Saijiki

A saijiki (歳時記 "year time chronicle") is a list of kigo (seasonal terms) used in haiku and related forms of poetry. An entry in a saijiki usually includes a description of the kigo itself, as well as a list of similar or related words, and some examples of haiku that include that kigo.^[1] A kiyose (Japanese: 季寄せ) is similar, but does not contain sample poems. Modern saijiki and kiyose are divided into the four seasons and New Year, with some containing a further section for seasonless (muki 無季) topics. Each seasonal section is further divided into a standard set of categories, each containing a list of relevant kigo. The most common categories are:

• The Season
• The Heavens
• The Earth
• Humanity
• Observances
• Animals
• Plants

Japanese seasons

In the Japanese calendar, seasons traditionally followed the lunisolar calendar with the solstices and equinoxes at the middle of a season. The traditional Japanese seasons are:

Spring: 4 February–5 May

Summer: 6 May–7 August

Autumn: 8 August–6 November

Winter: 7 November–3 February

In categorising kigo, a saijiki or kiyose divides each season into early, middle, and late periods, as follows:^[2]

Early spring: 4 February–5 March

Mid-spring: 6 March–4 April

Late spring: 5 April–5 May

Early summer: 6 May–5 June

Mid-summer: 6 June–6 July

Late summer: 7 July–7 August

Early autumn: 8 August–7 September

Mid-autumn: 8 September–7 October

Late autumn: 8 October–6 November

Early winter: 7 November–6 December

Mid-winter: 7 December–4 January

Late winter: 5 January–3 February

Examples of saijiki and kiyose

English

• The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words, selected by Kenkichi Yamamoto, on Renku Home
• William J. Higginson, ed. Haiku world: an international poetry almanac. Kodansha, 1996. ISBN 978-4-7700-2090-1
• The Japanese Haiku Topical Dictionary at the University of Virginia Japanese Text Initiative
• World Kigo Database, worldwide saijiki

Japanese

• Masaoka Shiki, ed. Kiyose. 1930 (Japanese: 正岡子規 編『季寄せ』（三省堂、1930）)
• Kyoshi Takahama, ed. A New Saijiki, 1934 (Japanese: 高浜虚子 編『新歳時記』（三省堂、1934）)
• Teiko Inahata, ed. The New Hototogisu Saijiki, 1996 (Japanese: 稲畑汀子 編『ホトトギス 新歳時記』（三省堂、1996）＆ CD版（1998）)

References

1. Gill, Robin D. The Fifth Season—Poems to Re-Create the World: In Praise of Olde Haiku: New Year Ku; Books 1 & 2, Paraverse Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-9742618-9-8, p.18
2. Higginson, William J. Kiyose (Seasonword Guide), From Here Press, 2005, p.24

External links

• Le Saijiki en français by Seegan Mabesoone (French)

See also

• Haiku in English
• List of Kigo
• Renga, an older form of poetry employing kigo
• Renku, the poetic form from which haiku derived, also using kigo