Week 33: “Evening Cicadas Sing”

August 12 –  August 18 is the 33rd week of 2024.  This week we are in the Solar Term of Beginning of Autumn (Aug 08 – Aug 23).  The micro-season for this week is “Evening Cicadas Sing” (Aug 13 – Aug 17).

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⁾

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) “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-season for this week is “Evening Cicadas Sing” (Aug 13 – Aug 17).

The Cicada

Cicadas are stout insects known for their clear-membraned wings, broad heads, and compound eyes. Cicadas vary in size, ranging from 0.75 to 2.25 inches (2 to 5 cm) in length. Cicadas, who are part of the taxonomic order Homoptera, are separated into two family classifications: Tettigarctidae and Cicadidae. 

Tettigarctidae, or “hairy cicadas,” are ancient and primitive insects that have mostly become extinct except for two species that can still be found in southern Australia and Tasmania. The larger Cicadidae family, often called “true cicadas,” can be found around the globe and consists of over 3,000 different species.

Cicada Songs

Cicadas can produce a variety of sounds/songs by vibrating specialized membranes called tymbals located near the base of their abdomen. Male cicadas, in particular, can generate four distinct types of sound: songs, calls, low-amplitude songs, and disturbance sounds.

The way cicada’s “sing” is different from the way that grasshoppers and crickets sing. Grasshoppers and crickets create sound through stridulation or the rubbing together of specialized body parts. 

Sample Cicada Songs

According to the Songs of Insects website, most cicadas are easy to identify by their sound.  Let’s see if you can tell the difference. (The links will bring you to SongsofInsects.com)

Linne’s Cicada (Neotibicen linnei)

Linne’s Cicada

Northern Dusk-singing Cicada (Megatibicen auletes)

Northern Dusk-singing Cicada

Swamp Cicada (Neotibicen tibicen tibicen)

Swamp Cicada

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Astronomical Seasons

Aug 18 is the last day of week 33.  Aug 18 is 59 days past the summer solstice and 35 days until the Autumn Equinox (September 22, 2024).  

Moon Phases

The Moon reached its first quarter phase on August 12th. 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 August 18, the last day of this week, the Moon is in a Waxing Gibbous phase with 98% illumination. 

August’s full Moon will occur on August 19.

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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 “evening clear cicada”, ”insects”, and “crickets” are relevant kigo for this week. 

In Jane Reichhold’s A Dictionary of Haiku, “cicada”, “cricket”, and “insects’ cry” are relevant kigo.

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

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Basho

now look at me 
in this fine summer robe! 
a cicada kimono 
(translated by David Landis Barnhill)

Stillness— 
the cicada's cry 
drills into the rocks. 
(translated by Robert Hass)

even temple bells 
seem to be ringing in 
the cicada’s cry 
(translated by Sam Hamill)

a cicada shell; 
it sang itself 
utterly away. 
(translated by R.H.Blyth)

Issa

if you're praying
pray to Amida Buddha!
summer cicadas
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

big rain
big moon
cicada in the pine
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

autumn wind--
the cicadas' grumbling
is louder
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

Buson

You share the calmness
of the temple’s great Buddha —
the cicada’s voice
(translated by Allan Persinger)

Cicadas
undressing the treetops
Ogawa River
(translated by Allan Persinger)

Reichhold

lightning flash
into the sound of rain
a cricket shrills

cicadas
as if they'd won
a poetry contest

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Haiku invitation

This week’s haiku invitation is to write a haiku or senryu about insect songs.

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)

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No Newsletter on August 23!

SeasonWords.com is going to take next week off. We will return Friday, August 30th. 

Have a great week everyone!

~Mark

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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.

Resources:

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. “Cicada”; Wikipedia
6. “Tettigarctidae”: Wikipedia 
7. “Cicadidae”: Wikipedia 
8. “Cicada”; Britannica
9. “Cicada”; National Geographic