春の月【はるのつき】 haru no tsuki moon in spring (all spring)
- 春月【しゅんげつ】 shungetsu spring moon
天文【てんぶん】 tenbun The Heavens
朧【おぼろ】 oboro misty (night) / hazy (night) [see "On Haze, Mist, Fog"] (all spring)
- 草朧【くさおぼろ】 kusa oboro misty grass (at night) / hazy grass (at night)
- 月朧【つきおぼろ】 tsuki oboro misty moon / hazy moon
Oboro refers to something indistinct, vague, unclear, but in haikai it means a misty or
hazy spring night. Such terms as "hazy grass" and "hazy moon" are also used. Especially, like the pleasing
impression of moonlight touching pampas grass silk, that distant brightness in the night yields a refined
enjoyment.
["Broad Plains" is Ōhara, north of Kyoto; nearby, the Empress Dowager Kenreimon'in spent her last
years in a secluded nunnery, after the fall of the Taira and the death of her infant son, the Emperor
Antoku.]
[Hakama are full trousers, part of men's traditional formal attire.]
This verse tells of looking out at the Pine of Karasaki in the distance over the waters of Lake Biwa.
The particle nite brings the poem to an end with a light touch, yielding a lingering charm; though
cherry blossoms are not immediately apparent, adding "fainter than the blossoms" paints the scene with
a misty glaze.
大原や蝶の出て舞う朧月
丈草
ōhara ya chō no dete mau oborozuki
Broad Plains . . .
a butterfly flutters out
under a hazy moon
Jōsō
袴包みて使に渡す朧かな
長谷川かな女
hakama tsutsumite tsukai ni watasu oboro kana
swathed in hakama
he passes by on an errand--
these mists
Hasegawa Kanajo
引いてやる子の手のぬくき朧かな
中村汀女
hiite yaru ko no te no nukuki oboro kana
how warm the hand
of the child I pull along--
these mists
Nakamura Teijo
辛崎の松は花より朧にて
芭蕉
karasaki no matsu wa hana yori oboro nite
Karasaki's pine
fainter than the blossoms
muted in mist
Bashō
春の星【はるのほし】 haru no hoshi stars in spring (all spring)
- 春星【しゅんせい】 shunsei spring stars
春風【はるかぜ】 harukaze spring breeze / spring wind (all spring)
- 春の風【はるのかぜ】 harunokaze spring breeze / spring wind
東風【こち】 kochi east wind (all spring)
- 強東風【つよごち】 tsuyogochi strong east wind.
- 朝東風【あさごち】 asagochi morning east wind
- 夕東風【ゆうごち】 yūgochi evening east wind
貝寄風【かいよせ】 kaiyose shell-drawing wind [a west wind of late March or early April] (mid spring)
- 貝寄【かいよせ】 kaiyose shell-drawing wind
涅槃西風【ねはんにし】 nehan-nishi Nirvana West Wind [during the time of the Nirvana Festival 涅槃会 nehan'e, which see] (mid spring)
- 彼岸西風【ひがんにし】 higan-nishi Higan West Wind [during Higan 彼岸, which see]
風光る【かぜひかる】 haze hikaru the wind shines (all spring)
春塵【しゅんじん】 shunjin （しゅんぢん）, spring dust (in the air) (all spring)
- 春埃【はるぼこり】 harubokori spring dust
- 春の塵【はるのちり】 haru no chiri dust of spring
- 霾【つちふる】 tsuchifuru falling dust / dirt rain
春雨【はるさめ】 harusame spring rain (all spring)
- 春の雨【はるのあめ】 haru no ame rains of spring
春の雪【はるのゆき】 haru no yuki spring snow (all spring)
- 春雪【しゅんせつ】 shunsetsu spring snow
- 淡雪【あわゆき】 awayuki light snow
斑雪【はだれゆき】 hadareyuki （はだらゆき）, patchy snow (all spring)
- はだら hadara patchy snow
- はだれ hadare patchy snow
- はだれ野【はだれの】 hadareno snow-dappled field(s)
別れ霜【わかれじも】 wakarejimo parting frost [i.e., the last] (late spring)
- 忘れ霜【わすれじも】 wasurejimo last frost [literally, "forgotten frost"]
