菊膾【きくなます】 kiku namasu chrysanthemum (flavored) fish-salad (late autumn)
生活【せいかつ】 seikatsu Daily Life
衣被【きぬかつぎ】 kinukatsugi taros boiled in their skins (mid autumn)
新米【しんまい】 shinmai new rice [the first rice of the new crop] (late autumn)
- 今年米【ことしまい】 kotoshimai this year's rice
- 早稲の飯【わせのめし】 wase no meshi early rice [the food]
夜食【やしょく】 yashoku supper / evening meal [implies meal-break during 夜なべ【よなべ】 yonabe, nightwork] (all autumn)
栗飯【くりめし】 kurimeshi chestnut rice [that is, rice cooked with chestnuts] (mid autumn)
新酒【しんしゅ】 shinshu new saké [the first saké brewed from this year's rice crop] (late autumn)
- 新走【あらばしり】 arabashiri new run (of saké) / first (saké) run [of the new rice crop]
- 今年酒【ことしざけ】 kotoshizake this year's saké
- 早稲酒【わせざけ】 wasezake early-rice saké
燈火親し【とうかしたし】 tōka shitashi （とうくわしたし）, lamplight (is) intimate/familiar (all autumn)
- 燈下親し【とうかしたし】 tōka shitashi lamplight (is) intimate/familiar [includes the notion of "under" the lamp]
障子貼る【しょうじはる】 shōji haru （しやうじやる）, (to) repair shōji [by pasting on new paper rectangles] (mid autumn)
松手入【まつていれ】 matsu teire pruning pines [literally "pine maintenance"] (late autumn)
案山子【かかし】 kakashi scarecrow (all autumn)
- かかし kakashi scarecrow
The scarecrow in Japan is traditionally a figure made of bamboo and straw, crowned with a rainhat woven of straw or reeds, and armed with a bow and arrow. Each farming family devises its own scarecrows to stand guard over fields and paddies of ripening grain. Typically the mouth is painted as a distinct frown, and they are dressed in worn-out clothing. Sometimes their appearance is perversely amusing. The word kakashi was once pronounced kagashi--something foul-smelling--and referred to burnt hides or rotten fish heads, the odor of which was counted upon to keep pests away. Related haikai words include "bird-clappers" and "bird-scarers", devices designed to scare off birds and animals by making noise.
[One almost cannot help hearing an "as if" at the beginning of this poem, though it is quite possible that Buson travelled by a persimmon grove maintained on behalf of the Imperial Household, which even adds to the humor. Persimmons are notoriously bitter until fully ripe.]
The author of this verse must have encountered a scarecrow with a humorous aspect, and adopted its manner of intimidating a sparrow to create this farcical haiku. The familiar image of Sōseki as the austere novelist is offset by a poem showing him in another light.
御所柿にたのまれ貌のかがしかな
蕪村
goshogaki ni tanomaregao no kagashi kana
commissioned by
the imperial persimmons--the face
of this scarecrow
Buson
案山子にもうしろ向かれし栖かな
一茶
kagashi ni mo ushiro mukareshi sumika kana
to the scarecrow--
something nests turning
its backside
Issa
夕空のなごみわたれる案山子かな
富安風生
yūzora no nagomi watareru kagashi kana
the calm
of the evening sky wafts
over this scarecrow
Tomiyasu Fūsei
みちのくのつたなきさがの案山子かな
山口青邨
michinoku no tsutanaki saga no kagashi kana
this north-country
crudely drooping
scarecrow
Yamaguchi Seison
倒れたる案山子の顔の上に天
西東三鬼
taoretaru kagashi no kao no ue ni ten
above the face
of a fallen scarecrow--
the Heavens
Saitō Sanki
某は案山子にて候雀どの
夏目漱石
soregashi kagashi ni te soro suzume dono
That person
is The Scarecrow to you
Mr. Passing Sparrow!
Natsume Sōseki
鹿火屋【かびや】 kabiya （かひや）, deer-sentry's hut [hut for those who set fires and watch to keep deer from the fields] (all autumn)
- 鹿火【かび】 kabi deer-fire
- 鹿火屋守【かびやもり】 kabiyamori deer-sentry
- 鹿垣／猪垣【ししがき】 ししがき deer-fence/boar-fence
稲刈【いねかり】 inekari rice reaping / rice harvesting (late autumn)
- 稲車【いなぐるま】 inaguruma rice cart/truck
- 稲舟【いなぶね】 inabune rice boat
Rice is harvested in Japan between late August and mid-November, depending on the latitude. The urgency of the work of harvesting differs from that of transplanting rice seedlings. At the end of the many steps of planting seeds, plowing, gathering and replanting seedlings, and weeding, the paddy fields full of golden ears of grain are eventually ready to be harvested. This is hard labor, but is also satisfying work.
