Goose, geese (kari)

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO TOP . ]
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Goose, geese (kari, gan)

***** Location: Japan, worldwide
***** Season: various, see below
***** Category: Animal

*****************************
Explanation




............................... kigo for late autumn

goose, geese, kari 雁 (かり)
..... gan がん
..... かりがね , カリガネ" lesser white-fronted goose、Anser erythropus, flying in "chevron shape"
This refers to the wild geese.

first goose, first geese, hatsukari 初雁（はつかり）

white-fronted goose, magan 真雁（まがん）
hishikui 菱喰（ひしくい）

"sake face goose", sakatsuragan 酒顔雁（さかつらがん）

small goose, kogarigane 小雁（こかりがね）
black goose, kokugan 黒雁（こくがん）
gray goose, hai irogan 灰色雁（はいいろがん）


Shijuu karagan 四十雀雁（しじゅうからがん）

"swamp goose", numa taroo 沼太郎（ぬまたろう）
nogan 鴇（のがん）

"mountain turkey", yama shichimenchoo 山七面鳥（やましちめんちょう）
another name for the
wild goose, nogan 野雁（のがん）
"Princess goose", himegan 姫雁（ひめがん）


row of geese, gan no retsu 雁の列（かりのれつ）
formation of geese flying, flight of geese
. . . CLICK here for Photos !



"geese like a pole", kari no sao 雁の棹（かりのさお）
one row of geese, line of geese, ganji 雁字（がんじ）
..... ganjin 雁陣（がんじん）、gankoo 雁行（がんこう）



sound of the geese, kari ga ne 雁が音（かりがね）

geese crossing over, kari wataru 雁渡る（かりわたる）
geese coming, kari kitaru 雁来る（かりきたる）、
geese in the sky, amatsukari 天津雁（あまつかり）
geese in the clouds, kumoi no kari 雲井の雁（くもいのかり）
The geese come to Japan in autumn and spend the winter here.


geese in a small field, oda no kari 小田の雁（おだのかり）
a flock of geese in a field

goose falling down, rakugan 落雁（らくがん）
ill goose, byoogan 病雁（びょうがん） -


病雁の夜寒に落ちて旅寝哉
. byoogan no yosamu ni ochite tabine kana .
Matsuo Basho　松尾芭蕉 - more hokku about - kari 雁 goose
yamukari 病雁（やむかり）used by Basho


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

............................... kigo for winter

"white goose", hakugan 白雁（はくがん）
Snow Geese
Anser caerulescens

geese in the cold, kangan 寒雁
Geese in winter, fuyu no gan 冬の雁 fuyu no gan

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::



............................... kigo for mid-spring

. ganburo 雁風呂 がんぶろ "bath for the wild geese" .
..... kari kuyoo 雁供養（かりくよう） memorial service for wild geese
In Tsugaru, Aomori

.................................................................................


............................... kigo for late spring

spring geese, haru no kari 春の雁
nokoru kari 残る雁（のこるかり）geese still left over


geese going back home, kigan 帰雁
lit. "geese going home"
The geese are leaving Japan now and go back to Northern regions.

good by for the geese, kari no wakare 雁の別れ（かりのわかれ）

geese still here, nagori no kari 名残の雁（なごりのかり）
..... imawa no kari いまわの雁（いまわのかり）
leaving geese, yuku kari 行く雁（ゆくかり）

geese returning home, departing geese
..... kaeru kari 帰る雁（かえるかり）
They are off to their Northern breeding habitats.


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Goose (plural geese, male gander(s))
is the general English name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than geese, and ducks, which are smaller.



Goose in its origins is one of the oldest words of the Indo-European languages (Crystal), the modern names deriving from the proto-Indo-European root, ghans, hence Sanskrit hamsa (feminine hamsii), Latin anser, Greek khén etc.

In the Germanic languages, the root word led to Old English gos with the plural gés, German Gans and Old Norse gas. Other modern derivatives are Russian gus and Old Irish géiss; the family name of the cleric Jan Hus is derived from the Czech derivative husa.

In non-technical use, the male goose is called a "gander" (Anglo-Saxon gandra) and the female is the "goose"; young birds before fledging are known as "goslings". A group of geese on the ground is called a gaggle; when flying in formation, it is called a wedge or a skein.

Read more in the ©　WIKIPEDIA

*****************************
Worldwide use


Canada, North America

Geese heading north
kigo for spring

Geese heading south
kigo for autumn

Canadian SAIJIKI Canadiens


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Germany

Gans,
ach du dumme Gans!

