Carpe Diem #1583 winter seclusion (fuyugomori)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the new week ... I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend and that you all have found the inspiration for our tough challenge "Troiku Hineri".

This month we are exploring the kigo for winter, not only classical but also modern kigo are the themes this month. Before the weekend we had a modern kigo by Jane Reichhold so today it's time for a classical kigo.

Today this classical kigo you can use during the whole winter, or as the classical Saijiki all say "All Winter". Winter Seclusion (fuyugomori) is our kigo today. I think it needs no explanation, but I have found a nice haiku with this kigo by Matsuo Basho. He wrote this haiku at the age of 45.

Fuyugomori (Winter Seclusion)

In rural Japan, especially in the Northern areas along the coast of the Sea of Japan, the winter is long and brings enormous amounts of snow. There was nothing much to do that sit back and wait it out. The farmhouses where difficult to heat and the family huddled around the hearth (irori) in the kitchen. It was a tough time to live through with great endurance. This is what we call winter seclusion, really a tough time.

Here is the haiku I mentioned above:

sashikomoru mugura no tomo kabuna uri

winter seclusion
the only friend to rely on
grass stuffed mattres

© Basho (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)

A nice classical haiku I think, my translation is a way of free-styling, because "sashikomoru" means actually "staying indoors", but in my opinion that's almost the same as "fuyugomori" (winter seclusion).

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 20th at noon (CET). Tomorrow we will have another nice modern kigo taken from Jane's Saijiki "A Dictionary of Haiku". For now ... have fun!