旧正月【きゅうしょうがつ】 kyūshōgatsu （きうしやうぐわつ）, Lunar New Year [="Chinese New Year"] (early spring)
- 旧正【きゅうしょう】 kyūshō Lunar New Year
春【はる】 haru Spring
時候【じこう】 jikō The Season
寒明【かんあけ】 kan'ake the cold breaks (early spring)
- 寒明ける【かんあける】 kan akeru the cold breaks
- 寒の明【かんのあけ】 kan no ake a break in the cold
立春【りっしゅん】 risshun beginning of spring [one of the 24 Seasonal Essences (fortnightly periods); about 4 Feb] (early spring)
- 春立つ【はるたつ】 haru tatsu spring begins
- 春来る【はるくる】 haru kuru spring comes
This is one of the Twenty-Four Seasonal Essences into which the year is divided, according to
the sun's position with respect to the earth. Spring begins on the day when the sun's celestial longitude
is 315 degrees. This is the midpoint between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox, and a seasonal
division in the traditional Chinese solar calendar. (See the note on the Twenty-Four Seasonal Essences.)
In addition to having to think about agriculture during this period of roughly two weeks called "the
beginning of spring", one notices the lengthening hours of daylight, though it is still cold. Aside from
the calendar saying it is spring, we recall the signs of spring even more than we notice sensations.
Since the beginning of spring nearly coincided with New Year's Day in the old lunar calendar, people
used to compose on such topics as "this spring morning" (今朝の春【けさのはる】 kesa no
haru) and "this spring day" (今日の春【きょうのはる】 kyō no haru). Now
such topics are are used exclusively on New Year's Day in the Gregorian calendar. In that calendar, the
beginning of spring falls on the day after "the seasonal divide" (節分【せつぶん】 setsubun),
thus about the 4th or 5th of February.
["Geta" are traditional wooden sandals worn outdoors.]
This verse was written in the first year after the end of the Pacific War. A knowledge of the Kasai area
of Tokyo gives it deep meaning. (The Edo River empties into Tokyo Bay at Kasai, on the border of Chiba
Prefecture. The area is now a bird sanctuary.) On his way across the bridge, the poet suddenly saw a
few pure white grains of rice there; in them, he felt the day as the beginning of spring and then perhaps
understood the hope rising in his heart. (In February 1946, rice--all food--was scarce.)
春立ちてまだ九日の野山かな
芭蕉
haru tachite mada kokonoka no noyama kana
spring begins
and still these fields and mountains
of the ninth day . . .
Bashō
門々の下駄の泥より春立ちぬ
一茶
kadokado no geta no doro yori haru tachinu
from the mud of geta
going gate-to-gate
spring begins
Issa
立春の雑草園の草ごよみ
山口青邨
risshun no zassōen no kusa-goyomi
the beginning of spring
by the weed-garden's
plant calendar
Yamaguchi Seison
立春の月の早くもあがりけり
安住敦
risshun no tsuki no hayaku mo agarikeri
the beginning-of-spring
moon--how quickly
it came up
Anjū Atsushi
立春の米こぼれをり葛西橋
石田波郷
risshun no kome koboreori kasaibashi
the beginning-of-spring
rice has spilled over . . .
