Week 29: “Hawks Learn To Fly”

July 15 – July 21 is the 29th week of 2024. This week, we complete the Solar Term of Minor Heat (July 07 – July 21), and enter the micro-season of “Hawks Learn To Fly” (July 17 – July 22).

Basho, Issa, Buson, Reichhold, and Rosenstock wrote the poems selected for this week.

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 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: Dumplings

Dumplings are steamed, fried, of boiled pockets of dough filled with meat or vegetables.  Jiaozi (饺子), a common type of dumpling found in China, is made from minced pork, shrimp, vegetables, mushrooms, and other spices and often served at this time of year.  Dumplings are said to stimulate the appetite on a hot day.

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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-season for this week is “Hawks Learn To Fly” (July 17 – July 22).

Hawks

All hawks belong to either the Accipitridae and Falconidae family of birds. These birds can be found on all continents except Antarctica. Hawks are diurnal (active by day) hunters and possess sharp curved talons, hooked beaks, long tails, and short wings.  Hawks are known for their exceptional hearing and eyesight, and primarily feed on other birds, small mammals, reptiles, and insects.^(7,8)

Learning To Fly

The lifecycle of a hawk, like all birds, consists of several stages.  The first stage is the egg stage, which is then followed by the hatchling stage, nestling stage, fledgling stage, juvenile stage, immature or sub-adult stage, and then adult stage.  Birds learn to fly during the fledgling stage^.(9)

During the fledgling stage birds develop their first set of flight feathers and leave the nest.  Fledglings are still fairly awkward and can only fly short distances.  Fledglings will also spend significant time hopping on the ground and are still dependent on its parents for food.  The exact time that it takes a bird to move from hatchling to fledgling is different depending on the species.  For example, it takes a Northern Goshawk about 36 days to move from hatchling to fledgling. Whereas, it only takes an American Robin 14-16 days to learn how to fly.  

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Astronomical Season

July 21, is the last day of week 29.  July 21 is 31 days past the summer solstice and 63 days until the Autumn Equinox (September 22, 2024).  

July’s Full Moon

July’s full Moon arrives on July 21. This full moon is sometimes referred to as the Buck Moon.

Catherine Boeckmann at The Farmer’s Almanac explains that July’s full Moon is called the Buck Moon because “the antlers of male deer (bucks) are in full-growth mode at this time.”

Other names for July’s Moon are:

• Feather Moulting Moon from the Cree,
• Salmon Moon from the Tlingit,
• Berry Moon from the Anishinaabe, 
• Raspberry Moon from the Algonquin and Ojibwe,
• Thunder Moon from the Western Abenaki, and 
• Halfway Summer Moon from the Anishinaabe.

For more information about the Buck Moon, read Boekmann’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

According to the World Kigo Database by Dr. Gabi Greves, a “hawk” by itself is not a kigo.  But a “hawk in the cold” is a winter kigo, and “hawk migrating” is an autumn kigo.   

In The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words selected by Kenkichi Yamamoto, “hawk” is listed as a winter kigo.  However, other birds such as “kingfisher”, “little cuckoo”, and “old bush warbler” are summer kigo. 

In Jane Reichhold’s A Dictionary of Haiku, “fledglings” are summer kigo, along with “hawks”, “eagles” and “birds”.

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

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Basho

the hawk's eyes 
have darkened now: 
calling quail 
(translated by David Landis Barnhill) 

A hawk in the flesh 
is more reliable than 
one in a dream 
(translated by Haruo Shirane) 

Being useless, 
my daydreams are disturbed 
by noisy warblers 
(translated by Sam Hamill) 

The bush warbler 
in a grove of bamboo sprouts 
sings of growing old 
(translated by Sam Hamill) 

Issa

fledgling faces
peek out the nest...
sparrows
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

a bush warbler sounding
a bit more summery...
dewy eaves
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

amid scented cedars
a bush warbler's song...
new summer robes
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

Buson

Splashed
over an iris
hawk droppings
(translated by Allan Persinger)

As the sun sets
the warbler’s distant voice
also ends
(translated by Allan Persinger)

Reichhold

a little clumsy
the scrub jay teaches
fledglings to fly

lunchtime
overlooking the road ahead
a hawk

Gabriel Rosenstock

is there a better place
than here and now–
white herons in flight

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Haiku Invitation

This week’s haiku invitation is to write a haiku or senryu about birds in flight.

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 Japanesewith 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. Rosenstock’s haiku was 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. “Exploring Different Types of Chinese Dumplings and Bao”; EatMila.com
5. 72 Seasons App
6. “Japan’s 72 Microseasons”; Nippon.com
7. “Hawk”; Wikipedia
8. “Hawk”; Britannica
9. “The Life Cycle of a Bird”; BirdSpot.co.uk