Dog Days (doyoo)

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Dog Days (doyoo)

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

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Explanation



In former times, the DOYOO 土用 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.

doyoo iri 土用入（どよういり）doyoo starts
doyoo mae 土用前（どようまえ）before doyoo
doyoo naka 土用中（どようなか）middle of doyoo
doyoo ake 土用明（どようあけ） doyoo ends

The days of DOYOO are then numbered in the Japanese counting of
“doyoo-taroo 土用太郎（どようたろう）”,
“doyoo-jiroo 土用次郎（どようじろう）”,
“doyoo-saburo 土用三郎（どようさぶろう”
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 平賀源内.

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


. Suiteki, Water Dripper 水滴 　

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- quote
Ranking list of kabayakiya（broiled eel restaurants）in Edo
江戸前大蒲焼

This is a banzuke of eel restaurants in Edo published in 1852.
The title, 江戸前 "Edomae," refers to the sea in front of Edo, and
as for eels, they were caught around Sumida River and Fukagawa.
Edomae eels were delicious, and eels from elsewhere were considered to be inferior in quality.
This 番付 banzuke lists around 200 eel restaurants,
but it mentions the printing of a second edition upon carrying out further surveys of other restaurants,
indicating that there were many others.
"Guidebook of Restaurants Serving Specialty Sake and Food of Edo
(Edo Meibutsu Shuhan Tebikigusa 江戸名物酒飯手引草)"
published in 1848 also contains 90 eel restaurants,
and many of them are listed in this banzuke.
. source - Tokyo Metropolitan Database 　


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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虫干しdrying the bugs　－
mushi-barai (getting rid of the bugs),
doyoo-boshi, doyooboshi 土用干し　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


ryuuguu mo kyoo no shioji ya doyoo boshi

there is a tide way
to the Dragon palace today -
airing all things


. Matsuo Basho - Dragon Haiku .


naki hito no kosode mo ima ya doyoo boshi

even the robe
of the deceased included -
dog-day airing


. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


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mushi-boshi no yamaga no ushi ni nakarekeri

airing out
the mountain hut
the oxen keep mooing

... Aro Usuda
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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kigo for mid-autumn

otoshimizu, otoshi mizu 落し水 (おとしみず) draining water
draining the water from the rice paddies
mizu otosu 水落す（みずおとす）"water falls" (is drained)
tamizu otosu 田水落す（たみずおとす）
seki hazusu 堰外す（ せきはずす）take the water barrier off

This is an important part of rice farming to make sure the fields do not get too wet.


source :　www.to-ki.jp/center

For the draining of the paddies, the water is let out of the fields in a way that it falls down for a few centimeters to one meter (three shaku) through a gutter to the field below. This rushing water makes a special sound.


二三尺秋の響や落し水
nisan shaku aki no hibiki ya otoshimizu

water falls down
for two three shaku -
sounds of autumn

Matsumura Gekkei 松村月渓
(1752 - 1811)
He studied haiku and painting with Yosa Buson.

one shaku is about 30 cm.


. Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 in Edo .

阿武隈や五十四郡のおとし水
abukuma ya gojuushi gun no otoshi mizu

The Abukuma River;
Water drained off
Flows from fifty-four counties.
Tr. Shoji Kumano

. WKD : Abukumagawa 阿武隈川 in Fukushima .

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雨乞の小町が果や落し水
amagoi no Komachi ga hate ya otoshimizu

thanks to the rain ritual
of Ono no Komachi -
draining the paddies
Tr. Gabi Greve

. Amagoi Komachi 雨乞小町. Lit. rain prayer Komachi. .
One of the seven versions of Ono no Komachi 小野小町
c. 825 — c. 900. Waka Poetess and Famous Beauty

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足跡にひそむ魚あり落し水
ashiato ni hisomu uo ari otoshimizu

drained paddy field,
trapped in water footprint,
a small fish
Tr. ?

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足あとのなき田わびしや落し水
ashiato no naki ta wabishi ya otoshimizu

the lonsomeness
of a paddy without footsteps -
draining the water
Tr. Gabi Greve

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打々の寝心更けぬ落し水
muramura no negokoro fukenu otoshi mizu

Night deepens,
And sleep in the villages;
Sounds of falling water.
Tr. Blyth


in the villages
sleep wears on;
falling water
Tr. Haldane

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温公の岩越す音や落し水
onkoo no iwa kosu oto ya otoshimizu

the sound of Onko
coming over the rock -
draining the rice fields
Tr. Gabi Greve


Shiba Onkoo 司馬温公 Shiba Onko 司馬光 Shiba Ko (1019 - 1086)
Chinese politician
He once saved a boy who was trapped in a large jar by breaking it with a stone. He did not fear being punished by the owner of the precious jar.

- reference : pottery with his story -

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落水田ごとのやみとなりにけり
otoshimizu tagoto no yami to nari ni keri

draining the paddies
one by one they get darker
and darker
Tr. Gabi Greve

nari ni keri - hard to translate

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竜王へ雨を戻すやおとし水
ryuu-oo e ame o modosu ya otoshimizu

giving the rain
back to the dragon king -
draining the paddies
Tr. Gabi Greve

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落し水柳に遠く成にけり
otoshimizu yanagi ni tooku nari ni keri


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***** Mizuawase no harai
水合の祓 (みずあわせのはらい)
purification of the court well

mizuawase 水合（みずあわせ）well water purification

On the first day of doyoo, the master of yin-yang ceremonies, (onyooji 陰陽師 onmyooji) Daikoku Minbu 大黒民部　would go through the important buildings of the Heian court and hold purification rituals for the wells.
This is an old custom from China


Onmyōdō (also In'yōdō) is a traditional Japanese esoteric cosmology, a mixture of natural science and occultism. It is based on the Chinese philosophies of Wu Xing and Yin and yang, introduced into Japan at the turn of the 6th century, and accepted as a practical system of divination. These practices were influenced further by Taoism, Buddhism and Shintoism, and evolved into present-day onmyōdō approximately in the late 7th century.
Bureau of Onmyoo (陰陽寮, Onmyoo-ryoo)
Onmyōji (陰陽師, also In'yōji) was one of the classifications of civil servants belonging to the Bureau of Onmyō in ancient Japan's ritsuryo system. People with this title were professional practitioners of onmyōdō.
Onmyōji were specialists in magic and divination.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


.SAIJIKI ... OBSERVANCES, FESTIVALS, RITUALS
Kigo for Summer 　


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WASHOKU ... Japanese Food SAIJIKI



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