Cotton (wata)

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Cotton (wata)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Various, see below.
***** Category: Plant, Humanity

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Explanation

Since the early Edo period, cotton was produced mainly in the Kinnai area 畿内 and Kawachi 河内国 region and many merchants lived in nearby Osaka.
The seeds are sown in May and the picking starts after the O-Bon holidays in August.
The fields were located in the watery rice paddies on elevated earth, called handen 半田（はんでん）」or shimabata「嶋畑（しまばた）.


cotton picking in the Edo period

source : 河内木綿の部屋
with more photos from the Cotton Museum of Kawachi !




wata refers to the cotton plant with more than 40 sub-species.
Gossypium spp.

momen 木綿（もめん）is another word for cotton コットン.


Cotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


The oil from cotton seed is used for cooking.
menjitsuyu 綿実油 cotton seed oil


Some kigo concern its harvesting and production, others things made ouf of cotton.
They come in various seasons.


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kigo for early summer

watanuki 綿抜（わたぬき, 綿抜き）
"take the cotton padding out"
On April first (lunar Calendar), the robes and lined kimono (awase) changed from warm winter to light summer garments.
wata o nuku, this is the original of the family name Watanuki.



mid-summer

shin mawata 新真綿 (しんまわた) new silk floss
mawata tori 真綿取り（まわたとり） picking silk floss
Seidenwatte, Florettseide


.wata maki 棉蒔 (わたまき) sowing of cotton seeds



late summer


wata no hana 棉の花 (わたのはな)
flowers of the cotton plant
. . . 綿の花（わたのはな）



watasuge 綿菅 (わたすげ) "cotton sedge"
Hare's-tail Cottongrass, Tussock Cottongrass,
Sheathed Cottonsedge
Eriophorum vaginatum. Scheiden-Wollgras
. . . CLICK here for Photos !



all summer

chijimi momen 縮木綿（ちぢみもめん）cotton crepe


momengaya 木綿蚊帳（もめんがや）
mosquito net made from cotton thread


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mid-autumn

wata 棉 (わた) cotton (the plant)
wata no momo 棉の桃（わたのもも） "peach of the cotton" the fluffy cotton bolls
momo fuku 桃吹く（ももふく）cotton bolls blowing
..... wata fuku 棉吹く（わたふく）



wata tori 綿取 (わたとり) harvesting cotton
watatsumi 綿摘（わたつみ）picking cotton



watayumi 綿弓（わたゆみ）cotton bow
wata uchi yumi 綿打弓（わたうちゆみ）bow to hit the cotton
To disentangle old cotton padding. Made of bamboo. The bowstring makes a nostalgic low sound, almost like a melody. See the haiku by Basho below.
This old custom of "hitting cotton" is still alive in India and many other countries and I remember this sound very well.



wata hosu 綿干す（わたほす）drying cotton
wata kuri 綿繰り（わたくり）turning cotton

wata kai 綿買（わたかい） buyer of cotton, cotton merchant



kigo for late autumn
shin wata 新綿 (しんわた) new cotton
. . . nii-wata 新綿（にいわた）
kotoshi wata 今年綿（ことしわた） cotton of this year





kiku no kisewata 菊の着綿 (きくのきせわた)
"chrysanthemum cotton garment"
"Chrysanthemum Covers"
kiku no wata 菊の綿（きくのわた）
. . . kiku no somewata 菊の染綿（きくのそめわた）
On the 8th of September (one day before the nineth Chrysanthemum festival) cotton silk floss covers were placed outside over the chrysanthemums to catch the evening dew. On the morning of the 9th, these garments were used to wrap the body of court ladies, a custom since the Heian Period. This was said to ward off evil and lead to a healthy ripe old age.
After this day, summer cotton garments were put away and the winter garments came into use.

Chrysanthemum (kiku)


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All winter



wata-irebaori 綿入羽織（わたいればおり）
haori half-coat with cotton padding


wata 綿 (わた) cotton (garment)
momenwata 木綿わた（もめんわた）, kiwata木綿（きわた）、panya パンヤ、

mawata 真綿（まわた）silk floss
... kinuwata 絹綿（きぬわた）

wata-ire 綿入 (わたいれ) (garment with) cotton padding
kosode 小袖（こそで）、nunoko 布子（ぬのこ）



watago 綿子（わたこ）"cotton child" warm undergarment
oimawata 負真綿 おいまわた "cotton garment to keep the back warm"




watabooshi 綿帽子 (わたぼうし) headdress of floss silk
. . . kazukiwata 被綿（かずきわた）
It used to be a cap to protect a woman from the cold in winter. Usually worn for a wedding now.


MORE
Winter garments to keep you warm !


