Flower and Hana

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Flowers, blossoms and translating "hana" (花)

The Japanese character for FLOWER, hana 花 has many layered cultural meanings in Japan.



© Photo Gabi Greve
http://happyhaiku.blogspot.com/2005/03/cherry-blossoms-sakura.html


As a kigo, "hana 花" always represente the Cherry Blossoms (sakura no hana, Japan) .

Hana can of course also be a beautiful lady and Hanako　花子, Flower Girl, is a common name.

The English word flower, blossom or the German Blume, Blüte with no further addition does not convey this strong meaning of the Cherry blossoms.
So if you use only the word "FLOWER" in an English haiku, it is not synonym for "cherry blossoms" and thus NOT a kigo.

A clouded sky during the Cherry blossom season, blossom haze, is "hanagumori", 花曇, only in this season used as a kigo for late spring and never used for other flowers in haze or clouds.

Viewing flowers, hanami, 花見, is of course only used for viewing the Cherry flowers and is a pleasure enjoyed in daily life in Spring.


... ... ... ... Do not mix up these two in Japanese

spring flowers, haru no hana 春の花
kigo for spring

"spring of the flowers", hana no haru　花の春
kigo for the New Year

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summer flowers -
not knowing your names
do I know less ?

© Photo and Haiku by Gabi Greve

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Snow, Moon and Blossoms, Setsugekka 雪月花
setsugetsuka
Japanese Art and the Japanese View of Nature

To the Japanese mind, nature is more than just physical scenery.
The Japanese love of the imperfect stems from an acknowledgment of the inherent limitations of human creative powers.

© SETSUGEKKA, by Isamu Kurita, MOA
..... Do not miss to read the full essay .

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Here are some more compounds with HANA, the Cherry Blossoms.

花の雨 はなのあめ blossom rain [i.e., rain falling on cherry blossoms, or at cherry blossom time]
花の山 はなのやま hana no yama blossoming mountains/hills
花便り はなだより hanadayori blossom news / tidings of blossoms [whether carried in person or by media]

花の昼 はなのひる hana no hiru blossoms at midday
花の雲 はなのくも hana no kumo clouds of blossoms / blossom clouds [figurative]
花盛り はなざかり hanazakari blossoms in full bloom / blossoms at their peak
花埃 はなぼこり hanabokori blossom dust / blossom pollen
花の宿 はなのやど hana no yado blossom inn [i.e., an inn where people go to see the cherry blossoms in the region; an inn nestled among blossoming cherry trees]

Google for more about flowers, " 花 " at the saijiki here:
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/japanese/haikusearch.pl


"capital of blossoms", hana no miyako 花の都
Read : Edo or Kyoto, a discussion of the meaning

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a different temple
for each season -
flowers of Kamakura

Look at the Flower Calendar of Kamakura !

Gabi Greve, former resident of Kamakura

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http://www.hana300.com/nanoha.html

Other flowers use "hana" in the name too, but only in context with other words, for example the rape flower, celery cabbage, na no hana 菜の花.

Daphne (Jinchooge, Japan) is written 沈丁花、where the character for flower is read GE.

Peach blossoms and others are especially mentioned too, momo no hana 桃の花, nashi no hana 梨の花　(Japanese pears), anzu no hana 杏の花　(apricots) and so on.

The Pine (matsu, Japan) has flowers, matsu no hana 松の花, but also delivers its pollen to us, especially in 2005 in the spring causing a lot of allergies. The pollen is called "Matsu kafun", here KA is the character for flower 松花粉.


blogs.dion.ne.jp/cafe_m/archives/cat_43147.html

... ... ... ... ...

Another lovely spring flower, almost a weed in the rice fields before plowing in my area of Okayama, is the milk vetch with its pink patches providing food for our local bees. The Astralagus family of clover is also called
gegebana 五形花 or rengesoo 蓮華草.
Here the character used for GE, indicating the flower, is a beautiful old traditional Chinese one.
Rengesoo has been wrongly translates as "Lotus Flower" by some translators unfamiliar with this haiku name, but that is of course not correct. Just imagine honey from the real lotus flowers!

Even if RENGE 蓮華　means lotus, the lotus flower is something else, as you can see below.



© Photo Gabi Greve

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We also have fiery flowers in the summer sky, hanabi, 花火,
Firework Display (hanabi, Japan )


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In Autumn,

the fields are filled with flowers, hanano 花野, flower moors. Here HANA is a general name for all the different plants flowering in autumn.
花野道 hananomichi flower-field path and 花野風 hananokaze, flower-field wind/breeze(s) belong to these Autumn flowers.

The Autumn wildflowers are also called kusa no hana 草の花 . "Flowers of the weeds", "Flowers of the grass" is another translation.


道問はば微笑み返る草の花

Asking how to go,
she smiles at me
by the flowers of weeds.

© Wada Yoshio

Check out this page for more bilingual Haiku and superb photos.
http://wadaphoto3.web.infoseek.co.jp/haiku.htm

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空に迄仏ましまして草の花
sora ni made hotoke mashimashite kusa no hana

even in the sky
Buddha dwells...
wildflowers

Issa
Issa and the Wildflower Haiku, tr. David Lanoue=

..... .....

One of the "kusa no hana" is the wild pink carnation, nadeshiko.
草の花は、なでしこ 撫子. Used already by Sei Shonagon (Sei Shoonagon) in her Poetry.

http://www.hana300.com/nadesi.html

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Wild flowers from Uruguay, flowering now in April.
Haiku by Carlos Fleitas.

wild flowers -
spreading yellow and pink
why call it autumn?

colorful noon -
leaves wither and pass by
yet wild flowers

Read more of Carlos' wildflower haiku here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/happyhaiku/message/1440

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The seven flowers of autumn, aki no nanakusa 秋の七草

Flowers blossoming
in autumn fields -
when I count them on my fingers
they then number seven.
The flowers of bush clover,
eulalia, arrowroot,
pink, patrinia,
also, mistflower
and morning faces flower.

Yamanoue Okura (C. 660 - 733)
Manyoshu: 8:1537-8
http://www.urasenke.org/flowers/


Nora ni saku na wa kore made zo kusa no hana

Flowers of the grass:
scarcely shown, and withered
name and all.

Asei
http://www.ski.org/SPMcKee_lab/yury/index.html?Hobbies_files/haiku_engl.html


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Winter

Sometimes, the Cherries and others start flowering in Winter again, these crazy flowers, kurui-zaki 狂い咲き. They are also called "Flowers coming back"　or "retruning flowers" kaeribana　帰り花。

The soft fluttering snowflakes are sometimes called "wind flowers", kazahana 風花.



© Photo Gabi Greve
http://happyhaiku.blogspot.com/2005/04/sunbeam-for-us-all.html

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Further Reading in our Library :

Plants of Greek Myth

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

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