September (kugatsu)

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September (kugatsu 九月)

***** Location: Japan, worldwide
***** Season: Mid-Autumn
***** Category: Season

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Explanation

Haiku kugatsu in the Edo period relates to the climate of present-day October,
but some festivals are dated in our present-day September.

. . Names of Japanese months and their meanings . .

leaf month, hazuki 葉月 (はづき)
kigo for mid-autumn

other names for this month (the 8th month in the Asian lunar calendar, now September)

related kigo to this month

month for moon viewing, tsukimi zuki 月見月（つきみづき)
month with autumn wind, akikaze zuki 秋風月（あきかぜづき）
kusatsu zuki 草津月（くさつづき）
"trees start to color" kosome zuki 木染月（こそめづき）
nozome zuki 濃染月（こぞめづき）
red colored month, benizome zuki 紅染月（べにぞめづき）

month with bushclover, hagizuki 萩月（はぎづき)
month when swallows leave, tsubame sari zuki
燕去月（つばめさりづき）、

month when geese come, kari kuzuki 雁来月（かりくづき)

soogetsu 荘月（そうげつ）, keigetsu桂月（けいげつ）
chuuritsu 中律（ちゅうりつ）, nangetsu 難月（なんげつ）
chuushoo 中商（ちゅうしょう）


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. . . . AUTUMN
the complete SAIJIKI


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September---
All Things in Universe Becomes Clear in Autumn
Inahata Teiko

When September comes, the air becomes clearer and a sense of crisp autumn becomes deeper. When we think of a representative seasonal word of this time, there is nothing beyond tsuki (the moon). As shown by the phrase, setsu-getu-ka (the snow, the moon, the flower), the moon, which symbolizes the beauty of nature of this season, has appeared in a lot of poems and literary works from the old times.

According to this tradition, tsuki (the moon) in haiku stands for the moon in autumn, and a number of the excellent haiku poems have been composed on the subject of the moon. Because the moon is the brightest in the year as the air of this season becomes the clearest.

Autumn is the season in which we are lost in deep thought, as shown by a seasonal word, shushi (the deep grief of autumn). The moon has been the best subject in which we convey our feelings or deep emotions. Even after the space satellite Apollo reached the moon and sent the picture of the surface of the moon to the earth, the above-mentioned perception doesn't change, does it?

There are many seasonal words related to the moon in the glossary of seasonal terms for haiku composers; hatsuzuki（the new moon）, futsukazuki (the second day-moon), mikazuki (the third-day moon), yuzukiyo (the moonlit evening ), tsuki (the moon), matsuyoi (the waiting evening), meigetsu (the harvest moon), tsukimi (the moon-viewing), ryoya (the clear full moon), mugetsu (no moon), ugetsu (the moon in the rain), izayoi (the 16th day-moon), tachimachizuki (the 17th day- moon), imachizuki (the 18th day-moon), fushimachizuki (the 19th day-moon), fukemachizuki (the 20th day-moon), nijusanya (the 23rd day-moon), yoiyami (dark at night).

If we add the subtitles to each word related to the moon, the seasonal words would swell in number. And these seasonal words are included in September. For example, yoiyami means to be darkness at night about 20th day on the lunar calendar, as the moon doesn't rise till ten o'clock.

I hope you to study the correct meaning of each seasonal word and how to use it appropriately by consulting a saijiki.

©　Inahata Teiko, NATURE AND OUR LIFE

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Worldwide use

Southern Hemisphere, Tropics ...
Adjustments for each region must be made.

Calendar reference kigo


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

葉月潮 伊雑の宮を さしてゆく
hazukijio Izoo no miya o sashite yuku

The tides of August
coming on a pilgrimage
to the Izoo Shrine.

. Yamaguchi Seishi 山口誓子 .
Composed 1976.
In August the great tides of the Pacific Ocean roll into Matoya Bay and, after passing through a narrow strait, enter the Izoo Lagoon. A god is enshrined at the Izoo Shrine there, and the great tides come all that way to worship the god.
Tr. Kodaira & Marks

There is now a beautiful red bridge over Matoya Bay 的矢湾大橋 and a memorial stone with this haiku by Seishi.
source :　www.kanko-shima.com

hazuki, literally "leaf month,"
was the name of the eighth month on the lunar calendar, which in an average year would begin in mid-September on the Julian calendar. Seishi's note seems to indicate, however, that he is in fact speaking of the eighth month on the Julian calendar, August. Even so, the season remains autumn because the seasons in haiku are based on the old lunar calendar, and they begin and end about six and a half weeks earlier, on average, than those by the Julian calendar.
Thus, autumn runs from about August 8 to November 6.

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September morn...
a hen's endearments
for its brood

September morn...
a white butterfly brightens
the silent garden

September morn...
the rigid pen tames
sleeping puppies

September morn...
sweet potato sprouts crowd
the mossy catwalk

September morn...
a lone street sweeper pauses
for a breather

w.r. bongcaron, Philippines, September 2008"


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Related words

***** Calendar reference kigo


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. . . . AUTUMN
the complete SAIJIKI


. WKD : September - KIGO CALENDAR .

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