In May the season words pass from spring to summer at Rikka, the Beginning of Summer (around 5 May). The first days of the month have the words of late spring; from Rikka come the words of early summer, young leaves and the fragrant breeze among them, and around Shōman, Lesser Fullness (around 21 May), poems also catch the first signs of the rainy season.
Our company renku circle (社内連句会) gathered these words month by month, to choose the season word of a renku's opening verse. The old haiku are by poets of the Edo period to the Taishō era; the English versions are ours, kept close to the Japanese.
The season 時候
- 夏近しSpring
- Summer is near natsu chikashi A word of late spring for the feeling that summer is just around the corner.
- 立夏Summer
- The Beginning of Summer rikka One of the twenty-four solar terms, which divide the year by the sun's course; it falls around 5 May, and by the calendar summer starts on this day.
- 初夏Summer
- Early summer shoka The beginning of summer, a time of lovely fresh green and one clear, fresh day after another.
- 薄暑Summer
- Slight heat hakusho The still gentle heat of early summer, just enough to make one sweat a little.
- 麦の秋Summer
- The barley's autumn mugi no aki The time in early summer when barley and wheat ripen and are harvested: the autumn of the grain.
Sky and weather 天文
- 薫風Summer
- Fragrant breeze kunpū The fresh wind of early summer that blows far and wide, carrying the scent of green leaves.
- 青嵐Summer
- Green gale aoarashi A fairly strong wind that sweeps across fields and hills in the season of green leaves.
- 走り梅雨Summer
- The early rains hashirizuyu Rain that keeps falling, as in the rainy season, before the rainy season has begun.
Land and water 地理
- 山滴るSummer
- The mountains dripping green yama shitataru The summer mountains covered in green leaves, so fresh they seem to drip with water.
Daily life 生活
- 新茶Summer
- New tea shincha Tea made from the year's first new leaves, prized for its fragrance.
Observances 行事
- 憲法記念日Spring
- Constitution Day kenpō kinenbi A national holiday on 3 May, marking the day the Constitution of Japan came into force.
- 端午Summer
- The Boys' Festival tango The seasonal festival of 5 May, when sweet flag leaves are tucked under the eaves and the growth of boys is celebrated.
- 鯉幟Summer
- Carp streamers koinobori Banners in the shape of carp, flown at the Boys' Festival as a wish for boys to grow up well.
- 母の日Summer
- Mother's Day haha no hi The second Sunday in May, when people thank their mothers and give them carnations and other gifts.
- 葵祭Summer
- The Aoi Festival aoi matsuri The festival of the Kamigamo and Shimogamo shrines in Kyoto on 15 May, when a procession makes its way decked with leaves of aoi, a wild ginger.
Animals 動物
- 初鰹Summer
- The first bonito hatsugatsuo Bonito that come north on the Kuroshio current in early summer, a taste the people of Edo especially loved. 目には青葉山ほととぎす初鰹SodōFor the eyes, green leaves, / the mountain cuckoo, / the first bonito
- 時鳥Summer
- Lesser cuckoo hototogisu A bird that arrives from the south in early summer; its sharp call, heard even at night, has been the subject of poems since ancient times. ほととぎす平安城を筋違にBusonA cuckoo, / across the capital of Heian, / slantwise
Plants 植物
- 若葉Summer
- Young leaves wakaba The fresh leaves of trees in early summer, newly come out. 不二ひとつうづみ残して若葉かなBusonFuji alone / left unburied — / young leaves
- 新緑Summer
- Fresh green shinryoku The bright, refreshing green of young leaves in early summer, colouring fields and hills all over.
- 青葉Summer
- Green leaves aoba The leaves of summer trees, grown thick and deep green from the young leaves. あらたふと青葉若葉の日の光BashōHow holy — / green leaves, young leaves / in the light of the sun
- 菖蒲Summer
- Sweet flag ayame An old name for the sweet flag, the fragrant plant that is tucked under the eaves or put into the bath at the Boys' Festival.
- 杜若Summer
- Rabbit-ear iris kakitsubata An iris that blooms purple by the water in early summer.
- 卯の花Summer
- Deutzia blossom u no hana The flowers of the deutzia, a shrub that bears small white flowers in clusters in early summer. 卯の花に兼房みゆる白毛かなSoraIn the deutzia / Kanefusa appears, / his white hair
- 牡丹Summer
- Peony botan A shrub with large, splendid flowers in early summer, also called the king of a hundred flowers. 牡丹散て打かさなりぬ二三片BusonThe peony scatters, / one upon another / two or three petals
- 花茨Summer
- Wild rose in flower hanaibara The flowers of the wild rose, small and white, in fields and by rivers in early summer. 愁ひつつ岡にのぼれば花いばらBusonIn sorrow / I climb the hill — / wild roses in flower
- 薔薇Summer
- Rose bara A shrub with sweet-scented flowers in early summer, in many kinds of every colour and shape.
The seasons follow the old calendar, as Japanese books of season words (saijiki) divide them. Around Risshun, Rikka, Risshū and Rittō, the first days of spring, summer, autumn and winter, one month holds the words of two seasons.
To count the sounds of a haiku, try the Haiku Sound Counter.
