Week 19: “Frogs Start Singing”

May 06 to May 12 is the 19th week of 2024.  This week, we enter the Solar Term of Beginning of Summer (May 05- May 20), and the micro-seasons of “Frogs Start Singing” (May 05 – May 09) and “Worms Surface” (May 10 – May 14).

Basho, Issa, Buson, Sokan, Reichhold, and Kerouac wrote the poems for this week.  

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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 Xi’an, the capital of China during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE). ⁽¹⁾

Beginning of Summer

Beginning of Summer is the seventh Solar Term of the year and the first Solar Term of Summer. Lixia (立夏) is the Chinese name for this season.  Lixia means “the end of spring, and the beginning of summer.”⁽²⁾  

Seasonal Food:  Eggs

In ancient China, people would eat eggs during the Beginning of Summer as a way to pray for good health.  These eggs were prepared by boiling them in leftover tea water and specially selected spices to create a dish known as the “tea egg”.  The tea egg has since become a common snack in China. ^(2,3)

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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 “Frogs Start Singing” (May 05 – May 09) and “Worms Surface” (May 10 – May 14).

A Frog’s Song

The frog’s song, or a frog’s vocalization, is usually made by the male frog and it has one of two purposes: attracting a mate or establishing a territory.

Mating Calls

A frog’s primary vocalization is the mating call. Male frogs are the only frogs that make mating calls and each species possesses a unique call. The mating call lures the female to the male’s location which has been selected because of its suitability for breeding.^(6,7) 

Territorial Calls

Territorial calls are the sounds that male frogs make to keep other male frogs away from their claimed area.  There are some species of frogs where the mating call and the territorial call are the same, but in many species these two calls are different. ^(6,7)

The US Geological Survey Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative has collected several recordings of various North American frogs.  Here are just a few examples.

• Northern Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer crucifer)

• American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana)

• Western chorus frog (Pseudacris triseriata)

If you would like to hear more frog songs, visit the USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative webpage.

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Astronomical Season

May 12 is the last day of week 19. May 12th is 54 days past the spring equinox and 39 days until the summer solstice (June 20, 2024).  

May’s New Moon

The new Moon in May occurred on May 07, 2024.  A new Moon is when the Moon is directly between the Earth and the Sun.  During a new Moon, the Moon’s shadow faces the Earth making it difficult to see.

If we look toward the field of astrology, we find out that May’s new Moon coincides with the astrological sign of Taurus (April 20 – May 20).  Jill Wintersteen, a columnist for Yoga Journal, explains, “Taurus provides us with the energy needed to ground ourselves and integrate our experiences. It is a time to re-center our vision of what is most important and remind ourselves that we can always rely on our inner compass no matter what life hands us.” During this new Moon, Wintersteen suggests that we use the energy of Taurus to bring balance into our lives and strive to “connect to the beauty around you and appreciate each moment for its unique gifts.”⁽⁸⁾

To learn more about May’s new Moon and the field of astrology, read Wintersteen’s full article.

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Haiku and Kigo 

The kigo, or season word, is one of the key parts of the haiku.  The Yuki Teikei Haiku Society provides us with the following explanation for why we use kigo in haiku. 

“A kigo is a poetic device used in haiku to denote a season; it’s a powerful word or phrase that can conjure up many allusions, historical references, spiritual meanings, and/or cultural traditions. Its use in haiku, a poem of few words, is especially effective because of this power to expand its meaning beyond the literal and to create a larger aura of seasonal mood, historical/ literary context, and/or cultural implications.”⁽⁹⁾

Visit The Haiku Foundation’s “New To Haiku: What is a Kigo?” for more information

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This Week’s Kigo

In The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words selected by Kenkichi Yamamoto “tadpoles” are spring kigo, while “frogs’ can be either a spring or a summer kigo.

 In Jane Reichhold’s A Dictionary of Haiku, “tadpoles” and “frogs” are spring kigo. 

According to the World Kigo Database by Dr. Gabi Greves, because there are so many species of frogs, “frogs” can be a spring, a summer, or an autumn kigo.  “First Voice of the Frog” and “Frog Concert” are spring kigo, while “Green Frog” and “Tree Frog” are summer kigo. “Frogs in Autumn” would be an autumn kigo. 

With all this in mind, let’s read some haiku. 

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Basho

The old pond: 
a frog jumps in, – 
the sound of the water. 
(translated by R.H.Blyth)

Basho’s frog poem is one of the most famous haiku. But, have you ever wondered why?

Below, in an excerpt from Basho: The Complete Haiku as translated and annotated by Jane Reichhold, Reichhold writes about Basho’s poem and why it is a perfect example of the haiku technique of “sense switching”.

“Here, the frog not only jumps into the water but also into the sound of water. The mind-puzzle that this haiku creates is how to separate the frog from the water, the sound of water from the water, the frog from the sound it will make entering water, and the sound from the old pond. It cannot be done because all these factors are one, but the reader arrives at this truth through having the senses scrambled.” (p.402)

Issa

old pond--
"let me go first!"
jumping frog
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

spring's first frog--
another drop falls
from the twig
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

in every direction
ten thousand blessings...
croaking frogs
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

Buson

The moon listens
to a frog staring up
from a rice paddy
(translated by Allan Persinger)

Sitting in a palace
a distant frog
listening to night
(translated by Allan Persinger)

Sokan

his hands together–
frog 
recites a poem

Reichhold

scattered clouds
shaped by frogs
croaking

Kerouac

Frogs don’t care
  just sit there
brooding on the moon

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Haiku invitation

This week’s haiku invitation is to write a haiku or senryu about a frog or a frog song. 

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. Buson’s haiku was retrieved from Foxfire: the Selected Poems of Yosa Buson, a Translation by Allan Persinger. Sokan’s haiku was retrieved from Haiku Enlightenment by Gabriel Rosenstock. Jane Reichhold’s haiku were retrieved from the Dictionary of Haiku. Kerouac’s haiku was retrieved from Kerouac’s Book of Haikus.

1. “The 24 Solar Terms”; China Educational Tours
2. “6 Solar Terms of Summer”; China Educational Tours
3. “24 Solar Terms: 5 things you may not know about the Start of Summer”; ChinaDaily.com
4. 72 Seasons App
5. “Japan’s 72 Microseasons”; Nippon.com
6. “Call of the Wild” Ranger Rick.org
7. Dr Jodi Rowley; “Why do frogs call?”; Australian Museum
8. Jill Wintersteen; “What the New Moon in Taurus Means for You”. Yoga Journal