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Kigo Kigo (season word(s), from the Japanese 季語, kigo) are words or phrases that are associated with a particular season. They are used in haiku and renga to indicate the season in which the poem or stanza is set.
HistoryRepresentation of and reference to the seasons has always been important in Japan culture and poetry. The first anthology of Japanese poetry, the mid-8th century Man'yōshū, had several sections devoted to the seasons. By the time of the first imperial Japanese anthology, the Kokinshū, a century and a half later (905 A.D.) the season sections had become a much larger part of the anthology. Both of these anthologies also had sections for other categories, such as love poems and miscellaneous (zō) poems. When the writing of the linked verses of renga started (in the 13th century), the formal structure of the renga specified that many of the stanzas were supposed to include a reference to a specific season. It is from the opening stanza of a renga, the hokku, that haiku are derived from. The rules for renga said that the hokku should include a reference to the season in which the renga was being written, and it should include a compliment to the host of the renga writing party. This is where the requirement for haiku to include a seasonal reference or kigo comes from. Kigo and seasonsKigo are words or phrases that can be strongly associated with a particular season, or sometimes the association can be more subtle. Pumpkins, for example, are a winter squash that is associated with the fall harvest. Furthermore, for people living in the United States, pumpkins are also associated with the Jack-o'-lanterns of Halloween. A little later in the year pumpkins are also associated with the pumpkin pies that are usually part of the Thanksgiving Day dinner along with turkey and cranberries. But why is the moon an autumn kigo since it is up in the sky all year long? Autumn is when the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer, so you are more likely to notice the moon. Often the night sky will be free of clouds so that also helps with noticing the moon. Autumn is also the time when the full moon can help farmers work under the moonlight to harvest their crops (see harvest moon). [For more on the moon as a kigo see below]. SaijikiJapanese haiku poets often use a Saijiki, which is much like a dictionary for kigo (season words). There is usually a description of the kigo itself, plus a list of similar words, and then there are one or more examples of haiku that include that kigo. The saijiki will be divided into the four seasons (and modern saijiki usually include a section for the New Year, and sometimes another section for Miscellaneous (Zō) or Seasonless words (Muki)). Each of those sections are then divided into a number of categories, and then the kigo are sorted within their proper category. Common categories (with example of summer kigo) would be: Summer
Common kigo in Japanese haikuSpring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
New Years
Kigo and haiku: an exampleIn this famous haiku by Matsuo Basho, "frog" is a spring kigo:
References
Online
See alsoThe contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License.
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