Week 36: “End of Heat”

September 02 –  September 08 is the 36th week of 2024.  This week we enter into the meteorological season of fall, but remain in astronomical summer until the autumnal equinox on September 22, 2024. 

During this week we are also in the Solar Term of End of Heat (Aug 23 – Sept 07) and enter the micro-season of “Rice Ripens” (Sep 02- Sep 07).

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⁾

End of Heat

End of Heat is the fourteenth Solar Term of the year and the second Solar Term of Autumn. Chushu ( 处暑) is the Chinese name for this season. Chushu ( 处暑) means “exit of heat”.  

Duck is a traditional food for the season, fishing festivals are common, and during this time of year people prepare for the upcoming harvests.

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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 “Rice Ripens” (Sep 02- Sep 07). 

Rice: From Planting to Milling

Below is a general overview of the lifecycle of a rice plant from planting to milling.  Specific days and times may differ depending on your location.  

February – Early May: Field Preparation & Planting

• Commercial rice farming in the United States utilizes heavy clay and loam soils that are very good at retaining water, making them perfect for rice.

March – Early August: Irrigation & Growing

• The traditional irrigation method is to construct earthen levees that follow the contour of the land. Farmers then flood the field with about two to four inches of water. This water level is maintained during the growing season.
• It takes about 120 days for rice to grow to a height of about 3 or 4 feet with the grain appearing on the top of the panicles.

Mid-July – November: Harvest

• When the rice is ready to be harvested, the water is drained from the fields. While modern farmers use specially designed combines to cut the rice and separate the grain from the stalks, traditional farmers harvest the rice by hand.
• Once harvested, the rice is moved to drying facilities that reduce the moisture content of the rice grains until it is ready for milling.

August and Year-Round: Milling

• Milling is a mechanical process where harvested rice passes through sheller machines to remove the inedible husks. This initial pass-through produces brown rice.
• If the manufacturer wants to produce white rice, they run the rice through another mill that rubs the kernels together to create “polished rice”. At this point, the manufacturer may add vitamins back into the rice. This is known as enriching the rice.

November-February: A Wildlife Habitat

• After the harvest, water is returned to the rice fields. This practice encourages the migrating and winter bird population to forage in the fields.  In exchange for access to the rice fields, the birds enrich the soil, aid in straw decomposition, and help control weeds and insects, offering valuable benefits to the ecosystem.

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Haiku, Kigo, and Saijiki

The kigo, or season word, is one of the key parts of the haiku. A kigo “a poetic device used in haiku to denote a season.”⁽⁶⁾ It can “conjure up many allusions, historical references, spiritual meanings, and/or cultural traditions.”⁽⁶⁾ When used in a haiku, it 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.”⁽⁶⁾

A saijiki is a dictionary of season words, or kigo, paired with haiku using that season word.  A saijiki is a reference and tool for the poet that is divided into five seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, and New Year) and separated into seven categories.

In The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words selected by Kenkichi Yamamoto, each of the five seasons has seven categories of words.

• Seasons
• Heavens
• Earth
• Humanity
• Observances
• Animals
• Plants

While this document doesn’t have haiku for each season word, it is helpful in understanding what words may be kigo.

In  A Dictionary of Haiku, which is Jane Reichhold’s English language saijiki that represents her location and experiences, she follows the five seasons structure with some slight differences in categories.  Reichhold’s categories are:

• Moods
• Occasions
• Celestial 
• Terrestrial
• Livelihood
• Animals 
• Plants

I find both Reichhold’s Dictionary and Yamamoto’s Essential Season Words helpful in understanding the role and use of kigo in haiku.

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This Week’s Kigo and Haiku

In The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words as selected by Kenkichi Yamamoto, “coming of autumn”, ”autumn air”, and “refreshing” are all relevant kigo for this week. 

In Jane Reichhold’s A Dictionary of Haiku, “school”, “beginning of autumn”, and “cold night” are also relevant kigo.

Now, let’s read some haiku. 

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Basho

red more red 
in spite of the indifferent sun 
an autumn breeze
(translated by Jane Reichhold)

as autumn draws near 
our hearts feel closer 
to this small tearoom 
(translated by Jane Reichhold)

autumn is cool: 
let each hand set to peeling 
melons and eggplants 
(translated by David Landis Barnhill)

Issa

evening cicada--
a last burst of song
to autumn
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

mountain path--
today beginning to feel
the autumn wind
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

a bird takes flight--
a shout in the duckweed
autumn wind
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

Buson

Now I realize
autumn’s arrived —
achoo!
(translated by Allan Persinger)

Autumn has arrived —
what is the fortune teller’s
surprise?
(translated by Allan Persinger)

Reichhold

night winds blow
on the cabin bed
another quilt

cricket silence
between scraping sounds
autumn begins

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Haiku invitation

This week’s haiku invitation is to write a haiku or senryu about the arrival of autumn

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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Thank You!

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A Local Saijiki Project

The Yuki Teikei Haiku Society, explains that a saijiki is useful for poets, “naturalists, and people interested in the natural and cultural history of an area.”  The saijiki contains seasonal words, plus haiku that demonstrate the poetic qualities of the words.

The creation of a local saijiki, one that represents an individual community, always felt like a big, daunting, and yet worthwhile project.  So, I have decided to try and create my own saijiki. I am not sure how this will turn out, but if you are interested in joining me and creating your own saijiki, I have created a saijiki worksheet to get you started.  If nothing else, this is a good exercise in noticing the natural world and writing haiku. Let’s see where this project takes us! 

• Saijiki Worksheet (PDF file)
• Saijiki Worksheet (Google Doc)

About Today’s 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.

References:

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. “How Rice Grows”; USARice.com
6. “New To Haiku: What is a Kigo?”