Carpe Diem #1447 new tea (shincha)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Summer kigo ... our theme for this month "One Sunny Day" ... is all about seasonwords that point to a specific season, this month I hope to inspire you with the classical kigo for Summer as used by the classical haiku poets. Today I have chosen a kigo that is used in "early summer": new tea (shincha).

Shincha is the very first picking of the sencha harvest. The name, shincha, literally means new tea. Shincha is harvested in late May and that means (according to Japanese calendar) at the end of June. So in this month we are right now this "new tea" is harvested and that makes it a kigo for early summer. Shincha (new tea) is taken from the "humanity" division of Summer of the classical Saijiki.

Shincha (new tea) harvesting in Mariko

Here is an example of a classical haiku in which this kigo is used:

Bōfu mede shi hakuji jawan ni shincha kumu

I pour shincha
into the white porcelain
tea bowl he loved

© Mitsu Suzuki

And here is another example in which this kigo is used (I couldn't find the Romaji-translation):

New day dawns misty
Tea leaves await their harvest
Fuji-san watches

© T Ching

This haiku captures the essence of a morning in early summer in the midst of the Shincha harvest.

And here is another nice haiku with new tea in it as the kigo for today:

tsuma nakushi hitori no yo no shincha kana

I lost my wife ...
alone at night I drink
new green tea

© Horiguchi (Tr. Gabi Greve)

Shincha (new tea)

after a long walk
the taste of new tea
in the moonlight

© Chèvrefeuille

What a joy to create this episode. I am not of tea, but sometimes I love the smell and taste of a nice warm bowl of green tea.

For our participants on the Southern Hemisphere I have another beautiful kigo of winter. I hope that the Southern Hemisphere's participants like these winter kigo. Here is your kigo for today:

Quilt (futon). Japanese-style, refers to a pair of quilts placed on the floor for sleeping, the thicker one underneath.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until June 12th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

PS. I have created a new edition of our first ever CDHK exclusive E-book "The Divine Tarot". Back in May 2013 I created a month full of the Tarot, especially the so called "Great Arcana" the 22 first cards of the Tarot. In that month we discovered that the Tarot is not occult, but divine. "The Divine Tarot 2nd edition" is now available. You can find the link to download at the right side of our Kai. (The image used isn't the cover by the way.)