Japanese astronomer Shibukawa Shunkai. While they are specific to Japan, you can use these seasons as a starting point for exploring the natural world.

To celebrate this season, we will learn about the cotton plant and then read haiku by Reichhold, Basho, Issa, Buson, and Wright. 

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Cotton 

The cotton plant (Gossypium) belongs to the Mallow family. This plant family also includes other plants like hollyhock, okra, and hibiscus. The cotton plant is indigenous to tropical and subtropical regions. Its origins date back approximately 10 million years, and it comprises around 50 distinct species.

Currently, there are four main commercially grown species of cotton. 

• Gossypium hirsutum — This species is native to Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and southern Florida. Gossypium hirsutumi makes up 90% of the world’s commercial cotton production. 

• Gossypium barbadense — This species is native to South America. It makes up about 8% of the world’s commercial cotton production.

• Gossypium arboreum — This species is native to India and Pakistan. It makes up less than two percent of the commercial cotton.

• Gossypium herbaceum — This species is native to Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It makes up the rest of the world’s commercial cotton.

Growing and Harvesting

A cotton plant needs about 4 to 5 months of warm temperatures and sunshine to go from seed to mature plant.  Cotton should only be planted after the last frost as any exposure to frost will kill the plant.   

A cotton seedling will emerge a week or two after planting.  Four to six weeks after planting, flower buds begin to form. These buds will grow for about three weeks before they flower. 

After the flower falls, the cotton boll forms. The cotton boll is the mature fruit of the plant and is where the cotton seeds and lint grow.  When the bolls open up it is time to harvest the cotton.

Once harvested, the cotton fibers need to be separated from the seed pods in order for the fibers to be used for textiles.    

After the cotton fibers are separated from the seeds, they are cleaned and dried. Following this step, the fibers are turned into yarn, which is subsequently used to create cotton textiles. If you are interested in learning more about this process, check out last year’s post.

Milestones in Cotton’s History

The following facts about cotton’s history come from World Cotton History, The Story of Cotton, and Short History of Japanese Textiles.

• Archeologists found cotton fiber and cloth fragments in Mexico that date back to about 5000 B.C. 
• Cotton is cultivated for fabric in the Indus River Valley (which is in present-day Pakistan) around 3000 B.C.
• Chinese, Egyptian, and South American civilizations begin weaving cotton fabrics around 2500 B.C.
• Alexander the Great’s army brings cotton goods to Europe in 300 B.C.
• In 1492, Christopher Columbus introduced Gossypium hirsutum to the rest of the world.  Columbus found Gossypium hirsutum when he landed in the Bahamas.
• In the 1500s, denim fabric is first produced in Nimes, France. Denim derives its name from “serge de Nimes” or “fabric of Nimes”
• In the 1500s, Japan imported cotton from China and India. In the 1600s Japan began domestic cotton production in the western parts of the country where the soil and temperatures were better for the plant. 
• In 1641, the first cotton spinning factory opened in Manchester, UK, 
• In 1793, Eli Whitney, a native of Massachusetts, secured a patent on the cotton gin.
• In the early 1800s, the southern part of the United States became the world’s largest exporter of cotton.  Most of that cotton goes to British textile mills.
• In 2005, the world’s cotton production reaches a record high of 26-million tons.
• In 2015, the growth in the world’s cotton consumption slows.
• In 2018/2019 there is a slow down in the world’s cotton production due to a reduction in planted area, water availability, and limited improvements in yields. The world’s cotton consumption also slows during this time.

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Seasonal Haiku

According to the World Kigo Database, cotton (wata) is a multi-season kigo.  For example, “flowers of the cotton plant” is a late summer kigo, “harvest cotton” is a mid-autumn kigo, “new cotton” is late autumn, and wata-irebaori or “haori half-coat with cotton padding” is a winter kigo.

In A Dictionary of Haiku, Jane Reichhold lists “cotton fields” as the autumn kigo. 

Reichhold also lists “cottonwood” as an autumn kigo. “Cottonwood” could reference several different plants. However, I believe, that Reichhold is talking about Populus deltoides which is a tree native to North America.  Some other names for this tree are eastern cottonwood and necklace poplar.⁽⁹⁾ 

Another plant that goes by the common name “cottonwood” is the Hibiscus tiliaceus.  This plant is part of the Mallow family (same as cotton) that grows along the coast in tropical regions.  Other names for the Hibiscus tiliaceus are “sea hibiscus” or “coast cottonwood”.⁽¹⁰⁾

Now with all this in mind, let’s read some haiku

Reichhold

fall fashions
the tweedy patterns
in cotton fields

autumn evenings
cottonwood trees
seem too cool

Basho

first frost
when mums start to feel chilly
I get a cotton waist warmer 
(translated by Jane Reichhold)

A field of cotton— 
as if the moon
had flowered. 
(translated by Robert Hass)

Issa 

ginning cotton--
the trembling silhouette
of the cat

A note for the translator, “Ginning cotton (separating fibers and seeds by means of a wooden contraption) is a winter activity. Evidently, the cat disapproves”. (David G. Lanoue)

plucked fresh
from the garden...
sermon of cotton

shrine in a field--
wind can't scatter
the first cotton bolls

Buson

gathering cotton
the tobacco flowers
look asleep
(translated by Allan Persinger)

Richard Wright 

From a cotton field
To magnolia trees,
A bridge of swallows. 

Richard Wright (1908–1960) wrote an estimated 4,000 haiku near the end of his life.  These haiku were published in 1998 in a book titled, Haiku: This Other World. This collection was later republished as Haiku: The Last Poems of Richard Wright in 2012. 

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Haiku Invitation

This week’s haiku invitation is to write a haiku or senryu that references flowers wilting or flowers going to seed. 

Share your haiku in the comments below, or post on your own page and link back to this post. I can’t wait to read what you write!  

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Thank You!

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Resources

1. “Gossypium”; Wikipedia
2. “The Evolution of Cotton”; Genetic Science Learning Center
3. “Cotton Story”; CottonAcres.com
4. “Cotton”; Wikipedia
5. “World Cotton History”; Cotton Australia
6. “The Story of Cotton”; National Cotton Council of America
7. “Short History of Japanese Textiles”; kimonoboys.com
8. “Cotton (wata)”; WorldKigoDatabase
9. “Populus deltoides”; Wikipedia
10. “Hibiscus tiliaceus”; Wikipedia

Issa’s haiku were retrieved from HaikuGuy.com by David G. Lanoue.  Basho’s haiku was retrieved from Matsuo Bashō’s haiku poems in romanized Japanese with English translations. Buson’s haiku was retrieved from Foxfire: The Selected Poems of Yosa Buson. Jane Reichhold’s haiku were retrieved from A Dictionary of Haiku.  Richard Wright’s haiku was retrieved from an essay by Toru Kiuchi in JuxtaSix: Research and Scholarship in Haiku 2020, Haiku Foundation.