Bamboo Wife and pillow

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Bamboo Wife (chiku fujin)

***** Location: Japan, Asia
***** Season: All Summer
***** Category: Humanity
pillow, makura, see below

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Explanation

Before the advent of modern air conditioning, Asian people took to bamboo to cool down in the evening.

Woven baskets, small ones for cushions and larger ones to embrace while sleeping, to keep the cool air close to your body. They are all kigo for summer.

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"bamboo wife", chiku fujin ちくふじん 竹婦人 )
take fujin
bamboo lady
"bamboo husband" chiku fujin 竹夫人（ちくふじん）
"bamboo guy", chikudo 竹奴（ちくど）

"hug basket" dakikago 抱籠（だきかご）
sleeping companion, soine kago 添寝籠（そいねかご）

bamboo robe, take juban 竹襦袢（たけじゅばん）
... kuda juban 管襦袢（くだじゅばん)

bamboo pillow, take makura 竹枕（たけまくら）



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A Chikufujin (竹夫人) (literally "bamboo wife") is the Japanese version of a Dutch wife, a hollow bamboo form roughly the size of a human body.

The origin of the English term "Dutch wife" is thought to be from the Dutch colony of Indonesia where Dutch traders would spend long periods away from their wives.
The term in Korean jukbuin is also "bamboo wife."

The wicker or bamboo pillow-shaped "cage" is kept in the bed on hot nights to improve air circulation.

Chikufujin are hand-woven from bamboo cane.


Korean Nobleman with his bamboo wife
- - More at the WIKIPEDIA !

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Worldwide use

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Things found on the way

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HAIKU

竹婦人風の言葉でささやきぬ　
chiku fujin kaze no kotoba de sasayakinu

bamboo bride
whispering soft words
of the wind　

Endoo san 遠藤　統
http://www.gendaihaiku.gr.jp/haikukai/result/63_kouhyo.htm

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竹婦人とり合ひの子ら寝静まる
chiku fujin toriai no kora neshizumaru

wrangling with
the bamboo wife -
the kids quieten down

Akiyama Kuniko 秋山くに子
http://www.ginet.or.jp/haiku/post/05/06-1.htm

All Tr. by Gabi Greve

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この島に人来る季節竹夫人　
kono shima ni hito kuru kisetsu chiku fujin

the season
when guests come to this island -
bamboo wife

Kishimoto Naoki 岸本直樹
source : haikureikudb

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I beat it
with my bamboo stick
bamboo wife

bamboo wife
in a starched kimono ...
cold tea

wooden children
tugging at her skirt
bamboo wife

Ella Wagemakers, May 2007

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Related words

***** BAMBOO, an Asian Plant and Haiku

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makura 　枕　（まくら)　pillow
(The word PILLOW, just like that, is not a kigo.)

. temakura 手枕 hands for a pillow 　

. "Poetry Pillow words" utamakura　歌枕 　

Pillows in the Edo period where of two types.

kukuri makura くくり枕 stuffed pillow, sometimes so long it lasted for two persons


hako makura 箱枕 "pillow box" wooden box with a bit of soft cover for the head, it was ment to protect the large coiffures of people.

koo makura 香枕 fragrant pillows, filled with a bit of perfume or incence
. . . CLICK here for Photos !

kusamakura, kusa makura 草枕 pillows stuffed with grass
They were used by the very poor who could not afford anything better.

. The Grass Pillow of Matsuo Basho .
The hokku in the comments are included here.

Now let us look at some kigo.

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kigo for all summer


take makura 竹枕（たけまくら）bamboo pillow
kago makura 籠枕 (かごまくら) "basket pillow"
toomakura 籐枕（とうまくら） rattan pillow



toochin 陶枕 (とうちん) pillow made from pottery
It could be filled with cold water (in winter with hot water).
jichin 磁枕（じちん）porcelain pillow
seijichin 青磁枕（せいじちん）
hakujichin 白磁枕（はくじちん）
toojichin 陶磁枕（とうじちん）

ishimakura, ishi makura 石枕（いしまくら）pillow made from stone
kanemakura 金枕（かねまくら）pillow made from metal
takemakura 竹枕（たけまくら）pillow made from bamboo
kimakura 木枕（きまくら）pillow made from wood
kawara makura 瓦枕（かわらまくら）pillow made from rooftile earth

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kigo for early summer

. ayame no makura 菖蒲の枕 (あやめのまくら) "iris pillow" 　
for the Boy's Festival

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kigo for late autumn

. kiku makura 菊枕 (きくまくら) "chrysanthemum pillow" 　
. . . kikuchin, kiku chin 菊枕（きくちん）
. . . kiku no makura 菊の枕（きくのまくら）

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kigo for all winter

. kita makura, kitamakura 北枕（きたまくら）"pillow in the north" 　
Name for the poisonous blowfish Canthigaster rivulata.

