Week 30: “Major Heat”

July 22 –  July 28 is the 30th week of 2024.  This week, we complete the Solar Term of Major Heat  (July 22 – Aug 06), and we are in the micro-season of “Paulownia Trees Produce Seeds” (July 23 – July 28).

Basho, Issa, Buson, Reichhold, and Kerouac 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⁾

Major Heat is the twelfth Solar Term of the year, and is also the sixth, and final, Solar Term of Summer. Dashu (大暑) is the Chinese name for this season. Dashu means “Extreme heat”. ⁽²⁾

Seasonal Food: Mung Bean Congee

Congee, or Chinese rice porridge, is made by cooking rice until it breaks down and creates a pudding-like consistency.  A mung bean (Vigna radiata) is a legume often grown in South Asia, which can be used in savory and sweet dishes.  Mung Bean Congee, or Chinese rice porridge with Mung Beans,  is said to promote healthy digestion, lower blood pressure, decrease cholesterol, and improve the body’s immune system.^(3,4,5) 

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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 “Paulownia Trees Produce Seeds” (July 23 – July 28).

The Paulownia Tree

Paulownia tomentosa is a deciduous tree in the Paulowniaceae family. Some other names for this tree are Empress Tree, Princess Tree, Royal Empress Tree, and Royal Paulownia. This tree can grow up to 15 feet a year and is considered one of the fattest growing trees in the world.

The Paulownia is native to southeast Asia and produces flowers that are “light purple pink, showy, and smell like vanilla.”⁽⁷⁾ Once the flowers drop, the tree produces “woody brown seed capsules . . . [that]  break open to reveal winged seeds.^”(7)

The wood from a Paulownia trees is strong, light, durable, and almost knot free.  Because of this, and its rapid growth rate, it is a popular commercial wood. The harvest wood from the Paulownia tree is used in the production of many things including musical instruments and rice bowls.⁽⁸⁾ However, in parts of the United States, the Paulownia tree is considered an invasive species.

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Astronomical Season

July 28 is the last day of week 30.  July 28 is 38 days past the summer solstice and 66 days until the Autumn Equinox (September 22, 2024).  

Moon Phases

On July 27, the Moon reaches its Last Quarter phase. This phase occurs three-quarters of the way through its orbit around the Earth and results in about 50% of the Moon’s surface being illuminated. 

On June 28, the last day of this week, the Moon will have past the Last Quarter and will be in its Waning Crescent phase with 46.4% of its surface illuminated.

The Moon will continue to lose illumination until it reaches the New Moon on August 04.

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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 “hot”, “smoldering hot”, and “burning hot” are all relevant kigo.  The “paulownia flower” is also listed as a kigo.  However, it is an early summer kigo 

In Jane Reichhold’s A Dictionary of Haiku, “heat”, “heat shimmer”, and “heat waves” are relevant summer kigo.

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

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Basho

sinking the hot sun 
into the sea –
Mogami River
(translated by Michael Haldane) 

the sun about to sink, 
and the threading heat waves 
departing 
(translated by David Landis Barnhill)

Sixteen-foot Buddha – 
from your stone base 
rising heat-waves. 
(translated by Lucien Stryk)

Issa

heat shimmers--
a field mouse chased
by the dog
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

quiet and still
I eat my white rice...
the heat
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

three raindrops
a greeting card from heaven...
midsummer heat
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

Buson

In the hot day
a sword is changed
for a fan
(translated by Allan Persinger)

Sitting on a veranda
avoiding my wife and children —
heat 
(translated by Allan Persinger)

Reichhold

hot night
sleep too
has melted

heat waves
bringing to the desert
an ocean view

Kerouac

Too hot to write
   haiku – crickets
and mosquitoes

My corncob pipe 
   hot from
 the sun

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Haiku invitation

This week’s haiku invitation is to write a haiku or senryu about the increasing heat.

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. 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. “Basic Chinese Congee”; FoodandWine.com
4. “Mung Bean”;Wikipedia
5. “Mung Bean Congee”; UnfamilarChina.com
6. 72 Seasons App
7. “Japan’s 72 Microseasons”; Nippon.com
8. “Paulownia tomentosa” North Carolina Extension Gardner Toolbox
9. “About Paulownia”; ipaulowina.com