For this week's Tackle It Tuesday, dear Haijin, I have chosen for the theme Kigo (or seasonword). In this Tackle It Tuesday Preview I will try to explain the use of Kigo in haiku. As I wrote earlier in one of my Previews in the classical (very structured and deadly ruled) haiku a Kigo or seasonword was a must.
What are these Kigo? Kigo are words that are references to the season in which the haiku was written, styled, composed and shared. Jane Reichold, a well respected poetess of haiku and someone who knows a huge amount of haiku and all the rules, has a seasonword dictionary on her website. In that dictionary you can find a lot of seasonal words for use in haiku.
Let me give you some examples:
the full moon
hides her face
behind clouds
The moon is a classical seasonword for Autumn. The Japanese adore the moon of autumn, 'cause they think the moon is the most beautiful in autumn.
the roses eaten
by the yellowish caterpillar
of the Sawfly
Caterpillar is a classical seasonword for Spring, so is butterfly a classical one for Summer and snow of course for Winter.
Last February we had the Haiku Challenge of SiS's Few Miles weblog. We had to write haiku on themes and one of the themes was Kigo so I will take a few of my haiku from that Challenging day to re-publish here.
crystal vase
all colors of the rainbow
chrysanthemums bloom
what a sad day
drizzling rain and dark clouds
colorful leaves
These two haiku are of Autumn. Chrysanthemums are classical for Autumn, so are the colorful leaves and drizzling rain.
So ... for next week's Tackle It Tuesday the theme is Kigo. Try to write a haiku in the classical or non-classical way, but use a kigo or seasonword in it. I will post the new episode of Tackle It Tuesday on September 10th around 10 P.M.
Warm greetings,
Chèvrefeuille
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