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Kigo

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For other uses, see Kigo (disambiguation).
Cherry blossoms (sakura), often simply called blossoms (hana) are a common spring kigo.

A kigo (季語, 'season word') is a word or phrase associated with a particular season, used in traditional forms of Japanese poetry. Kigo are used in the collaborative linked-verse forms renga and renku, as well as in haiku, to indicate the season referred to in the stanza. They are valuable in providing economy of expression.

History[edit]

Representation of, and reference to, the seasons has long been important in Japanese culture and poetry. The earliest anthology of Japanese poetry, the mid-8th century Man'yōshū, contained several sections devoted to the seasons. By the time of the first imperial Japanese anthology, the Kokinshū 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 (zō) poems.[1]

The writing of the linked-verse form renga dates to the middle of the Heian period (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 stanzas should include a reference to a specific season, depending upon their place in the poem. According to these rules, the hokku (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.[2]

A lighter form of renga called haikai no renga ("playful" linked verse) was introduced in the 16th century,[3] and became a salon type recreation by the Tokugawa era.[4] Poets soon began to compose hokku independent of the longer, collaborative renga and it began to become an independent style.[5][2] 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).[6]

Significance[edit]

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.[7]

Seasons[edit]

The moon is associated with autumn in Japanese poetry.

The association of kigo with a particular season may be obvious, though sometimes it is more subtle. In Japan, Pumpkins (kabocha) are a winter squash associated with the autumn harvest. It may be less obvious why the moon (tsuki) 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).[8]

Japanese seasons[edit]

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 and Tokyo, because Japanese classical literature developed mainly in this area.[9] In the Japanese calendar, seasons traditionally followed the lunisolar calendar with the solstices and equinoxes 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.[10] In linked haiku forms like renku, subsequent linked haiku must move forward in season temporality.[11]

Saijiki and lists of kigo[edit]

Main article: Saijiki
Main article: List of kigo
A sunflower, a typical summer kigo.

Japanese haiku poets often use a book called a saijiki, which lists kigo with example poems. An entry in a saijiki 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.[12] The saijiki are divided into the four seasons (and modern saijiki usually include a section for seasonless (muki) 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.[13]

Examples of Japanese summer kigo are:[11]

Summer

Outside Japan[edit]

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 saijiki, contains more than 1,000 poems, by over 600 poets from 50 countries 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, Esperanto, and Klingon, as well as numerous examples in more common languages.

International haiku poets have adapted the idea of kigo to their local conditions and culture. Many phenomena that might be used as kigo are similar throughout much of the world, such as the blooming of flowers and trees in the spring, and the migration of birds in the spring and autumn. Even if the trees and birds are not the same as in Japan, the concepts are still the same.

On the other hand, climatic conditions can often be very different from what the Japanese are used to. The tropics, for example, are very different from the temperate climate of Japan and usually only have a wet or Monsoon season, and a dry season. Tornado Alley area of the United States has its tornado season (peaking from late winter through mid summer, depending upon latitude). Areas with a Mediterranean climate, such as Western Australia, coastal California, and Spain have their summer Fire Season. On the other hand, in the Caribbean and the east coast of North America and surrounding areas, it is Hurricane Season during the summer and autumn months.

There are many local cultures around the world, with similarities and differences. One similarity is that many areas have harvest festivals with bonfires. One difference between locations is that migrating birds will be present in different locations at different times of year.

A large Jacaranda tree in full bloom

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, Forest fires, seasonal events like the Tournament of Roses Parade, and local flora like the Jacaranda.[14]


Kigo and haiku: an example[edit]

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

古池や
かわずとびこむ
水の音 		Furuike ya
Kawazu tobikomu
Mizu no oto 		The old pond;
A frog jumps in,—
The sound of the water.[15]

Haiku without kigo[edit]

Haiku without kigo is possible, and are described as Muki 無季 (no-season).

