Oak trees Quercus

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Oak Trees / Quercus

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Various, see below
***** Category: Plant

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Explanation

The family Fagaceae, or beech family,
comprises about 900 species of both evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, which are characterized by alternate simple leaves with pinnate venation, unisexual flowers in the form of catkins, and fruit in the form of cup-like (cupule) nuts.
The best-known group of this family is the oaks, genus Quercus, the fruit of which is a non-valved nut (usually containing one seed) called an acorn.

Castanea - Chestnuts
Castanopsis
Chrysolepis - Golden chinkapin
Colombobalanus
Fagus - Beeches
Formanodendron
Lithocarpus - Stone oaks
Quercus - Oaks
Trigonobalanus



An Oak is a tree or shrub
in the genus Quercus, of which about 600 species exist on earth.
The flowers are catkins, produced in spring. The fruit is a nut called an acorn, borne in a cup-like structure known as a cupule; each acorn contains one seed (rarely two or three) and takes 6–18 months to mature, depending on species.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


Let us look at some types of Japanese oaks (kashi 樫) and their kigo.

The most important varieties:

akagashi アカガシ　（赤樫　別名：oogashi, オオガシ、oobagashi オオバガシ　学名：Quercus acuta）
arakashi アラカシ　Quercus glauca
hanagakashi ハナガカシ　Quercus hondae
ichiigashi イチイガシ　（一位樫　学名：Quercus gilva ）
kashi 樫 ... Quercus
kunugi 櫟 Quercus acutissima
shikubanegashi ツクバネガシ　（衝羽根樫　　学名：Quercus sessilifolia）
shirakashi シラカシ　（白樫・白橿　学名：Quercus myrsinifolia ）
ubamegashi ウバメガシ　（姥目樫　別名：イマメガシ・ウマメガシ　　学名：Quercus phillyraeoides）
urajirogashi ウラジロガシ　（裏白樫　　学名：Quercus salicina）

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kigo for late spring

kashi no hana 樫の花 (かしのはな) Kashi-oak tree blossoms


樫の木の花にかまはぬ姿かな
kashi no ki no hana ni kamawanu sugata kana

the Kashi oak
seems not to care about
the cherry blossoms . . .
Tr. Gabi Greve

The cut marker KANA is at the end of line 3.
Written in 1685, when Basho visited Mitsui Shuufuu 三井秋風 Shufu at Narumi.
(Shufu - 1646 - 1717) A rich kimono merchant and haikai poet from Kyoto.

Basho compares the Kashi oak to his independent-minded host (or rather, vice-versa).
Basho often uses the nature around him to imply a human condition also just now around him.

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


. Echigoya 越後屋 and Mitsui　三井 .

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. ichi-i no hana　 一位の花　いちいのはな flower of the yew tree
Taxus cuspida. ichii


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kigo for early summer

kashi wakaba 樫若葉 (かしわかば) young leaves of the Kashi-oak
..... kashi shigeru 樫茂る（かししげる）


kunugi no hana 櫟の花 (くぬぎのはな) flowers of the Kunugi-oak
..... tsurubami 橡（つるばみ）、ichii, ichi-i いちい
donguri no ki 団栗の木（どんぐりのき） "acorn tree)


shii wakaba 椎若葉 (しいわかば) young leaves of the Shii-oak
shii ochiba 椎落葉（しいおちば）fallen leaves of the Shii-oak
Castanopsis cuspidata. pasania. Shii-Castanopsis



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shii no hana 椎の花 (しいのはな) flowers of the Shii-oak
..... shihi no hana しひのはな
..... hana shii 花椎
kigo for mid-summer

. . . CLICK here for Photos !


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kigo for mid-autumn

tsukubane 衝羽根 (つくばね) Tsukubane-oak
..... tsukubane 突羽根（つくばね）
kogi no ko 胡鬼の子（こぎのこ）
hago no ki 羽子の木（はごのき）
Quercus sessilifolia

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kigo for late autumn

donguri 団栗 (どんぐり) acorn (from an oak tree)
..... kunugi no mi 櫟の実（くぬぎのみ）acorns from the Kunugi-oak tree
Quercus acutissima, Spitzeiche

dongurigoma 、団栗独楽（どんぐりごま）top made from an acorn
donguri mochi 団栗餅（どんぐりもち） rice cake with acorns
Eichel