Eine sehr bekannte und häufig angewandte Redensart, um die geistige Beschränktheit weiblicher Personen zu bezeichnen. Die Gans steht bei uns ebenso allgemein in dem Rufe der Dummheit wie der Esel. Auch führt sie den Namen Alheit = Adelheit, abgekürzt Alke. Man leitet diesen Namen ebenfalls aus der Dummheit und Geschwätzigkeit her, durch welche die Gans charakterisiert wird.

More is here :
©　www.operone.de

In other cultures, we have other associations with these animals.
For example the
"The Golden Goose" in Grimms Fairy Tales.
and Mother Goose.


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Ireland

Light-bellied Brent Goose
Branta bernicla hrota

Winter migrant from high-Arctic Canada. Most occur in Ireland between October and April.
Mostly found on coastal estuaries during the autumn and early winter, and also on grasslands from mid-winter, until departure for the breeding grounds begins in late April.
source : www.birdwatchireland.ie


pale bellies..
almost time
for goodbyes

- Shared by John Byrne -
Haiku Culture Magazine , 2013


*****************************
Things found on the way


The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white.
Neither need you do anything but be yourself.

Lao-Tzu

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Goosie goosie gander where shall I wander,
Upstairs, downstairs and in my lady's chamber
There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers,
I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs.

Obscure morality Nursery Rhyme
©　www.famousquotes.me.uk



*****************************
HAIKU

. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .

the rear goose--
well, well
a sore foot

ato no kari yare-yare ashi ga itamu yara
跡の雁やれやれ足がいたむやら

by Kobaylshi Issa, 1812

Shiniji Ogawa notes that ato in this haiku, though it is spelled with the kanji for "footprint," in fact means "rear": ato no kari = "rear goose."



来た雁や片足上て一思案
kita kari ya kata ashi agete isshian

the newly arrived goose
lifts one leg...
deep meditation
Tr. David Lanoue


. Why Ducks Sleep Standing On One Leg .



念仏がうるさいとてや雁帰る
nenbutsu ga urusai tote ya kari kaeru

even if their Amida prayer
is so noisy today -
geese departing
Tr. Gabi Greve

I feel the parting geese and their honking are the "urusai nenbutsu"
that Issa hears in the fields.
To him the honking before departure sounds like the noisy nembutsu Amida prayer done by the geese to pray for their safe return home



nenbutsu, nembutsu : 南無阿弥陀仏
. Namu Amida Butsu, the Amida Prayer .


.............................................................................


夕月に尻つんむけて小田の雁
yuuzuki ni shiri tsunmukete oda no kari

in a small paddy
wild geese point their tails
at the evening moon
Tr. Chris Drake


This hokku was written at the end of the 8th month (early October) in 1812.
Wild geese have flown south to Japan for the winter, and a group is now in a small dry rice paddy that's mostly empty following the recent rice harvest. As the geese bend over and forage in the grasses and stubble that remain, their tail feathers point up toward the moon. In Issa's time an evening moon (yuuzuki) was usually a waxing moon going down in the west late in the afternoon or in the twilight, so the tails of the geese are pointing upward and westward.
Perhaps Issa feels it's uncanny that the tails of the geese are pointing in the direction of the Pure Land even though they don't seem to be aware of it.

Chris Drake

.............................................................................


出る月に門田の雁の行儀哉
deru tsuki ni kadota no kari no gyoogi kana

at moonrise geese
in the field by the gate
remember their manners
Tr. Chris Drake

This autumn hokku was written in the 7th month (August) in 1810, when Issa was traveling around in the area to the east of Edo. The gate does not belong to a typical farmhouse, and this is no ordinary rice paddy. Most paddies were located some distance from the farmer's house, but this paddy is located directly in front of the large front gate of a temple or shrine or the gate of a mansion owned by a rich landlord or samurai, and it is choice land, probably with high yields.

Wild geese usually return to the Edo-Tokyo area in October and stay until spring, but Issa is writing in August, so this seems to be a hokku based on a memory. In October the paddies have been drained and harvested, and the wild geese go through the now dry fields looking for straw and stray grains of rice. They have been enjoying themselves and making quite a racket in the dark, but when the moon rises they realize they can be seen, and they suddenly become more polite, presumably quieter and less conspicuous. Issa seems amused, and the geese apparently remind him of humans who suddenly become restrained and polite when they visit a temple or pass by the mansion of a powerful person.

Chris Drake

.............................................................................


