Cat (neko)

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Cat (neko, Japan)

***** Location: Worldwide
***** Season: Nonseasonal Topic
***** Category: Animal

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Explanation


http://darumasan.blogspot.com/2005/03/washi-japanese-paper_31.html

The cat, with no further explanation, is man's best friend during the whole year. There are however seasonal events in a cat's life that come as a kigo. Let us look at them.

.. .. .. Kigo for Spring:

love-season for cats, neko no koi 猫の恋、koi neko 恋猫
cat in heat, cats mate, neko sakaru　猫さかる
cat in spring, haru no neko 春の猫（はるのねこ）
philandering cat, ukare neko 浮かれ猫
a cat's mate : according to the Chinese character it is written in, it can be the male or female partner,
neko no tsuma 猫の夫 (male) 猫の妻 (female)

cat going hunting for a girlfriend, imogari yuku neko
..... 妹がり行く猫（いもがりゆくねこ）
pledge of a cat, neko no chigiri 猫の契（ねこのちぎり)

pregnant cat, harami neko 孕み猫（はらみねこ）


kigo for late spring

mother cat giving birth, neko no san 猫の産（ねこのさん）

kitten, neko no ko 猫の子
small cat, koneko 仔猫（こねこ
parent of a kitten, neko no oya 猫の親（ねこのおや）, oyaneko 親猫（おやねこ）
cat with kittens, komochi neko 子持猫（こもちねこ）



ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo

.. .. .. Kigo for Autumn:

toy for cats, neko jarashi 猫じゃらし： Plant.
Also called: Dog's tail grass, enokorogusa　狗尾草。

http://www.shinko-keirin.co.jp/seikatsu/kodomo/ikimono/summer/34.html
Of the Rice family, with a thin stem and a tail of about 10 cm.

Gabi Greve

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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way

Do not miss the Interview with Haiku kun, the honorable vice director of our World Kigo Database.
Japan Times, December 17, 2005

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Manekineko, the Beckoning Cat 招き猫
This is a special symbol for good luck in Japan and a nice present for the New Year.

Here is my story about this auspicious cat.
http://darumadollmuseum.blogspot.com/2005/01/cats-and-daruma.html

Gabi Greve

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Japanese cats with NO tail . Find the Explanation here.

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HAIKU

love season for cats -
the neighbours daddy too
returns in the morning

neko no koi - tonari no papa mo asa-gaeri

oo oo oo

cat and the mouse
taking a nap -
autumn solitude



See: Gabi Greve and Haiku Kun

If you want to see more of Haiku kun and his mother, check this:
Cats in Paradise, Japan

If you want to see more of Haiku kun, my sleeping cat, check this:
Haiku Kun, his Album.

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sniffing and looking
looking and sniffing
the lover cat

Issa

Look at this beautiful busy cat Haiga by Jerry Dreesen.
http://www.jerrydreesen.com/image.htm?lover_cat,500,500,Lover_Cat,hm2

Here are some more haiga about cats from Jerry.
http://www.jerrydreesen.com/image.htm?cateyes,363,500,Cat's_Eyes,hm1
http://www.jerrydreesen.com/image.htm?mousehole,363,500,Mousehole,ai1

© By Jerry Dreesen - all rights reserved

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By Linda Papanicolaou, © 2005

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spring roof --
cats' community band
sawing the night in two

scrap-heap --
dining gracefully
a stray cat

Read more of Origa's haiku here:
http://thegreenleaf.co.uk/HP/Duets/Olga/00olgahaiku.htm

And check out Cat haiga ~ by Origa (Olga Hooper)
and more haiga

http://www.geocities.com/origaboston/Publications/Dozingcats.html
http://www.geocities.com/origaboston/OrigaHaiga/haiga.html

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Rogério Viana, Brazil

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嗅で見てよしにする也猫の恋
kaide mite kaide miru nari neko no koi

they sniff each other
sniff each other...
the lover cats

Issa
Translated by David Lanoue

年の内に春は来にけり猫の恋
toshi no uchi ni haru wa ki ni keri neko no koi

the year's not over
but spring comes anyway...
cats making love

Issa, 1812
Tr. David Lanoue

Robin D. Gill points out that the first 13 syllables of this haiku are taken from Ariwara-no-Motokata's waka--the first song of the ancient Kokinshuu collection.


Comment by Lary Bole, Translating Haiku:　 　　　

I think this refers to the fact that due to adjustments that had to be made in the old Japanese lunar calendar, to keep it reasonably "accurate," sometimes the official day on which spring
started fell before the official start of the new year; so that sometimes a single year would have two official starts of spring, one near the beginning of the year, and one near the end. In an analogous way our modern calendar can sometimes have two full moons in the same month.

Jane Reichhold discusses this phenomenon in relation to the earliest known haiku written by Basho:

haru ya ko shi / toshi ya yuki ken / kotsugomori

Preface: "Today we have the first day of spring in spite of the date."

has spring come
or the year gone away?
end of December


Reichhold goes on to comment:

This is the oldest dated verse by Basho that we presently have. In his lifetime, the Japanese calendar was based on the phases of the moon so that the month began with the new moon, continued with the full moon on the 15th night and ended in the dark of the moon.

As with our solar calendar, adjustments had to be made to keep the calendar in sync with the skies. Thus, in 1663, instead of the first day of spring arriving on New Year's Day, as was normal, it was marked as beginning two days earlier.

Though this verse was written on what our calendar today would be the 7th of February, it referred to the last days of the old year, so it makes more sense to adjust the last line from "Second-Last Day" to end of December. This phenomenon had been commented on by poets since olden times as is shown by the link between Basho's verse and especially the one written by Ariwara Motokata (888-953) that opens the imperial anthology, Kokin Waka Shuu

(before the year ends / spring has already come / left-over days / how shall we name them? / the old or the new year?").
http://www.ahapoetry.com/basharc/abasbk1.htm

"年の内に春は来にけり一年を去年とや言はん今年とや言はん"

toshi no uchi ni haru wa ki ni keri
hitotose o nizo ya iwan
kotoshi to ya iwan

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Related words

***** Voices of Animals, neko no koe 猫の声


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http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/

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