Dog Days (doyoo)

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Dog Days (doyoo)

***** Location: Japan, worldwide
***** Season: Late Summer
***** Category: Season

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Explanation


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In former times, the DOYOO days (also spelled doyo) four times a year would be the 18 days before each changing to the next season, but nowadays they are only mentioned for the change from summer to autumn. The timing is from 13 days after the “small heat” (shoosho) until the beginning of autumn. The days of DOYOO are then numbered in the Japanese counting of “doyoo-taroo”, “doyoo-jiroo”, “doyoo-saburo” and so on counting like the number of sons in a family, first one, second one, third one. Thus the farmers respect and know about the changes in the ground and the changes of the seasons, see doyoo-boshi further down.

The first day of doyoo in midsummer (and midwinter) is called ushi no hi, the day of the ox, as in the 12 signs of the Japanese zodiac. It is customary to eat broiled eel (kabayaki, see the photo above) on the day of the ox in summer (doyoo no ushi no hi, sometime in late July). This is because eel (unagi) is nutritious and rich in vitamin A, and provides strength and vitality to fight against the extremely hot and humid summer of Japan. The man who invented this well-loved custom is the famous scientist of the late Edo period, Hiraga Gennai.

Gennai was born in the Takamatsu domain as the son of a low-ranking samurai, moved to Nagasaki to study herbal medicine and in 1757 went to Edo to continue his studies and to write humorous books. He experimented with many natural substances, trying to make cloth of asbestos, thermometers and Dutch-style pottery. Soon he made his own style, Gennai-yaki. His activities included surveys for ore deposits, wool manufacturing and Western oil painting with other Akita painters. He also experimented with electricity and tried his hand at many inventions.

You can read more about him on this page, he is a maveric character worth knowing, not only because his close connection to the dog days (should we say OX days) of summer.
.. ..
Gabi Greve
http://www.amie.or.jp/daruma/Suiteki.html

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Food kigo

doyo eel, doyoo unagi 土用鰻 (どよううなぎ)
doyoo no ushi no hi no unagi
土用丑の日の鰻（どようのうしのひのうなぎ）
day of the eal, unagi no hi 鰻の日（うなぎのひ）

doyo corbicula shells, doyoo shijimi
土用蜆 (どようしじみ)
eaten in miso soup


Eel dishes (unagi) Japan. Some are kigo


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Worldwide use

Germany
Hundstage 23. July till 24. August
"Hundstage" ist die Bezeichnung für eine Schönwetterperiode, die nach dem Hundsstern Sirius, der Anfang August mit der Sonne auf- und untergeht, benannt wurde. Sie hat sich im Lauf der Jahrhunderte etwas verschoben, denn heute liegen sie meist schon in der Julimitte.

Bauernregeln Farmers Sayings
Heisse Hundstage prophezeien einen kalten Winter.
Was die Hundstage giessen, muss die Traube büssen.
Hundstage heiss, Winter lange weiss.
Hundstage hell und klar, zeigen ein gute Jahr.
Wie das Wetter, wenn der Hundsstern aufgeht, so wird`s bleiben, bis er untergeht.
http://www.garten-literatur.de/Kalender/hundstag.htm

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USA
Everyone knows that the Dog days of summer occur during the hottest and muggiest part of the season. Webster defines Dog days as...
1 : the period between early July and early September when the hot sultry weather of summer usually occurs in the northern hemisphere, beginning with the heliacal rising of Sirius (the dog star).
2 : a period of stagnation or inactivity
Read more here:
http://wilstar.com/dogdays.htm

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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

Dog days -
we name our new puppy
Sirius

.. .. .. .. Dog days -
.. .. .. .. the rippling air
.. .. .. .. above the asphalt

Dog days -
a man and his pooch
on the surfboard

Zhanna P. Rader

Read more of Zhanna's Dog Day Haiku here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/happyhaiku/message/1130

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dog days lonely night...
only one tongue for soothing
the old broken tooth

art
http://shiki1.cc.ehime-u.ac.jp/~shiki/kukai/kukai108-2.html

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.. .. .. .. .. Two one-line Haiku:

dog days beans drying on a car hood
Collection of Eric Amman
http://www.hardtofind.org/hardtofind/marlenemountain/1lhaiku/1lhai_mags1.html

dog days envelopes stuck shut
from Marlene Mountain
http://www.hardtofind.org/hardtofind/marlenemountain/backward/ftm_223_late70to90.html

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dog-day afternoon --
the cat stretched out
on its back

© Juanito
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCjapan/message/1572

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Related words


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***** mushi-boshi (drying the bugs),
mushi-barai (getting rid of the bugs),
doyoo-boshi (drying during the dog-days)

The days of doyoo are usually dry and sunny and are used to air out the clothing, books, pictures and other things stored away during the rainy season. Hanging in the wind they will be cleared of mildew and unwanted bugs. Bokusho is a special name given to the books aired to prevent mildew.

In olden times, it was one of the annual events of shrines and temples to air their treasures, in winter we have the hoomotsu kaze-ire (airing the treasures), now usually on November 3, the Culture Day of Japan. The most famous “airing of books” happens at the treasurehouse Shoosoo-in of the Toodai-ji temple in Nara.
Gabi Greve

Mushi-boshi no
Yamaga no ushi ni
Nakarekeri
... Aro Usuda

airing out
the mountain hut
the oxen keep mooing
http://www008.upp.so-net.ne.jp/kihakuso/html/04sai/natsu04.html

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Darumasama
korogarikomu ne
doyoo-boshi
.. .. .. chibi

Master Daruma
tumbles over so ~
summer airing
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Darumasan-Japan/message/27

dog days --
the search for hidden
hickory nuts
Chibi

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***** Doyoo-boshi, draining the riece paddies 土用干し
From July to August, farmers drain the wet rice paddies of water, so that the ground can be seen, as in the picture. This will harden the ground for the harvesting machinery to roll into the fields. If you do not do this, the machines will get stuck in the wet earth. Since this happens during the formal doyoo-days, the name was choosen.
http://www.telenet.tv/users/ibaya/farmer/doyoboshi.html


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WASHOKU ... Japanese Food SAIJIKI

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