In the pre-Meiji era (before 1868), almost all haiku contained a kigo. For example, Japanese experts have classified only about 10 of Matsuo Bashō's (1644–1694) hokku in the miscellaneous (zō) category (out of about 1,000 hokku). As with most of the pre-Meiji poets, Bashō was primarily a renku poet (that is, he composed linked verse with other poets), so he also wrote plenty of miscellaneous and love stanzas for the interior lines of a renku. Usually about half the stanzas in a renku do not reference a season.

The Meiji era poet Masaoka Shiki (1867–1902), who recommended several major reforms to the writing of hokku and tanka, including an expansion in subject matter and vocabulary, still included kigo in his revision of hokku, which he renamed haiku. Experts have classified a few hundred of Shiki's haiku in the miscellaneous category (out of the few thousand that he wrote). His follower Takahama Kyoshi, who was the most influential haiku poet in the generation after Shiki, also emphasized kigo. In the early part of the 20th century, there were a number of Japanese poets, such as Kawahigashi Hekigoto, Ogiwara Seisensui, Noguchi Yonejiro, Taneda Santōka, Ozaki Hōsai, Nakatsuka Ippekirō, and Ban'ya Natsuishi who were less concerned about some traditions of haiku such as the inclusion of kigo. Some, like Hekigoto and Seisensui, actively opposed the insistence on kigo, but even they often included kigo in their haiku.

A tree sparrow (suzume)

Most Japanese and many western haiku written today still follow tradition by including a kigo. Many haiku groups and editors of haiku publications insist that haiku include a kigo. For some haiku traditionalists, anything that does not have a kigo is something else, either senryū (comic haikai) or zappai (miscellaneous haikai). Until a few modern saijiki added the miscellaneous category, no seasonless haiku would have been included as examples in saijiki, which are the major references for haiku poets in Japan.

There are some reformers who have made suggestions such as using the idea of keywords (which would include kigo as a subset). Keywords are words such as dawn, birthday cake, ocean wave, beggar or dog, with strong associations, but which are not necessarily associated with a particular season. Birds that do not migrate, such as pigeons or sparrows, are additional examples of non-seasonal keywords.[citation needed] The Modern Haiku Association of Japan published a collection of kigo in 2004 which included non-seasonal kigo.[16]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Higginson 1996, pp. 31–34.
  2. ^ a b Blyth, R.H. (1963). "A History of Haiku Volume One". The Haiku Foundation Digital Library. p. 68 of PDF, page 46 of original text. Retrieved 13 January 2024.Addiss 2012, p. 47Higginson 1996, pp. 94–95
  3. ^ Ueda (1991), p. 428.
  4. ^ Higginson 1996, p. 19.
  5. ^ Wilson, William Scott (2022). A Beginner's Guide to Japanese Haiku. Tuttle Publishing. p. 15. ISBN 978-4-8053-1687-0.
  6. ^ Higginson 1996, pp. 109–112.
  7. ^ Higginson 1996, pp. 94–95.
  8. ^ Higginson 1996, pp. 108–109.
  9. ^ Higginson 1996, p. 21.
  10. ^ Higginson, William J. Kiyose (Seasonword Guide), From Here Press, 2005, p.24
  11. ^ a b Yamamoto, Kenkichi. "The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words" (PDF). Renku Home. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  12. ^ Gill (2007), p. 18.
  13. ^ Higginson 1996, pp. 96–97, 100–101, 113–116.
  14. ^ Dee, Billie. "Southern California Season Words". Southern California Haiku Study Group. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  15. ^ Translation by R.H. Blyth in Sato, Hiroaki. One Hundred Frogs: from renga to haiku to English. Weatherhill, 1983 ISBN 0834801760 p154
  16. ^ Gilbert, Richard; Kaneko, Tohta (Summer 2006). "A New Haiku Era: Non-season kigo in the Gendai Haiku saijiki". The Haiku Foundation Digital Library.

References[edit]

Print
(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)
(24 pp. A pocket kiyose listing over 700 Japanese kigo in English, ordered by season and category)
Online
Online lists of season words
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