A is a word or phrase associated with a particular

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, used in traditional forms of

Japanese poetry Japanese poetry is poetry typical of Japan, or written, spoken, or chanted in the Japanese language, which includes Old Japanese, Early Middle Japanese, Late Middle Japanese, and Modern Japanese, as well as poetry in Japan which was written in th ...

. Kigo are used in the collaborative linked-verse forms renga and renku, as well as in

haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 Mora (linguistics), morae (called ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' in Japanese) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a ''kire ...

, to indicate the season referred to in the

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'', ; ) is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have either. ...

. They are valuable in providing economy of expression.

History

Representation of, and reference to, the seasons has long been important in

Japanese culture Japanese culture has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world. Since the Jomon period, ancestral ...

and poetry. The earliest

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

of Japanese poetry, the mid-8th century , contained several sections devoted to the seasons. By the time of the first imperial Japanese anthology, the a century and a half later (AD 905), the seasonal sections had become a much larger part of the anthology. Both of these anthologies had sections for other categories such as love poems and miscellaneous () poems. The writing of the linked-verse form renga dates to the middle of the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

(roughly AD 1000) and developed through the medieval era. Over time, set rules developed for the writing of renga, and its formal structure specified that about half of the

s should include a reference to a specific season, depending upon their place in the poem. According to these rules, the (the opening stanza of the renga) must include a reference to the season in which the renga was written. Poets as early as Iio Sogi (1421-1502) introduced the concept of seasonal references with anthologies of seasonal topics. A lighter form of renga called ("playful" linked verse) was introduced in the 16th century, and became a salon type recreation by the Tokugawa era. Poets soon began to compose independent of the longer, collaborative renga and it began to become an independent style. In the early twentieth century poets began experimenting with breaking the traditional elements of haiku, such as omitting the kigo entirely. This eventually led to the New Haiku and free verse haiku movements, which advocated more modern styles of haiku. Today most Japanese haiku include a kigo, though many haiku written in languages other than Japanese omit it (see for example

Haiku in English A haiku in English is an English-language poem written in a form or style inspired by Japanese haiku. Like their Japanese counterpart, haiku in English are typically short poems and often reference the seasons, but the degree to which haiku in Engl ...

Significance

Season words are evocative of images that are associated with the same time of year. For readers in New England, a poem about frost on a pumpkin evokes other sensations and traditions, like frosty air and apple cider. For Higginson writing in ''The Haiku Seasons'', season words are a type of logopoeia--a word used not just for its meaning, but for its associations with other ideas.

Seasons

The association of kigo with a particular season may be obvious, though sometimes it is more subtle. In Japan,

Pumpkin A pumpkin is a cultivar, cultivated winter squash in the genus ''Cucurbita''. The term is most commonly applied to round, orange-colored squash varieties, but does not possess a scientific definition. It may be used in reference to many dif ...

s () are a winter squash associated with the autumn

harvest Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...

. It may be less obvious why the ''

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

'' () is an autumn kigo, since it is visible year round. In autumn the days become shorter and the nights longer, yet they are still warm enough to stay outside, so one is more likely to notice the moon. Often, the night sky will be free of clouds in autumn, with the moon visible. The full moon can help farmers work after the sun goes down to harvest their crops (a '' harvest moon'').

Japanese seasons

Japan is long from north to south, so the seasonal features vary from place to place. The sense of season in kigo is based on the region between

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, because Japanese classical literature developed mainly in this area. In the

Japanese calendar Japanese calendar types have included a range of official and unofficial systems. At present, Japan uses the Gregorian calendar together with year designations stating the Japanese era name, year of the reign of the current Emperor. The written f ...

, seasons traditionally followed the

lunisolar calendar A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures, that combines monthly lunar cycles with the solar year. As with all calendars which divide the year into months, there is an additional requirement that the year have a whole number of mont ...

with the

solstice A solstice is the time when the Sun reaches its most northerly or southerly sun path, excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around 20–22 June and 20–22 December. In many countries ...

s and

equinox A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun appears directly above the equator, rather than to its north or south. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise directly east and set directly west. This occurs twice each year, arou ...

es at the middle of a season. The traditional Japanese seasons are: *Spring: 4 February–5 May *Summer: 6 May–7 August *Autumn: 8 August–6 November *Winter: 7 November–3 February Within season categories, kigo can denote early, middle, or late parts of a season, which are defined approximately as the first, second, or third month of the season. In linked haiku forms like renku, subsequent linked haiku must move forward in season temporally. There are other rules governing season words in renku, including the frequency of certain season words, and how many stanzas remain in a season, once mentioned.

