Kigo

[Gabi Greve]

.
Just some further information (coming from another thread)


the history of Japanese Saijiki
http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/2006/07/history-of-saijiki.html


Kidai and Kigo　季題と季語
http://haikutopics.blogspot.com/2007/05/kidai-and-kigo.html


Gabi

[AlanSummers]

It's great that this post has been reactivated.

Going back to earlier posts, I think where the Japanese make good use of their kigo is that they know that there is little natural nature left.  

In the U.K. where we share similarities in landmass, and seasonal patterns (to a certain extent) and now our normal nature (as it is) is back under threat as greenbelt land is used for property development, and natural forests (not sustainable forests that mean ancient woodland has been destroyed forever to be replaced by fast growing trees for paper production etc...) are to become privatised, which I guess is a road leading to development, but pretending otherwise at the moment.

Kigo are important to capture the past, as well, as less and less natural nature is around.  They can often act as a time capsule, a time stamp of things bygone.  We are steadily increasing our big cities which diminish the old agrarian ways, both rich in kigo, and still familiar to city dwellers.

As Britain, especially in the south of England, is rapidly industrialising, and nationally people are unaware of what food is, or where milk comes from, a record of kigo, seasonal words and references, etc... are vital at an educational level.  

It is surprising how many children shout "ugh!" when they are told milk comes from cows, for instance.  ;-)

Kigo etc... is educational as well as literary, and the two often come hand in hand, because a better educated public, and a public comfortable with reading, both in private and in public, is a public willing and able to support books, writers, and their own literacy if needed.

The World Kigo Database, as one example, is invaluable because it is an internet resource, and therefore democratic in both accessibility and finance (i.e. an easy quick reference, and learn a lot by design or accident <grin>).

We need to continue using kigo, or seasonal words and phrases inspired by kigo, and not worry if it doesn't look trendy or modern.  A well written contemporary haiku utilising kigo or kigo-inspired words and phrases should be able to stand alongside other contemporary poetry.

Often we see mainstream poets attempting haiku, and attempting this with kigo.  It's a good sign, but unfortunately they often look dated, with a nod to their perception of Basho being a dated ancient poet.  
Basho would have felt quite at home in modern Japan, USA or Europe, and getting arts grants for renga parties. ;-)

So the key is writing strong contemporary haiku that stands alongside other strong contemporary poetry, and using applicable kigo, keywords, seasonal words and phrases etc...

Alan

[chibi575]

Looking backwards...

"Bashô himself recommended a different haikai "rulebook" to his disciples, the Haikai mugonshô [Haikai book without words] published in 1676, which presented the techniques and philosophy of haikai, rather than being a dictionary of keywords."  [quote from http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/2006/07/history-of-saijiki.html ] in Dr. Gabi's previous post.

Even without seeing this "rulebook" I like the idea of a source of techniques and philosophy of haikai. (Caution... rules drove haikai no renga in to disuse in the past, though).

Perhaps, this type of "rulebook" may be in part helpful to the further understanding the transition of haiku throughout the world.

Just thinking if there was a set of techniques to apply with the goal of producing a consistent poetic product representing the genre.  This would in a way ease the issues such as kigo-seasonal word by essentially understanding the intent and apply the technique.  Perhaps, it would broaden and expedite the construction of short poems?

I would be comfortable with such a proposal if I could read/understand Bashou's original, of course, to see if it risks causing further convolution.  Maybe, thiis "rulebook" was abandoned over time because a saijiki serves better, to me, this is still a question.

I like the saijiki idea, also, as now accessablity of electronic information almost instantaneous; and, a database (such as WHD) is a wealth of information.  (I used to love to read the World Book Encyclopedia being fascinated by what I could learn). 

I have an online encyclopedia as an app on my iPhone that includes all the currently known birds in North America, including stats such as range, shape, photograph, etc., etc...).  If for example such an app could be developed to give one all the kigo for the particular location (from a person's iPhone location, for example), this could be a handy tool, eh?  I can almost do this using WHD and Safari on my iPhone, I can perform the WHD search, but, it takes a bit of parcing and filtering to get what I want. I would streamline the search by general category, the iPhone would know my location, time, season, and weather; and, by applying a formula advanced search produce all the kigo for plants (for example) with those criteria.  Soon, image detection, can be applied with good accuracy, to produce a kigo on the photo image from the iPhone.

Pardon me with getting carried away with technology... I can see this application in the future.  Some fun, eh?  Chibi the Geek!

[Gabi Greve]

Hahaha, Chibi san, the WKD online APP !!

If you can do that ... great !

But first we need more input about season words from all over America to make it worthwile !

Maybe the American members of THF can help you with this ?

Big hugs, dear Chibi san !

Gabi