おりよ雁一もくさんに我前へ
oriyo kari ichimokusan ni waga mae e

geese, hurry down
as fast as you can
right here to me
Tr. Chris Drake


This hokku was written in the 9th month (October) of 1819, the year Issa recorded in Year of My Life (Oraga haru).
Looking up, Issa sees another line of wild geese flying south for the winter. Since wild geese fly south to Japan in order to winter in warm places, they tend to fly right over Issa's hometown or stay there only for a short time, since it's on a high plateau that's very cold and snowy in the winter. To get their attention, Issa addresses them strongly. It's almost as if he's shouting up at the birds in the sky as they pass over him. Don't look anywhere else -- look straight ahead and land right here in front of me as quickly as you can. Do the birds feel the depth of his desire to meet them?

Chris Drake

.............................................................................


行雁やきのふは見へぬ小田の水
yuku kari ya kinoo wa mienu oda no mizu

the geese go north --
today they see rice fields
full of water
Tr. Chris Drake

This spring hokku was written on 1/21 (March 2) of 1804, when Issa was living on the outskirts of the city of Edo. All winter wild geese from Siberia have been foraging the dry, stubble-filled rice paddies in this farm village near Edo. Even though the area gets a bit of snow in the winter, the geese find enough food to stay alive. However, the local farmers have today turned their rice fields into shallow ponds so they can begin to prepare them for rice planting in late May or early June, and suddenly the geese have lost their main places to forage and their favorite places for hanging out. They seem to get the message and set out the same day for their northern summer home.

Because there is a cutting word at the end of the first line, no viewers are explicitly connected to the verb in the second line. This is normal procedure in Japanese poetry, in which syllable space is limited and suggestion is a main means of reference. Usually this simply indicates that the author feels there are enough details in the waka or hokku to allow the reader to infer who is doing what. In Issa's hokku, "weren't visible" implies that yesterday neither humans nor birds could see any wet paddies in the area, but today they all can see them. Since the first line makes the returning geese the focus of the hokku, however, the most important eyes are those of the birds. It's the geese who are shocked to see their temporary winter foraging grounds now covered by water, and it's the same geese who leave (yuku) for the north the very same day. The two verbs are linked: it's what the geese see that makes them head back north. To the villagers and to Issa, the now wet fields are a normal change and not a special sight. Still, to Issa the sudden departure of the flock of geese is no doubt a moving experience, and in the previous hokku in his diary he wistfully says that it has at last become time for the wild geese to return north and leave the area outside his door.

Chris Drake

.............................................................................


帰る雁我をかひなき物とやは
kaeru]kari ware o kainaki mono to yo wa

returning geese,
have you completely
given up on me?
Tr. Chris Drake

This hokku was written in the 2nd month (March) of 1810, when Issa was traveling around visiting students in the area east of the city of Edo. It seems to be a humorous hokku using personification and tinged with longing. The wild geese are all leaving Japan now and flying back to their summer homes in the north, and not one stops to say goodbye to Issa. Writing of the geese as if they were his friends, Issa asks them a question with an ending, ya wa, that is usually ironic, and refers to himself as useless, a failure, and a good-for-nothing even though he is able to at least survive by teaching haikai and has gained enough confidence in his own haikai to begin his Seventh Dairy at New Year's in 1810. It seems likely that Issa's strongest sense of failure at this time was his continuing inability to move into his half of his natal house in his hometown.

After negotiating hard, he finally signed an agreement with his half brother in 1808 to split half his father's property, but in reality his brother and stepmother continued to refuse him entrance to his half of his father's house. Yet Issa was trying to do something about it. About three months after this hokku was written, Issa made still another trip to his hometown, so he was probably planning the trip at the time the hokku was written. With irony Issa seems to playfully scold the returning geese for giving up on him too soon and leaving him behind, since he is planning to return to his hometown again and again until he, too, can truly call it home.

Chris Drake

.............................................................................

門口の行灯かすみてかへる雁
kado-guchi no andon kasumite kaeru kari

by the door
the lamp now dim --
geese leaving for home
Tr. Chris Drake

This hokku is from lunar 11/17 (Dec. 30) in 1803, when Issa was visiting Fukawa, a river town northeast of Edo, just beyond the northern border of the wide Katsushika District in Shimōsa Province. Perhaps some wild geese wintering in Fukawa reminded Issa of what he felt when geese were leaving Japan for the north country the previous spring.

