::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
First Spring (hatsu haru)
***** Location: Japan
***** Season: New Year
***** Category: Heaven
*****************************
Explanation
Literally, "First Spring" hatsu-haru, hatsuharu 初春
In the haiku context, according to the Asian Lunar Calendar, it means the season of the New Year.
Pronounced shoshun 初春, it can also refer to the first of the three months of spring, February.
***** . SPRING - the complete SAIJIKI
The Haiku Season of Spring starts officially on February 4, see Asian Lunar Calendar below.
Suzuki Kiitsu 鈴木 其一 (1796–1858)
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
There are many other ways to express this event in Japanese kigo, here are some more:
new spring, shinshun 新春
welcoming spring, geishun 迎春
These words are also used as greetings on the New Year's Cards in Japan.
"1000 generations in spring" chiyo no haru 千代の春
..... miyo no haru 御代の春
(wishing a long life of a thousand years, an old greeting for the new year)
"spring in the four directions", yomo no haru 四方の春
"spring of the flowers", hana no haru 花の春
dawn of spring, ake no haru 明の春
spring of this morning, kesa no haru 今朝の春
spring of today, kyoo no haru 今日の春
spring of this day, hi no haru 日の春
spring at the corner, kado no haru 門の春
"spring of this land", kuni no haru 国の春
"spring in this lodge", yado no haru 宿の春
"spring in my humble abode", iyo no haru 庵の春
"spring in our home", ie no haru 家の春
spring of this old man/woman, oi no haru 老の春
my own spring, ora ga haru おらが春
..... Issa used this expression.
*****************************
Worldwide use
*****************************
Things found on the way
*****************************
HAIKU
The New Year in Edo
初春まづ酒に梅売る匂ひかな
shoshun mazu sake ni ume uru nioi kana
New Year and first
sake and the fragrance of plum blossoms
being sold . . .
Tr. Gabi Greve
Written in 1687 貞亨2年
Nozarashi Kiko, at Katsuragi, Nara 奈良葛城.
He had stayed there in the year before too.
At that time he wrote the hokku
. wata yumi ya biwa ni nagusamu take no oku .
This is a greeting hokku to his host, who entertained him lavishly with sake.
The name of his host is not clear, though.
This hokku has the cut marker KANA at the end of line 3.
MORE hokku about sake by
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
初春の二時打つ島の旅館かな
hatsuharu no niji utsu shima no ryokan kana
the bell rings TWO
on the New Year's day
at the island's inn
(Tr. Gabi Greve)
WKD : Kawabata Bosha 川端茅舎
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
餅も好き酒もすきなりけさの春
mochi mo suki sake mo suki nari kesa no haru
New Year's day -
I like rice cakes
I also like ricewine
(Tr. Gabi Greve)
Takahama Kyoshi 高浜虚子
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
日の春をさすがに鶴の歩みかな
hi no haru o sasuga ni tsuru no ayumi kana
New Year's Day -
the cranes pace around
so gracefully
(Tr. Gabi Greve)
Kikaku 榎本其角
I think one implication is the various New Year's ceremonies at the Imperial Court. The Emperor and Empress were greeted in style by courtiers, all moving oh-so elegantly.
Cristian Mocanu
More about Translating this Haiku
PHOTO Copyright 2001 OKAYAMA KORAKUEN All rights reserved.
See LINK given below.
Since cranes are a symbol for long life and a thousand generations of a family (chiyo 千代), feudal Lords (daimyoo) kept them in their parks and paraded them on a fine day during the first three days of the new year. This custom is still going on in the Korakuen park in Okayama, were they are paraded on January first and we can see their graceful flight on TV.
Look at more beautiful photos HERE !
Gabi Greve
... ... ...
That's like a crane,
walking composedly
on a day like today in early Spring.
© 2003 translated by Shigeki Matsumura (Sigmats)
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
家なしの此身も春に逢ふ日哉
ie nashi no kono mi mo haru ni au hi kana
for this homeless body
of mine, spring's
first day
A fire swept through Edo (old Tokyo) on New Year's Day, 1809, destroying Issa's house. In the old lunar calendar, New Year's Day was the first day of spring.