Living people should never sleep with their pillow facing north. This is the position for placing a dead body in the home, before the funeral.

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kigo for the New Year

. Pillow with a picture of a tapir 獏枕 baku-makura 　
for the first dream

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備長炭枕すがしき虫の秋　　
binchootan makura sugashiki mushi no aki

my pillow of charcoal
just so refreshing -
autumn of the insects　

Yooko 葉子
Tr. Gabi Greve

Charcoal in Japan

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Utagawa Hiroshige

The Legend of the Stone Pillow
of Ubagaike Pond at Asakusa
(Asakusa Ubagaike no ishimakura no yûrai),

Some greedy parents (in another version, an old grandmother) had her daughter lure travellers to come to rest at their home (hitotsuya). When the traveller slept, they hit their head with the stone pillow, threw the bodies in the pond nearby and lived with the stolen money.
One day the daughter repented her bad deeds, dressed as a man and was killed by her own parents with the stone pillow.
Next morning the parents realized their mistake, went to the temple and asked Kannon Bosatsu for forgiveness.

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. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .

夏の夜や枕にしたる筑波山
natsu no ya ya makura ni shitaru tsukuba yama

in the summer night
it's a pillow...
Mount Tsukuba



霰ちれくくり枕を負ふ子ども
arare chire kukurimakura o ou kodomo

fall, hailstones!
with pillow on his head
a child

MORE
PILLOW haiku by Issa
Tr. David Lanoue

. . . CLICK here for kukurimakura .. Photos !

. Futon 布団 bedding in Japan 　　

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. Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 - Introduction . .

誰がための　低きまくらぞ　春の暮
taga tame no　hikuki makura zo　haru no kure

For whom it's ready?
Low pillow;
Spring evening.

The prepared pillow in bed is low.
According to critics, it's undoubtedly for a man.
The scene attracts a great deal of the Poet’s attention. Time is a spring evening. Naturally, there arises an irresistible sensuous atmosphere. But as everyone recognizes, the expression is unbelievably objective and much is left, like the opening sentence of a novel, to our own imagination, and it varies individually. Mr. Takahashi says ‘technical skill’ is, in a good sense, one of the chief distinctions of the Poet.

- source : hokuoto77.com/buson00-

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for whom
this low pillow?
spring evening

The low pillow is for a man, so it stands out as not being the norm in this woman's bedroom. Her own pillow is, by implication, also laid out in the early evening next to or near the low man's pillow. Hers is a high, woman's pillow on a wooden base designed to protect her complex hairdo while she sleeps. Right now the room may be empty in dim evening light after preparations for the night have been made. Perhaps there is a small lamp.
Or the hokku might be a rhetorical question the woman asks herself. I think there is a lot of pathos in the hokku, since the man has evidently stopped visiting the woman's house.
The word spring in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese has sensual, erotic overtones, so the male pillow may evoke a torrid relationship between the woman and the man, a relationship that now appears to have ended, though it is difficult for the woman to be sure. The man may have stayed away for a week or a month, or, if her love is very deep, she might keep laying out the man's low pillow long after the man has obviously stopped visiting. Maybe even every night for a year?

It's also possible to interpret the hokku as evoking a woman who has suddenly started laying out two pillows (and futon) and is just beginning a relationship. Or the woman might have more than one lover, and the hokku wonders which one will visit tonight. However, since "spring evening" can also mean "evening in late spring," I myself feel drawn to the reading in which the sensual relationship, like the spring, is drifting toward an end. Probably, though, Buson is trying to leave the possibilities open. In any case, the zo acts as a strong question mark and invites the reader to ask the same question while reading the hokku, turning it into a poem about love in general.

I would guess the hokku is about either an aristocratic woman, perhaps from an earlier age, or a rich woman in Buson's own period. Possibly a rich widow. So aside from the possibility of the woman asking herself, the hokku might be from the perspective of a servant who's just laid out the bedding. It would be natural for a servant to ask, though a servant might know already. The same for a family member, though it could be a relative visiting for the first time in a while. It could also be Buson's persona -- a voyeur in the dusk looking into the woman's bedroom. That seems more likely to me. And the voyeur is also inviting the reader to be a voyeur.

Chris Drake

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枕する春の流れやみだれ髪
makura suru haru no nagare ya midare gami

a stream in spring
as its pillow -
this tangled hair
Tr. Gabi Greve

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