Bee (mitsubachi)

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Bee (mitsubachi, hachi )

***** Location: Japan, Worldwide
***** Season: All Spring
***** Category: Animal

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Explanation

The honey bee (mitsubachi ミツバチ、蜜蜂） is man’s oldest friend on earth, probably.

Although we see them throughout the year till late autumn, and they are most active in summer with all blossoms out, as a KIGO, they come in the SPRING season, when we see the first ones again. They express the joy of the life circle starting anew.



From a page about Plum Blossoms with awsome pictures.
Thank you, Wada san.
http://wadaphoto.jp/japan/baigou2.htm

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sweat bee, kenaga chibi kohanabachi
コハナバチの一種ケナガチビコハナバチ
Lasioglossum villosulum trichopse

sweat bee --
a sheen of sap shines
on the tree leaf

"chibi" (pen-name for Dennis M. Holmes) 　 　　　

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'Meat bee' would probably be an early autumn kigo.

"When weather gets colder (Sept-October), food resources get scarce; this is when yellowjackets would come to your picnic, trying to take a sip from your coke, or a bite from your burger meat (honey bees never show these behaviors). Some people call them "meat bees" even though they are not bees. Stinging incidents are highest during this time of the year. They are often seen eating fallen apples and other
fruits."

And they can sting multiple times without dying from doing it.
http://www.cyberbee.net/column/stinging/yellowjackets.shtml

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Some Animal Facts
Honey bees are in the class Insecta. There are approximately 20,000 species of bees within the order Hymenoptera, of which only seven species are recognized as honey bees. Honey bees and belong in the family Apidae.

Originally found only in Europe, honey bees are now naturalized worldwide. They were domesticated over 200 years ago in the United States for honey production and pollination.
Habitat
In the wild, honey bees nest in tree hollows or other cavities. They are commercially bred worldwide for pollination of flowering plants and for honey production.

Fascinating Facts
Beekeeping was practiced in ancient Egypt as early as 2500 B.C.!
One pound (.45 kg) of honey equals the life work of approximately 300 bees and a flight distance of two to three times around the earth!
Honey tastes different depending on the type of flowers the bee visits!
http://www.zoo.org/educate/fact_sheets/bee/bee.htm


The treatment with bee products is called Apitherapy. I am a specialist in that field and can only recommend it to keep fit and busy like a bee.
http://www.apitherapy.org/

Other animals of the Bee family are hornets, wasps, jellow jackets, bumble bees and so on. They are all kigo for all spring.
Beehive and beekeeper are also kigo for this season.

Honeywine , mead, one of my favorite bee products, is a kigo for winter.
Mead is one of the oldest alcoholic beverages of humankind. It has been made in Ethiopia for many thousand years.

Gabi Greve

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Worldwide use

Australia

The Honey Bee is an introduced social insect. Worker bees visit flowers in search of pollen during the summer months, and may sting if handled or caught in clothing. They are particularly attracted to clover flowers, so it is wise to be cautious if walking through clover patches. Like wasps, Honey Bees will vigorously defend their nests.

More about Australian Bees is here:
Copyright © Australian Museum, 2003


plucked to safety
by the hand of fate . . .
drowning bee

Richard Kay, Australia
http://witheredweeds.blogspot.com/


Over here we don't have winter snow and a subsequent spring thaw, we see the bees all year round, but they are prolific in summer.
They are a kigo for summer.

Richard Kay, Australia

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Manuka Honey from New Zealand is especially famous for its medical properties.

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Things found on the way



hayajimo ya kabocha no hana ni hachi nemuru

a bee asleep
in the squash blossom
early frost

This haiku was chosen for third place in spite of the fact it has three different seasonal references. Actually, this is it's true appeal insofar as being a classic transition haiku. How skillfully Joyce has taken her readers from the summer season (bee), to the autumn season (squash blossom), to the winter season (early frost). There is no self in this haiku, but the author is definately present. She takes us from the surface where the bee was, to the depth the bee sought, and yet even deeper into the seasonal change until we end up actually becoming that bee itself . . .
an'ya Haiga Online
http://www.haigaonline.com/ISSUEFOURCONTESTHIRD.html


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HAIKU

empty teacup –
left in the garden,
hum of bees

Ryuuseki Takiguchi
http://www.floatingstone.net/ryuseki_6.html

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Die Sonne sank schon.
Verstreut auf dem Schnee
tote Bienen.

Sun already set.
Here and there on the snow
dead bees.
(Tr. Gabi Greve)

Volker Friebel
Sa. 24.01.2004,
http://www.wolkenpfad.de/Haiku/Haiku-1/haiku-1.html

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from deep within
the peony pistils -- withdrawing
regretfully the bee

in Basho's travel diary
Skeleton in the Fields (Nozarashi kiko).
http://www.haikupoet.com/beyond_the_haiku_moment.html

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http://www.animalphotography.com/images/bumblebee.jpg

the German Shepherd—
not sure whether to chase or
flee the bumblebee

gK c 2004.05.28

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a beehive--
safe on Saint Jizo's
elbow

hachi no su ya Jizô bosatsu no on-hiji ni

Issa

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http://www3.kcn.ne.jp/~mamama/nara/floral/kikouji-temple-03.htm

move aside
horseflies and bees!
lotus are blooming

abu-bachi mo sotchi noke noke hasu no hana




http://www.linkclub.or.jp/~t_yamada/2001.html

a blooming pink--
the big bee
stings it!

nadeshiko ga ôki na hachi ni sasare keri

Issa
http://webusers.xula.edu/dlanoue/issa/


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buzzing free
through spring breeze
a humble bumblebee ~

Narayanan Raghunathan

© Photo Gabi Greve, 2006
Spring in India

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nectar
in the honeycomb
venom in sting

Vidur Jyoti, India, February 2008


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Related words

***** winter bee, winter wasp : fuyu no hachi 冬の蜂　
Kigo for Winter

***** frozen bee or wasp : itebachi 凍蜂　
Kigo for Winter



***** Winter butterfly, freezing butterfly (fuyu no choo, itechoo)


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WASHOKU
Konchu Ryori, konchuu ryoori 昆虫料理 Insects as food

Hachi no ko 蜂の仔（はちのこ, 蜂の子）
bee and wasp larvae

fried bee larvae, jibachi yaki 地蜂焼（じばちやき）
rice with bee larvae, hachi no ko meshi 蜂の子飯（はちのこめし）

kigo for late autumn

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Back to the Worldkigo Index
http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/

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