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. ichi-i no mi　一位の実　(いちいのみ)
berry of the yew tree
Taxus cuspida. ichii



kashi no mi 樫の実 (かしのみ) acorn
from the evergreen Kashi-oak
..... 橿の実（かしのみ）



mochi no mi 黐の実 (もちのみ) ilex fruit
mochi no ki no mi もちの木の実（もちのきのみ）
toosei 冬青（とうせい）"winter green"
Quercus ilex. Steineiche




nara no mi なら (楢 ) の実　Japanese oak acorn
Quercus serrata / Quercus crispula

. nara momiji 楢紅葉（ならもみじ）Nara red autumn leaves .
Quercus serrata
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hahaso momiji 柞紅葉 Japanese Emperor Oak momiji
Quercus dentata




shii no mi 椎の実 (しいのみ) Shii-oak acorns
..... ochi shii 落椎（おちしい）fallen acorns
..... shii hirou 椎拾う（しいひろう）collecting acorns
pasania; chinquapin
Shii-Castanopsis, Castanopsis cuspidata


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kigo for all winter

fuyu kashiwa 冬柏 (ふゆかしわ) Kashiwa-oak in winter
kashiwa no kareha 柏の枯葉（かしわのかれは）dried leaves of Kashiwa
karekashiwa 枯柏（かれかしわ） withered kashiwa
Quercus dentata



kunugi karu 櫟枯る（くぬぎかる） withering Kunugi-oak

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木がらしやいわしをくるむ柏の葉
kogarashi ya iwashi o kurumu kashiwa no ha

winter windstorm
wraps a big oak leaf
around a sardine
Tr. Chris Drake

This hokku is from the end of the seventh month (early September) in 1823. Japanese oak leaves fall off not in early winter but in summer, when new green leaves appear; a "winter oak" keeps its brown leaves on its branches, and the leaves make uncanny sounds in the wind while the limbs of other deciduous trees are bare. Because oaks normally keep their fairly large leaves in winter, they were widely believed to be the trees in which the tree-leaf protector god (hamori no kami 葉守の神) stayed during the winter months. The gale in the hokku, however, is so strong it rips even oak leaves off their limbs many months before they are ready to fall.

When Issa writes a hokku in his diary that evokes a season different from the season in which he is writing, he usually writes the character representing the season of the hokku above the hokku, but there is no such note above this hokku, so it can be taken either as an autumn or a winter hokku. A kogarashi, according to a popular folk etymology, is literally a "tree-withering blast" or cold, dry gale-force windstorm from the north or northwest, can be either a late autumn or an early winter image in both traditional waka poetry and in premodern haikai, though most contemporary haiku saijiki editors usually list it only as a winter image. These powerful windstorms usually begin to blow in late October and continue into December or even later.

Issa's diary for 1823, for example, has the first big windstorm taking place late in lunar autumn, on 9/24. A dried sardine, perhaps hanging with several others from a beam in the kitchen or a hallway, seems to have been blown onto the ground, and the wind pushes the sardine against a wall or fence and presses a large oak leaf around it.

Earlier, in the twelfth month (January) of 1818, Issa wrote a similar hokku, one that deals with ordinary fallen leaves:

kogarashi ya ko no ha ni kurumu shiozakana

withering winter wind
wraps a salted fish
in a dry leaf

Perhaps Issa rewrote it because he wanted to use the stronger image of the wind blowing down an oak leaf. The word order in the later hokku is also smoother.

Chris Drake

. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 Issa in Edo .

. Withering Wind, Cold Gale (kogarashi 木枯らし) .


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Worldwide use



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Things found on the way


Nuts from the Forest

Buna no mi ぶなのみ (欅／椈　の実）beechnut
Chestnut, sweet chestnut (kuri 栗)
Kurumi くるみ　(胡桃) walnuts
Nara no mi なら (楢 ) の実　Japanese oak acorns
Tochi とち (橡／栃／杼) horse chestnut
. Food from the Bountiful Woods
(Mori no Megumi) 　


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Karatsu no koma 唐津の独楽 spinning tops from Karatsu
made from strong local wood　マテバシイ mateba shii oak, Pasania edulis Makino.


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Kashiwa no Kami カシワの神 Deity of the Kashiwa-Oak
Geist und Beschützer der Eichen.

In the 吉城郡 Yoshiki district of Gifu, the deity カシワの神 Kashiwa no Kami, the Deity of Oak Trees, is venerated everywhere. He is said to use a walking stick and eat rice. He can also suppress an earthquake.

. jishin　地震 Legends about Earthquakes .


