Week 08: “Rain Water”

February 19  to February 25 is the eighth week of 2024 in the Gregorian calendar.  During this week, we begin the Solar Term of Rain Water (Feb 19 – Mar 04). The micro-seasons for this week are “Rain Moistens the Soil” (Feb 19 – Feb 23) and “Mist Starts to Linger” (Feb 24 – Feb 28).

The poems selected for this week are written by Basho, Issa, Reichhold, and Teasdale.

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The 24 Solar Terms 

The 24 solar terms were created by farmers in ancient China  (206 BCE and 24 CE) to help guide their agricultural activities. Each solar term is 15 days long and is based on the climate around the city Xi’an, which was the capital of the Han Dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE). ⁽¹⁾

Rain Water

Rain Water is the second Solar Term of the year and the second Solar Term of Spring. Yǔ Shuǐ (雨水) is the Chinese name for this season. Yǔ Shuǐ (雨水) is translated to mean the weather is becoming warmer and there will be rain, or snowfall is decreasing and now it will rain. 

“Rain Water as Precious as Oil”

In parts of Northern China, spring drought is common. The farmers, who are looking toward the upcoming planting season, are paying close attention to the water table right now.  This is why the Chinese have an old saying that goes “Rainfall in spring is as precious as oil.”⁽²⁾

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The 72 Seasons

The 72-season calendar was established in 1685 by Japanese astronomer Shibukawa Shunkai.  Each season lasts for about 5 days and offers “a poetic journey through the Japanese year in which the land awakens and blooms with life and activity before returning to slumber.”⁽⁴⁾

The micro-seasons for this week are “Rain Moistens the Soil” (Feb 19 – Feb 23) and “Mist Starts to Linger” (Feb 24 – Feb 28).  Much like the Solar Term of Rain Water, these two micro-seasons focus on the gradual environmental changes.

“Rain Moistens the Soil” marks the time when the snow has melted back and rain can reach the earth. 

“Mist Starts to Linger”, marks the time when we begin to notice the atmospheric changes that enable to formation of mist. 

Mist

Mist, which is created when “warmer air over water suddenly encounters the cooler surface of land”,⁽⁶⁾ is similar to fog.  The two are differentiated by how much they reduce horizontal visibility.  Mist reduces horizontal visibility to less than “7 miles (11 km) but more than or equal to 5/8th mile (1 km)”. Fog reduces horizontal visibility to 5/8th of a mile (1 km) or less.⁽⁶⁾ 

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Astronomical Season

February 25, the last day of week seven of 2024, is 63 days past the winter solstice and only 23 days away from the spring equinox (March 19, 2024).  

February’s Snow Moon

February’s full moon arrives on February 24.  This full moon is sometimes referred to as the Snow Moon.

Catherine Boeckmann at The Farmer’s Almanac explains that the Snow Moon got its name because  “On average, February is the United States’ snowiest month, according to data from the National Weather Service.”  This is very interesting because the Snow Moon seems to be in conflict with the Solar Terms and the micro-season for this week. This difference highlights the range of weather that can exist at any time of the year.

Other traditional names for February’s full moon include:

• Eagle Moon from the Cree
• Bear Moon from the Ojibwe (this one references when bear cubs are born) 
• Raccoon Moon from the Algonquin 
• The Bony Moon and Hungry Moon from the Cherokee, and 
• Goose Moon from the Haida.

For more information about the Snow Moon, read Boekmann’s full article.

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Spring Poems by Sara Teasdale

Sara Teasdale (1884 -1933) was an American poet born in St. Louis, Missouri. She wrote seven books of poetry and became recognized for her lyrical style. 

Her first book, Sonnets to Duse, and Other Poems, came out in 1907. She published two other books of poetry before she released Love Song in 1917. Love Song won the Columbia Poetry Prize and the Poetry Society of America Prize. 

In 1920 she published Flame and Shadow. Marguerite Wilkinson reviewed this book for the New York Times Book Review and Magazine and wrote, “Sara Teasdale has found a philosophy of life and death,” having “grown intellectually since the publication of her earlier books” and displaying a “growth in artistry.”⁽⁷⁾

In 1926, Teasdale published Dark of the Moon, and in 1930 she published Stars To-Night.  These two books, along with Flame and Shadow, were considered her best books. In 1933, Teasdale’s final book Strange Victory was published. Teasdale died in January of that same year.   

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Teasdale wrote several spring-themed poems during her life.  “Spring Rain” is one most explicitly connected to this season.  Here is an excerpt:

I thought I had forgotten,
  But it all came back again
Tonight with the first spring thunder
  In a rush of rain.
(“Spring Rain” by Sara Teasdale, verse 1)

“Spring Rain” was published in Love Song. You can read the full poem here.

“Spring Torrents” was published in the September 1919 issue of Poetry and it takes a different approach to spring.

Will it always be like this until I am dead?
    Every spring must I bear it all again–
With the first red haze of the budding maple boughs,
    The first sweet-smelling rain?

Oh, I am like a rock in the rising river
   Where the flooded water breaks with a low call,
Like a rock that knows the cry of the waters
   And can not answer all

Teasdale also had two anti-war poems placed in spring. 

“Spring in War-Time” is one:

I feel the spring far off, far off,
    The faint, far scent of bud and leaf—
Oh, how can spring take heart to come
    To a world in grief,
    Deep grief?
(“Spring in War-Time” verse 1)

And, “There Will Come Soft Rains”

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white,

Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

Contemporary scholars of poetry are now bringing attention back to Teasdale’s work, including her anti-war poetry, claiming that her work was neglected or overlooked by her contemporaries.   

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The Kigo

In The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words as selected by Kenkichi Yamamoto, February is considered early spring.  ‘Spring Rain”, “Light Snow”, and “End of Snow” are all potential kigo for this week.  

 In Jane Reichhold’s A Dictionary of Haiku, “Lingering Cold”,  “Mist”, and “Snow” are relevant spring celestial kigo.

When checking the World Kigo Database by Dr. Gabi Greve, we find that “Mist” and “Spring Mist” are spring kigo, while “fog” is autumn kigo.

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

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The Haiku

Basho

yes, spring has come; 
this morning a hill 
is shrouded in mist. 
(translated by R.H.Blyth)

spring rains 
passing beneath the trees - 
pure water, indeed. 
(translated by Thomas McAuley)

Issa

half of it
is flitting snowflakes...
spring rain
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

spring rain--
the morning moon
in a clam shell
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

Reichhold

spring presses
cold into shadow
shape

morning mist
filling the spaces
of night bird

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Haiku Invitation

This week’s haiku invitation is to write a haiku or senryu referencing any local seasonal changes.  

Are you noticing more rain, melting snow, mist, or lingering cold?  What is inspiring you this week?  Write about it!

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

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Thank You!

About the Haiku

Basho’s haiku were retrieved from “Matsuo Bashō’s haiku poems in romanized Japanese with English translations” Editor: Gábor Terebess.  Issa’s haiku were retrieved from David G. Lanoue’s Haiku Guy.   Jane Reichhold’s haiku were retrieved from Dictionary of Haiku.

Resources

1. “The 24 Solar Terms”; China Educational Tours
2. 24 Solar Terms: 6  things you must know about Rain Water. ChinaDaily.com
3. 72 Seasons App
4. “Japan’s 72 Microseasons”; Nippon.com
5. “Mist”; National Geographic
6. “Obscuration Types”; National Weather Service
7. “Sara Teasdale”; Poetry Foundation