Week 32: “Cool Wind Blows”

August 06 –  August 11 is the 32nd week of 2024.  This week, we enter the Solar Term of Beginning of Autumn (Aug 08 – Aug 23).  The micro-seasons for this week are “Great Rains Sometimes Falls” (Aug 03 – Aug 07) and “Cool Wind Blows” (Aug 8 – Aug 12).

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⁾

Beginning of Autumn

Beginning of Autumn is the thirteenth Solar Term of the year and the first Solar Term of Autumn. Liqiu (立秋) is the Chinese name for this season. The Chinese character for autumn, Qiu (秋, autumn) “consists of two parts, he (禾, rice) and huo (火, fire), meaning the ripening of rice.”⁽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 “Great Rains Sometimes Falls” (Aug 03 – Aug 07) and “Cool Wind Blows” (Aug 8 – Aug 12).

About The Wind

Wind is a natural phenomenon that is best described as the movement of air outside. It can range in intensity from hurricanes to gentle sea breezes. The primary force behind all winds, regardless of their intensity, is a variation in atmospheric pressure.

The air in our atmosphere tends to flow from regions of higher pressure to lower pressure. These different pressure zones are created by the Sun’s uneven heating of the Earth’s surface. Low-pressure areas are created by rising warm air, while high-pressure zones are created by cold air systems moving in and replacing the heated air.

As autumn approaches and the Earth tilts away from the Sun, the days begin to shorten and there is a gradual cooling. (This cooling is more noticeable in regions closer to the Earth’s poles.) The Earth’s cooling affects atmospheric pressure systems and creates a significant difference between the warmer southern air and the colder Arctic air. The temperature difference influences weather patterns resulting in more frequent and intense low-pressure systems, which brings an increase in wind and rain as autumn moves in.  Hence, the cool wind blows.^(5,6)

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Astronomical Seasons

August 11, is the last day of week 32.  August 11 is 52 days past the summer solstice and 52 days until the Autumn Equinox (September 22, 2024).  

Astronomical Autumn

The astronomical seasons are determined by the Earth’s position in its orbit around the Sun. Astronomical autumn will begin on the autumn equinox (September 22, 2024). An Equinox is when the Earth’s axis is neither tilted towards nor away from the Sun, resulting in equal day and night lengths.  Spring is the other season that arrives with an equinox. Summer and winter arrive on solstices.  

Meteorological Autumn

The meteorological seasons are based on annual temperature cycles and change about every 90 days.  These changes coincide with the months of the Gregorian calendar. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, meteorological autumn includes the months of September, October, and November. Therefore, if you follow the meteorological calendar autumn doesn’t arrive for another 30 days.

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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 “remaining heat”, ”new coolness”, “refreshing” and “autumn near” are relevant kigo for this week. 

In Jane Reichhold’s A Dictionary of Haiku, “wind – cool”, “coolness”, and “beginning of autumn” are relevant kigo.

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

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Basho

a clear night
cooling myself under cherry trees 
waves of flowers 
(translated by Jane Reichhold)

Now autumn begins, 
the sea and all the fields 
the same shade of green 
(translated by Sam Hamill)

as autumn approaches 
our hearts are drawn together-- 
a four-and-a-half mat room. 
(translated by David Landis Barnhill)

Issa

back in the house
cooling off again...
moon in the window
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

evening's red leaves--
cooling off
the grilled yams
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

moonflowers--
world-improving rain
so refreshing
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

Buson

Moonflowers
tremble in the autumn wind —
a purifying river
(translated by Allan Persinger)

A cool breeze
blows through the mosquito net —
a rootless wanderer
(translated by Allan Persinger)

Reichhold

cricket silence
between scraping sounds
autumn begins

red rock walls
the cool wind
as wide as holes

Kerouac

Cool breezy morning
   –the cat is rolling
On his back

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Haiku invitation

This week’s haiku invitation is to write a haiku or senryu about cooling off

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 Autumn”; China Educational Tours
3. 72 Seasons App
4. “Japan’s 72 Microseasons”; Nippon.com
5. “Wind”; National Geographic
6. Dutton, Liam. “What makes autumn weather autumnal?”.  Channel 4 News