The lamp in the second line or measure of the hokku is one that has a wooden base with a square or round frame extending up above it covered with translucent Japanese washi paper that keeps wind from blowing out the flame. Often such lamps had a handle at the top for portability. Since this is a night hokku, the lamp may be placed just inside the front door of a house. Or is it perhaps in an inn? The lamp might possibly be placed just outside the door if there is a gathering of people there. The verb in the second line, kasumite, also means 'to mist,' but in this hokku it seems more likely to mean 'be dim, faint,' a meaning that was more common in Issa's time than it is in contemporary Japanese. The hokku following this one in Issa's diary is a variant of the present hokku, and it has the light of a lamp in a stable growing dim as geese pass by outside, and the hokku preceding this one has people eating in a room lit by lamplight while geese leave on their journey to the north.

Doors, stables, and eating could suggest either people returning after a long day outside or people getting up very early and getting ready for a day's work, or for continuing on a journey. In either case, it was common to get up well before dawn in order to be able to make use of every possible hour of daylight. Since this is a spring verse, I take it to suggest a predawn time when people are getting up and beginning to think about the coming day. Outside a flock of wild geese has been excited by the moon or by the first light of dawn, and it passes by noisily above the house. The light in the lamp is dim now, but no one refills it with lamp oil since dawn is not far off. Perhaps people are going out the door and getting ready for work or for a trip as the geese fly over, and the gradually dimming light of the lamp makes the disappearing voices of the geese feel all the more poignant as they begin their their long journey that will take them to their summer homes far to the north. Synesthetically, lamplight here manages to suggest the passage of time, and the gradual disappearance of the lamplight emotionally overlaps with departure of the geese and the growing feeling of loneliness in the humans who hear the geese go by, leaving them behind.

Chris Drake


. - ANDON 行灯 Andon lanterns of old - .


. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::



Hiroshige


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

一行の鳫や端山に月を印す
ikkoo no gan ya hayama ni tsuki o in su
ikkou no kari ya hayama ni tsuki o in su
ichigyoo no kari ya hayama ni tsuki o in su
(The correct reading is ichigyoo for animals. ikkoo is for human beings.
The last line could also read tsuki o shirusu. )


Calligraphy of geese
against the sky --
the moon seals it.
Tr. Robert Hass


Into a line they wheel,
The wild geese; at the foothill
The moon is put for seal.
Tr. Harold G. Henderson


A line of wild geese;
Above the foothills,
The moon as seal.

- snip - Buson is likening a passing line of wild geese on a moonlit autumn night to a vertical scroll on which there is a line of black writing, and he is likening the bright autumn moon above the foothills to the reddish-orange round seal mark of the painter. He thus pulls the mind of the reader in two directions — one a real scene, the other the work of a calligrapher-painter. Hokku, in my view, should not do this. It leads, as I have said, not only to artificiality, but it also does not allow a thing to simply be what it is, to stand on its own merit and power.
source : David Coomler



. Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 in Edo .


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

railroad tracks; a flight
of wild geese close above them
in the moonlit night

Masaoka Shiki
Tr. Harold G. Henderson

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

spring morning -
a goose feather floats
in the quiet room

Bruce Ross


*****************************
Related words


***** fuyu kamome　冬鴎 winter sea gull, winter sea mew

水寒く寝入りかねたる鴎かな　
mizu samuku ne-iri kanetaru kagome kana

a seagull
unable to sleep
in this cold water . . .

("I am like a sea gull on the river Sumidagawa, which can not sleep in the cold water. Thanks to your sake, I am now warm and can sleep well.")

Written for priest Genki 元起, who had given him some rice wine as a present.
Basho age 43. The cut marker KANA is at the end of line 3.
(For a more natural flow in English, I put the "kamome" in line 1.)

- - - - -


あながちに鵜とせりあはぬかもめ哉
. anagachi ni u to seriawanu kamome kana .


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


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::



***** Eagle(washi) Japan

..... including other birds of winter, fuyu no toriWater birds (mizudori　水鳥) ; Hawk (taka　鷹), Winter skylark (fuyu hibari　冬雲雀), Midwinter sparrow (kan suzume　寒雀) , Midwinter crow (kan garasu　寒烏)
Owl (fukuroo　梟) , Duck (kamo　鴨), Plover (Chidori　千鳥) , Hooded gull (miyakodori, yurikamome　ユリカモメ), Wren (misosazai　ミソサザイ),
Crane (tsuru　鶴)Swan (hakuchou　白鳥) ,
Grebe (Kaitsuburi　カイツブリ)



***** Turkey 七面鳥 shichimenchoo
Meleagris gallopavo

Wakare - Parting with friends
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::