Kasai Bridge
Ishida Hakyō
冴返る【さえかえる】 sae-kaeru （さえかへる）, cold returns / (it is) cold and clear (early spring)
余寒【よかん】 yokan remaining cold (early spring)
- 残る寒さ【のこるさむさ】 nokoru samusa lingering cold
春めく【はるめく】 haru meku signs of spring / it looks like spring (early spring)
如月【きさらぎ】（衣更着） kisaragi Second (lunar) Month [means something like "Regeneration Month", roughly equivalent to Gregorian March] (mid spring)
啓蟄【けいちつ】 keichitsu insects appear / insects astir / bugs come out [literally, "end of insect hibernation", one of the 24 Seasonal Essences, about 5 March] (mid spring)
彼岸【ひがん】 higan Higan / equinoctial week [literally, "that shore"--i.e., of Buddhist paradise; the week of which the (spring) equinox is the center; see 秋彼岸 akihigan] (mid spring)
弥生【やよい】 yayoi （やよひ）, Third (Lunar) Month [literally, "Increasing Growth"; approximately April] (late spring)
春日【はるひ】 haruhi a day in spring / spring day / spring sun [either or both meanings simultaneously, depending on context] (all spring)
- 春の日【はるのひ】 haru no hi spring day / spring sun
- 春日【しゅんじつ】 shunjitsu spring day / spring sun
- 春日影【はるひかげ】 haru hikage spring sunlight/sunshine
春暁【しゅんぎょう】 shungyō （しゅんげう）, spring dawn (all spring)
- 春の暁【はるのあかつき】 haru no akatsuki spring dawn
- 春の曙【はるのあけぼの】 haru no akebono spring daybreak
春の宵【はるのよい】 haru no yoi （はるのよひ）, an evening in spring (all spring)
- 春宵【しゅんしょう】 shunshō spring evening
- 宵の春【よいのはる】 yoi no haru (this) evening's spring
麗か【うららか】 uraraka bright (and clear) / splendid [of weather] (all spring)
- うらら urara bright (and clear) / splendid
長閑【のどか】 nodoka calm/tranquil/serene [of weather] (all spring)
- のどけし nodokeshi calm/tranquil/serene
日永【ひなが】 hinaga day(s) lengthening (all spring)
- 永き日【ながきひ】 nagaki hi long day(s)
From the vernal equinox (春分【しゅんぶん】 shunbun) little by little the days
grow longer. Strictly speaking, the days are longest at the summer solstice, but the seasonal topic "days
lengthening" belongs to spring. Not in the language of science, but in the language of poetry the days
growing longer seems to convey a feeling of spring tranquillity. "Slow days" (遅日【ちじつ】 chijitsu)
gives the same meaning of slow, lengthening spring days; further, "dusk is lingering" (暮遅し【くれおそし】kure ososhi) has the feeling of the day's strength in the lingering twilight.
This is a peaceful scene of spring tranquillity in a village. Most people fully enjoy quiet spring days
in that leisurely world where time ebbs and flows. Trying to catch a boisterous rooster only deepens
the quiet.
がつくりと暇になる日の永さかな
嵐雪
gakkuri to hima ni naru hi no nagasa kana
discouraged
by free time on a day
this long
Ransetsu
永き日の口明け通る烏かな
一茶
nagaki hi no kuchiake tōru karasu kana
long days'
opening . . . this crow
passes through
Issa
のぞき見ては塀穴ふさぐ日永かな
杉田久女
nozoki mite wa heiana fusagu nagaki hi kana
as I take a peek
the hole in the wall closes--
this long day
Sugita Hisajo
永き日やみな憂ひもつ患者の目
古賀まり子
nagaki hi ya mina urei motsu kanja no me
long days . . .
all filled with their sorrows
the patients' eyes
Koga Mariko
永き日のにはとり柵を越えにけり
芝不器男
nagaki hi no niwatori saku o koenikeri
a long day
the rooster has gone
over the fence
Shiba Fukio
花冷え【はなびえ】 hanabie (cherry) blossom chill [chilly late spring weather] (late spring)
蛙の目借時【かわずのめかりどき】 kawazu no me karidoki （かはづのめかりどき）, time when frogs borrow (human) eyes [an old saying for the drowsiness of late spring] (late spring)
- 目借時【めかりどき】 me karidoki time of borrowed eyes
八十八夜【はちじゅうはちや】 hachi-jū-hachi-ya （はちじふはちや）, eighty-eighth night [from risshun 立春【りっしゅん】, i.e., the end of spring] (late spring)
暮の春【くれのはる】 kure no haru the end of spring (late spring)
- 暮春【ぼしゅん】 boshun spring's end
- 春暮るる【はるくるる】 haru kururu spring ends / spring comes to a close.
- 春の果【はるのはて】 haru no hate the end of spring
春惜しむ【はるおしむ】 haru oshimu （はるをしむ）, (to) lament spring [that is, spring's passing] (late spring)
- 惜春【せきしゅん】 sekishun lamenting spring