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New Year

kazashi no wata 插頭綿（かざしのわた）
cotton flowers for a ritual court dance
Tooka no sechi e 踏歌節会 Imperial Court Ceremony


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. Momen Kaido 木綿街道 The Cotton Road 　
Hirata-cho, Izumo　出雲市平田町, Shimane prefecture



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Worldwide use

Georgia (USA)
kigo for winter

white christmas
along the road home
drifts of cotton

Judith Gorgone
WKD Facebook, November 2009


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Yemen


Cotton plants blossom in Yemen in the coastal plains; from summer to early autumn.
I thought it's only autumn, using the stored rain water for planting and growing.
The blossoms change their color in two days from white to pink in red/purple.

autumn kigo: cotton harvest, cotton bolls


cotton blossoms -
white when I arrived
red when I left

Heike Gewi

YEMEN SAIJIKI


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Things found on the way


Daruma Wata だるまわた　shop sign
Darumax company in Fukuoka prefecture
They make bedding out of cotton.



http://www.darmax.co.jp/
株式会社ダルマックス in Daruma Museum


Otafuku Cotton and a Daruma shop sign

At the train station of Ohi Honsen, Kumamoto
JR豊肥本線(ほうひ ほんせん


Daruma cotton wool ダルマ. 綿しつけ糸



Tenugui 手ぬぐい　Small Cotton Towels
With Daruma San as pattern



YUKATA : light summer garment
With Daruma San as pattern



Furoshiki　風呂敷　＜＞ Cotton Wrapper Cloth


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.
kazukewata, kazuke wata 被綿（かずけわた）
"covering cotton" .

During the ceremony
butsumyooe 仏名会 (ぶつみょうえ) Chanting of the Buddhas' Names
The priests clad themselves in white cotton robes to express a pure heart.


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wata-ame わたあめ / 綿あめ / 綿飴 cotton candy
Zuckerwatte


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HAIKU

- - - - - Matsuo Basho - - - - -

綿弓や琵琶になぐさむ竹の奥
わたゆみやびわになぐさむたけのおく
wata yumi ya biwa ni nagusamu take no oku
watayumi

this cotton bow -
comforting like a biwa lute
deep in the bamboo (grove)

Matsuo Basho
Tr. Gabi Greve

from Nozarashi kiko (Records of the Weather-Exposed Skeleton)
Katsuragi, Nara 奈良葛城.

One year later, he visited here again for the New Year and wrote
. shoshun mazu sake ni ume uru nioi kana .


MORE - biwa lute hokku by
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .

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初霜や菊冷え初むる腰の綿
hatsu shimo ya kiku hie somuru koshi no wata

this first frost
makes the chrysanthemumss freeze -
a cotten wrapper around my hip
Tr. Gabi Greve


Written in late autumn of 1692 元禄5年晩秋
Collection Araoda 荒小田

This hokku has the cut marker YA at the end of line 1, but lines 1 and 2 belong together.

Basho stayed with Boncho and his wife Ukoo 羽紅, who prepared the warm garment for him.
He is making a bit of fun of himself for getting older.

koshiwata 腰綿 a warm cotten wrapper / blanket for the lower parts of the body to keep warm in winter. Well-loved by elderly men in the Edo period.

Sometime a kind of cover was also put over the chrysanthemum flowers (kisewata 着せ綿) to protect them from early frost.


. Nozawa Boncho 野沢凡兆 and Uko 羽紅 .


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名月の花かと見えて綿畠
meigetsu no hana ka to miete watabatake

the full moon
looks almost like a blossom -
this cotton field
Tr. Gabi Greve


looking as though
the harvest moon had blossomed,
cotton field
Tr. Makoto Ueda


in the bright moonlight what appeared
like flowers is a cotton field
source : Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan


. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


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綿採りの唄声ありと思ふのみ
watatori no utagoe ari to omou nomi

the song
of the cotton pickers -
this is all there is

Nakamura Teijo 中村汀女
(1900 - 1988)


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新綿や駱駝連ねて運ぶとは
niiwata ya rakuda tsurarete hakobu to wa


Nomura Kishuu 野村喜舟
(1886 - 1983)


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卯の花に布子の膝の光哉
u no hana ni nunoko no hiza no hikari kana

the deuzia blossoms
light up the quilt
on my knees

Kobayashi Issa, 1821


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Related words

***** Cotton fly (watamushi) Japan
Snow fly (yukimushi), snow firefly (yuki hotaru, yukibotaru)


***** Silk (kinu). Many related kigo. and Mulberry (kuwa)



***** watayuki 綿雪（わたゆき) "cotton snow"
kigo for all spring
SNOW (yuki) and related kigo

***** watagoori 綿氷（わたごおり)"cotton ice"
kigo for late winter
ICE (koori) and related kigo



　Autumn and farmers work



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