弥陀仏をたのみに明て今朝の春
mida butsu o tanomi ni akete kesa no haru
in Amida Buddha
trusting...
spring's first dawn
Kobayashi Issa (tr. David Lanoue)
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Haiku by Issa, comment by Chris Drake
ふがいない身となおぼしそ人は春
fugainai mi to na oboshi so hito wa haru
I'm no coward,
all you people who
have New Year's
This is an important New Year's poem Issa wrote very early in 1813. Since New Year's and the beginning of lunar spring usually coincided or nearly coincided, spring in haikai was often a synonym for New Year's. This year Issa is spending New Year's in his snow-covered hometown, but according to one of his haibun he spends it alone in a small back room in a house lent him by a "kind person" in his hometown. One of his students in a nearby town has lent Issa some bedding, and another has given him some thick paper, which he's put over gaps in the wall to keep out the cold wind. He has nowhere else to stay, because he hasn't been welcomed by his younger half-brother or his mother-in-law, who live in the house left behind by his dead father -- the house in which Issa was born. Issa plans to take part in the Buddhist requiem on 1/19 for his father's soul on the important 13th anniversary of his father's death, so he has to stay in this makeshift room not far from his natal home and the family temple. For Issa, there is no New Year's this year, since New Year's means celebrating the new year together with other people.
The hokku is a declaration to everyone -- especially to Issa's mother-in-law, his half-brother, the people in his hometown, and no doubt to himself -- that this year will be a year of change. Issa is tired of being excluded and treated as an outsider, and his mind is made up. Until now, Issa's mother-in-law, knowing Issa was gentle, has believed he was weak-willed and timid, and she has refused to honor Issa's father's will, which left half the property to Issa, but Issa is declaring that in this new year things will be different, because he is a legitimate member of his hometown and deserves his share of his father's legacy. Issa also seems to be implying that he's determined to settle down in his hometown as his base, from which he can travel around linking verses with various haijin living in the surrounding Shinano area.
A week after the requiem for his father on 1/19, the priest of Issa's family temple succeeded in negotiating a settlement with Issa's mother-in-law and brother that gave Issa most of his inheritance, though only after Issa had warned his brother that he wouldn't wait any longer and would file a formal claim in an Edo court if they didn't reach an agreement. The hokku also shows Issa's determination to develop a new rural-yet-urban style of haikai that is a bit different from the Edo style that has influenced him so far.
Chris Drake
..........................................................................
散る雪も行儀正しやけさの春
chiru yuki mo gyoogi tadashi ya kesa no haru
even snowflakes
fall courteously --
New Year's morning
This hokku is from the 3rd month (April) of 1823, a month after Issa's wife fell very sick and two months before she died. Perhaps Issa is remembering a happier time they experienced at New Year's. In the hokku snowflakes seem to come down more gently than usual on the first morning of the new year, and to Issa the flakes almost seem to be feeling deep gratitude and showing respect for each other and for the humans who walk through the snow to the houses of their neighbors and relatives to wish them a happy new year and to reaffirm the importance of their relationships. Other people in the village may also be making appreciative remarks about the snow. This is one day on which heartfelt politeness, cooperation, and mutual respect take precedence over everything else, and the hokku seems to be an expression of thanks that people are so dedicated to being courteous and large-hearted to each other on this day that they can imagine snowflakes must feel the same way.
Chris Drake
. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .
*****************************
Related words
***** First sun, first sunrise, first day of the new year
***** New Year's Day (ganjitsu)
***** Spring starts (risshun) 立春 February 1.
***** Crane (tsuru)
***** The Asian Lunar Calendar ... REFERENCE
***** . SPRING
the complete SAIJIKI
. WKD ... Humanity Kigo for the NEW YEAR
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
[ . BACK to DARUMA MUSEUM TOP . ]
[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Posts
