Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
What a joy it was to read your haiku on our yesterday prompt 'withering wind', today we are going further on our journey through the Classical Japanese Kigo (seasonwords) of Winter. We are still in the first part of this month so another kigo of early winter for today.
Today our prompt is winter shower (shigure). Let me tell you a little bit more on this prompt, this kigo.
There are
many Japanese kigo related to this kind of early cold rain in the overlapping
time from autumn to winter. According to the weather patterns of this season,
when cold air masses come down from Siberia, the rains come and go fast, as is
represented in the Chinese characters, meaning "rain for a (short)
time".
It might hit you unexpectedly on a mountain pass and leave a thin white cover on the peaks. Most common in Northern Japan, these showers come fast and leave fast, so it may rain here and shine there (kata shigure).
The short cold drizzle evokes many melancholic feelings for the Japanese haiku poet. It is a symbol of the passing of events in the human life, of the passing of life itself.
It is also something that can be enjoyed hearing, it makes a hushing sound and this kind of sound is reflected in other kigo, for example the famous cicada shrilling (semi shigure). I often go to our local shrine and listen to the shigure on the roof, quite an eerie sound!
These drizzle kigo have mostly been used already since the Heian period and are
well loved and full of allusions to famous poems. SHIGURE is a good example to
show that kigo are much more than just the weather report.It might hit you unexpectedly on a mountain pass and leave a thin white cover on the peaks. Most common in Northern Japan, these showers come fast and leave fast, so it may rain here and shine there (kata shigure).
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| Credits: winter shower |
The short cold drizzle evokes many melancholic feelings for the Japanese haiku poet. It is a symbol of the passing of events in the human life, of the passing of life itself.
It is also something that can be enjoyed hearing, it makes a hushing sound and this kind of sound is reflected in other kigo, for example the famous cicada shrilling (semi shigure). I often go to our local shrine and listen to the shigure on the roof, quite an eerie sound!
For example a haiku on shigure by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694):
hatsushigure saru mo komino o hashigenari
first snow shower -
even the monkeys would want
a straw raincoat
On my Basho Revisited weblog I have once written a episode about the straw raincoat. You can find that post HERE it's not one on shigure, but worth the read.
OK ... back to our prompt for today shigure
cold drizzling rain
i would like to have an umbrella
for shelter
is that a cicada?
the sound of a winter shower
on my window
Nice ... little stories packed in a few words.
Enjoy this prompt, be creative and share your creativity.
This prompt will stay on 'till December 4th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our new prompt later on today around 10.00 PM (CET). That would be Plovers, Sand pipers (Chidori).