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HAIKU

shii 椎 the Shii-oak, Pasania
Castanopsis cuspidata. pasania. Shii-Castanopsis


MORE haiku about this tree and its blossoms
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


まづ頼む椎の木もあり夏木立
mazu tanomu shii no ki mo ari natsu kodachi

First of all, my dear
Dependable tree of shii stands here
In the summer grove
Tr. Oseko

Summer grove –
pasania tree and I
find shelter.
Tr. Stryk


My temporary shelter,
a pasania tree is here, too,
in the summer grove.
Tr. Ueda

Written in 1690, at the end of Genju-An no Ki records (The Hu. Basho stayed with Suganuma Kyokusei 菅沼曲翠　曲水 of the Zeze domaine, after coming back from his long trip, Oku no Hosomichi.
Basho visited there from April 1690 till July 23.

While Basho stayed at this Hermitage, he wrote
" ... I wondered if I would become a Buddhist priest, but I rather wanted to suffer the winds of journey without a definite destination to enjoy nature with flowers, birds, winds and the moon . . . ."
Tr. Oseko


quote
In this hut where I live as a hermit, as a passing traveler, there is no need to accumulate household possessions. ... But I should not have it though from what I have said that I am devoted to solitude and seek only to hide my traces in the wilderness. Rather, I a m like a sick man weary of people, or someone who is tired of the world.. What is there to say? ...
I labor without results, am worn of spirit and wrinkled of brow. Now, when autumn is half over, and every morning and each evening brings changes to the scene, I wonder if that is not what is meant by dwelling in unreality.
And here too I end my words.


Among these summer trees,
a pasania --
something to count on.

source : www.hermitary.com


tanomu 頼む to ask a person to do something, to depend on, to count on

Basho wrote at Genju-An
quote from Peipei-Qiu
I don’t force myself to love idleness and solitude (kanjaku　閑寂), yet I am like a sick man who is weary of people, or a person who is tired of the world. How is it so? I have not led a clerical life, nor have I engaged in worldly undertakings; I am neither benevolent nor righteous. Ever since I was very young I have liked my eccentric ways, and once I made them the source of a livelihood, only temporarily I thought, I couldn’t put anything else in my mind and, incapable and talentless as I was, I have been bound to this single line of poetry.

In the poetry of Saigyô and Sôgi, the painting of Sesshû, and the tea of Rikyû, despite the differences of their talents, the fundamental principle is one. Without knowing, the autumn has half passed as I was pressing my back, rubbing my belly, and making a wry face. Human life is also like this, short as a brief dream. Again, I feel this must be what is meant by dwelling in unreality.

Let me stay for now
where there is a pasania tree—
the summer grove.

mazu tanomu/shiinoki mo ari/natsu kodachi


It doesn’t look like
they will die in a short time—
the sounds of cicadas.

yagate shinu/keshiki mo miezu/semi no koe

source : Basho-and-the-Dao - Peipei-Qiu


. - Genjuuan　Ki 幻住庵記 Genju-an Records - .
the Hut of the Phantom Dwelling
Unreal Hut
Hut of the Unreal Dwelling


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fallen oak leaf ...
one by one my friends
reach half a century

. . . . .

In the square where we live, nine oak trees add presénce. It is a joy to watch them grow new leaves in spring and then to watch these leaves fall in autumn.
Right now, the branches are draped with snow.

oak trees
my twenty-two years
as an immigrant

Ella Wagemakers
Philippines, Netherlands


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crescent moon --
snow-covered oak trees
float in the fog




Haiku and Photos
© Isabelle Prondzynski, Ireland
December 2010



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Related words

***** Berries and related kigo


. TREES as kigo .

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kunugi 櫟　/ クヌギ 伝説　Quercus acutissima oak legendｓ

. kunuki Daruma, ku nuki Daruma 苦抜き達磨
Daruma taking away the pain .
kunugi 櫟 Quercus acutissima - a pun with 苦抜き ku nuki, ku o nuku.

In 茨城県 Ibaraki they think the roots of paulownia 桐の木の根 and kunugi and live squid are sending off light when placed in a dark spot. This light is then able to bewitch people.
In 真壁町 Makabe village they believe the tree likes to hear the low, painful voice of sick people and therefore never plant it in their garden.

In 愛媛県 Ehime there is a custom called トンドさん Tondo san. On the 15th day of the first lunar month people cut kunugi branches and build a small square hat. Inside they place diapers and then roll diapers all around the walls, like flags. Then the whole hut is burend down and the ashes taken to sea, mixed with sea water and then taken home to place at the four corners of the house.
This way bad luck and disaster can be avoided for the coming year.

. Legends about trees - - 木と伝説 .


- reference : nichibun.ac.jp yokai database -

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