Week 28: “First Lotus Blossoms”

July 08 – July 14 is the 28th week of 2024.  This week, we enter the Solar Term of Minor Heat (July 07 – July 21). The micro-seasons for this week are “Warm Winds Blow” (July 7 – July 11) and “First Lotus Blossoms” (July 12– July 16).

Basho, Issa, Buson, and Reichhold wrote the poems selected 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⁾

Minor Heat

Minor Heat is the eleventh Solar Term of the year and the fifth Solar Term of summer. Xiaoshu (小暑) is the Chinese name for this season. Xiaoshu means “weather becomes increasingly hot”.⁽²⁾ At this time, crops grow rapidly and there is a potential for drought. 

Season Food: Melons

Melons are the ideal food for the warmer weather because they can provide vitamin C and hydration, both of which are beneficial for your skin and immune system. In Nanjing, Jiangsu province, people typically enjoy smaller melons like cantaloupes during Minor Heat and save the bigger melons for the next Solar Term: Major Heat. Watermelons are considered bigger melons.⁽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 “Warm Winds Blow” (July 7 – July 11) and “First Lotus Blossoms” (July 12– July 16).

The Sacred Lotus

The sacred lotus, also known as the Indian lotus or Nelumbo nucifera, is an edible aquatic plant native to Asia’s subtropical and tropical regions. The Nelumbo nucifera belongs to the larger Nelumbonaceae family of plants. All plants within the Nelumbonaceae family are flowering aquatic plants. 

Lotus plants thrive in the floodplains and in slow-moving waters.  Lotus plants have large, round leaves and flowers that are pink or rose-colored.  The flowers grow on stalks that may reach 6 feet above the water’s surface. The lotus flower, which has a very short blooming period, will open in the morning and close in the evening. 

Once the flower is pollinated, it begins its seed development. The lotus seed pod starts as a small green bud and continues to grows until it splits open releasing hundreds of seeds. As an aquatic plant, the lotus relies on hydrophily, or seed dispersal through water movement. Seeds that fall into the water and are carried by the currents to new locations.

When the seed settles into its new location, it can take anywhere from two weeks to two months for that seed to germinate. After germination, the lotus sprouts into a seedling. Once the leaves and stalk emerge from underneath the water, the lotus redirects its energy towards flowering, thus beginning a new cycle of growth and seed production.^(6,8,9)

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Astronomical Season

July 14, is the last day of week 28.  July 14 is 24 days past the summer solstice and 70 days until the Autumn Equinox (September 22, 2024).  

Moon Phases

The Moon reached its first quarter phase on July 13th. The First Quarter is seven days after the New Moon and marks the first quarter of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth.  

After the First Quarter, the Moon shifts to its Waxing Gibbous phase. During the Waxing Gibbous phase, the Moon’s illumination increases until it reaches the Full Moon. On July 14, the last day of this week, the Moon is in a Waxing Gibbous phase with 57% illumination. 

July’s full Moon will occur on July 21.

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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

According to the World Kigo Database by Dr. Gabi Greves, the “lotus” can be a summer, autumn, or winter kigo.   “Floating lotus leaves” or “lotus leaves” are examples of early summer kigo.  “Viewing lotus” or “fragrance of lotus” are late summer kigo. “Seeds of lotus” or “broken lotus” are autumn kigo, and “dried lotus” or “lotus roots” are winter kigo. 

In The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words selected by Kenkichi Yamamoto “lotus”, “melon”, and “south wind” are all relevant kigo.

In Jane Reichhold’s A Dictionary of Haiku, “lotus” and “melon” are relevant kigo

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

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Basho

offering 
a yam on a lotus 
because ”they are alike” 
(translated by Jane Reichhold)

scent of lotus blossom 
goes to the eye through 
the mask’s nose 
(translated by Jane Reichhold) 

Issa

alongside
the beggar's pillow...
lotus leaves float
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

lotus blossoms--
the beggar's smoke
wafts over
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

even lotus blossoms
bend a bit...
oh floating world!
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

Buson

Flying through lotuses
and bamboo — the heart 
of sparrow parents
(translated by Allan Persinger)

The monk pauses 
contemplating cutting
the white lotuses
(translated by Allan Persinger)

Reichhold

point blank
the whiteness of lotus petals
spinning

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Haiku invitation

This week’s haiku invitation is to write a haiku or senryu about a lotus or a melon. You get to choose!

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

Formatting Note:  To eliminate the spaces between the lines of your haiku, hit shift-enter at the end of the line.  For example,

one (shift-enter)
line two (shift-enter)
the third line (shift-enter)

Thanks to LaMon for sharing these instructions!

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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. Jane Reichhold’s haiku was retrieved from the Dictionary of Haiku. Mills and Clausen’s haiku were retrieved from Haiku Enlightenment by Gabriel Rosenstock.

1. “The 24 Solar Terms”; China Educational Tours
2. “6 Solar Terms of Summer”; China Educational Tours
3. “24 Solar Terms: 6 things you may not know about Minor Heat.’ ChinaDaily.com
4. 72 Seasons App
5. “Japan’s 72 Microseasons”; Nippon.com
6. “Lotus, plant common name”; Britannica 
7. “Sacred lotus”; Britannica
8. “Nelumbo nucifera”: wikipedia
9. “How Does a Lotus Flower Grow”; Earth.com