After draining the paddies, a day of fine weather is chosen, then the harvest begins and continues until everyone is faint from work. Such a scene typifies rural life in Japan in the fall. As it begins to get dark, wagons loaded with freshly cut rice roll down country roads, offering evidence that the year's harvest has been successful. In recent years, both harvest and transport of rice have become mechanized, but older haiku season words such as "rice cart" and "rice boat" are hard to relinquish. Bundles of freshly cut rice ears are laid on "rice racks" to dry, after which the threshing will begin.
This "step by step" expresses the slow but steady harvesting of ears of rice, the cleared area expanding outward behind the harvesters. Aware of their progress, they are reluctant to take a break, and press on.
たそがれて馬おとなしや稲を積む
原石鼎
tasogarete uma otonashi ya ine o tsumu
twilight coming on
the horse waits docilely . . .
they load the rice
Hara Sekitei
稲刈って飛鳥の道のさびしさよ
日野草城
ine katte asuka no michi no sabishisa yo
rice harvested
the road to Asuka
so forlorn
Hino Sōjō
稲刈のいつもうしろに湖の蒼
河野南畦
inekari no itsumo ushiro ni umi no ao
rice harvesting
and always at their backs
the blue of the lake
Kawano Nankei
稲刈りの夫婦稲刈りつつ離る
岩根甲
inekari no fūfu inekaritsutsu hanaru
rice harvesting
the husband and wife keep harvesting
and separating
Iwane Masaru
庭に来てつひに崩れし稲車
青木就一郎
niwa ni kite tsui ni kuzureshi inaguruma
finally reaching
the farmyard it collapses:
the rice cart
Aoki Juichirō
稲刈ってだんだんひろきうしろかな
松尾睦月
ine katte dandan hiroki ushiro kana
rice harvesting
step by step it widens--
this space behind
Matsuo Mutsuski
藁塚【わらづか】 warazuka rice-straw stack(s) [bundled and stacked rice straw, similar to Western "haystacks", but generally smaller, more numerous] (late autumn)
- にお nio （にほ） (rice) straw-pile
- 藁にお【わらにお】 （藁堆／藁鳰）waranio, rice-straw pile
夜なべ【よなべ】（夜業） yonabe nightwork [not that this is the only time of year when people work at night, but that one is most conscious of it at this time] (all autumn)
- 夜業【やぎょう】 yagyō nightwork
- 夜仕事【よしごと】 yoshigoto nightwork
砧【きぬた】 kinuta fulling block (all autumn)
竹伐る【たけきる】 take kiru (to) fell bamboo (mid autumn)
大根蒔く【だいこんまく】 daikon maku (to) sow daikon (seeds) [Raphanus sativus variety hortensis, the Japanese white radish] (early autumn)
- だいこんまく daiko maku (to) sow daikon (seeds)
大豆【だいず】 daizu （だいづ）, soybean(s) / soya bean(s) [fruit of Glycine max, an important commercial crop, at harvest time] (early autumn)
- 豆【まめ】 mame soybean(s) [while generic for "bean" in common speech, specific to soybean in haikai]
- 畦豆【あぜまめ】 azemame paddy-ridge bean(s)
- 大豆引く【だいずひく】 daizu hiku harvesting soybeans [literally "pulling soybeans"]
蘆刈【あしかり】 ashikari reed-cutting (late autumn)
- 刈蘆【かりあし】 kariashi cut reeds
菊人形【きくにんぎょう】 kiku ningyō （きくにんぎやう）, chrysanthemum puppet-figure(s) [almost life-size human figures with bodies and limbs composed of chrysanthemum blossoms] (late autumn)
- 菊細工【きくざいく】 kikuzaiku chrysanthemum craft(s)
紅葉狩【もみじがり】 momijigari （もみぢがり）, (autumn) leaf-admiring [literally, "leaf-gathering"] (late autumn)
- 紅葉見【もみじみ】 momijimi (autumn) leaf-viewing
- 観楓【かんぶう】 kanbū viewing (autumn) foliage
秋思【しゅうし】 shūshi （しうし）, autumnal feelings / autumn sadness (all autumn)
運動会【うんどうかい】 undōkai （うんどうくわい）, athletic meet / field day (all autumn)
夜学【やがく】 yagaku night school (all autumn)
- 夜学生【やがくせい】 yagakusei night-school student
- 夜学子【やがくし】 yagakushi night-school child [that is, a young person going to night school]