- 霜の名残【しものなごり】 shimo no nagori traces of frost
- 晩霜【ばんそう】 bansō end of frost
春の雷【はるのらい】 haru no rai thunder in spring (all spring)
- 春雷【しゅんらい】 shun'rai spring thunder
霞【かすみ】 kasumi (spring) mist [frequently translated "haze"; see note "On Haze, Mist, Fog"] (all spring)
- 朝霞【あさがすみ】 asagasumi morning mist
- 夕霞【ゆうがすみ】 yūgasumi evening mist
- 遠霞【とおがすみ】 tōgasumi distant mist
This refers to being unable to see things in the distance because they are obscured by a somewhat
cloudy atmosphere. This is not a meteorologist's technical term, but indicates mist made up of fine droplets
of water floating in the air. The phenomenon is common in autumn, with "fog" (霧【きり】 kiri)
being the established autumn kidai; however, when we say "mist" (霞【かすみ】 kasumi), that
is the term for spring. It seems that water vapor rising in warm air, making all of nature look blurred
and calm, permeates things with the tranquillity of spring. In addition to "morning mist", "evening mist",
and "distant mist", poets use such phrases as "the grass is misty" (草霞む【くさかすむ】 kusa
kasumu) and "the bell is mist-muffled" (鐘霞む【かねかすむ】 kane kasumu). However,
when the same phenomenon occurs at night, it is called "misty" (朧【おぼろ】 oboro, which
see above).
[A "guided coach" (shinansha, literally "points-south vehicle") is a coach with a compass built
in to guide the driver; it suggests olden times.]
The preface to the poem is "travelling"「行旅」. Some people take turns riding a single borrowed
horse. Not overly concerned with getting to their destination quickly, the two or three companions are
leisurely enjoying the spring scene. Going ahead, the one on the horse sits in the thin mist.
指南車を胡地に引去る霞かな
蕪村
shinansha o kochi ni hikisaru kasumi kana
a guided coach
withdrawn into an old place--
this mistiness
Buson
来て見れば霞の松に日暮れたり
暁台
kite mireba kasumi no matsu ni hi kuretari
when I come to look:
the misty pine the sun
is setting in
Gyōdai
夕がすみ灯台ともること早し
高濱年尾
yūgasumi tōdai tomoru koto hayashi
evening mist
the lighthouse lights up
a bit early
Takahama Toshio
肉白き病体に世もかすみたる
飯田龍太
niku shiroki byōtai ni yo mo kasumitaru
flesh white
in my sick body too
the world is misty
Iida Ryūta
馬借りてかはるがはるに霞みけり
蓼太
uma karite kawarugawaru ni kasumikeri
taking turns
on a borrowed horse
mist-shrouded
Ryōta
陽炎【かげろう】 kagerō （かげろふ）, heat shimmer [visual distortion in the air over a heated surface; sometimes misleadingly translated "heat waves"] (all spring)
- 糸遊【いとゆう】 itoyū gossamer / spider silk [literally "thread play"; there is some confusion over this kigo, as these two very different phenomena were apparently once thought to be similar or related; itoyū refers to the silk of balloon spiders, most common in autumn, where some authorities place this as a separate kidai]
花曇【はなぐもり】 hanagumori (cherry) blossom haze [hazy weather, especially in the vicinity of cherry blossoms, in late spring] (late spring)
鳥曇【とりぐもり】 torigumori bird haze [hazy weather in mid spring, when migrating birds are flying] (mid spring)
鰊曇【にしんぐもり】 nishingumori herring clouds [metaphorical; see nishin, herring] (late spring)