''Saijiki'' and lists of kigo

Japanese haiku poets often use a book called a , which lists with example poems. An entry in a usually includes a description of the kigo itself, together with a list of similar or related words, and some examples of haiku that include that kigo. The are divided into the four seasons (and modern usually include a section for seasonless () words). Those sections are divided into a standard set of categories, and then the kigo are sorted within their proper category. ''Japan Great Saikiji'' uses the sub-categories of season words, the heavens, earth, humanity, observances, animals, and plants. Examples of Japanese summer kigo are: Summer * The Season: short night, burning, hot * The Sky and Heavens: rainy season, evening downpour, afterglow, drought * The Earth: waterfall, summer meadow, clear water * Humanity: switching clothes, straw mats, swimming, fireworks * Observances: Boys' Day (May 5), Gion festival (July) * Animals: fawn,

mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae ( ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are somet ...

* Plants:

peony The peony or paeony () is any flowering plant in the genus ''Paeonia'', the only genus in the family Paeoniaceae. Peonies are native to Asia, Europe, and Western North America. Scientists differ on the number of species that can be distinguish ...

lotus flower ''Nelumbo nucifera'', also known as the pink lotus, sacred lotus, Indian lotus, or simply lotus, is one of two extant taxon, extant species of aquatic plant in the Family (biology), family Nelumbonaceae. It is sometimes colloquially called a ...

orange blossom The orange blossom is the fragrant flower of the orange (fruit), ''Citrus sinensis'' (orange tree). It is used in perfume making and has been written about as an aphrodisiac. Orange blossom Essential oil, essence is an important component in ...

lily ''Lilium'' ( ) is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large and often prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. Most species are ...

sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a species of large annual forb of the daisy family Asteraceae. The common sunflower is harvested for its edible oily seeds, which are often eaten as a snack food. They are also used in the pr ...

Outside Japan

Haiku started as a form of Japanese poetry and is now written in many different languages around the world. William J. Higginson's ''Haiku World'' (1996), which is the first international , contains more than 1,000 poems, by over 600 poets writing in 25 languages. The writing of haiku around the world has increased with the advent of the internet, where one can even find examples of haiku written in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

, and

Klingon The Klingons ( ; Klingon language, Klingon: ''tlhIngan'' ) are a humanoid species of aliens in the science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. Developed by screenwriter Gene L. Coon in 1967 for the Star Trek: The Original Series, original ''Star T ...

, as well as numerous examples in more common languages. Jacarandatree

Different regions internationally have their own lists of kigo. The Southern California Haiku Study group created their own list, which includes regional weather like June gloom and

smog Smog, or smoke fog, is a type of intense air pollution. The word "smog" was coined in the early 20th century, and is a portmanteau of the words ''smoke'' and ''fog'' to refer to smoky fog due to its opacity, and odour. The word was then inte ...

Forest fires A forest fire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a bushfire ( in Au ...

, seasonal events like the

Tournament of Roses Parade A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

, and local flora like the

Jacaranda ''Jacaranda'' is a genus of 49 species of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas while cultivated around the world. The generic name is also used as the common name. The species ' ...

Kigo and haiku: an example

In the famous haiku by Matsuo Bashō below, is a for spring. Haiku had been traditionally written about the singing of mating frogs, but Bashō chose to focus on a very different sound.

Haiku without kigo

Haiku without kigo is possible, and are described as (no-season). Because of the practice of anthologizing haiku in saijiki, haiku that did not mention seasons were not as well-known, and many haiku writers assumed that haiku had to contain a kigo. Poems on non-seasonal topics appeared in the imperial anthology , such as love, travel, and religion. Usually about half the stanzas in a renku do not reference a season. In contemporary haiku composition, Japanese haiku writers disagree about if a haiku requires a kigo, while writers outside of Japan feel free to write haiku without kigo. The Modern Haiku Association of Japan published a collection of kigo in 2004 which included non-seasonal kigo.

Notes

References

* * :(An international haiku saijiki with over 1,000 haiku from poets in 50 countries covering 680 seasonal topics) * :(a companion book to ''Haiku World'' discussing the development of haiku, and the importance of the seasons and kigo to haiku) * {{Authority control Kigo"> Japanese poetry Japanese poetry">Kigo"> Japanese poetry Japanese literature Japanese literary terminology">Japanese literature">Japanese poetry">Kigo"> Japanese poetry Japanese literature Japanese literary terminology

History

Significance

Seasons

Japanese seasons

''Saijiki'' and lists of kigo

Outside Japan

Kigo and haiku: an example

Haiku without kigo

See also

Further reading

Print

Online

Online lists of season words

Notes

References