Time in Saijiki

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Time in Saijiki

QUOTE
©　HASEGAWA Kai
Japan Review, 2002, 14:151-172



1
Masaoka Shiki 正岡子規was born in Matsuyama, Iyo province, on the seventeenth
day of the ninth month of the third year of Keio¯ (1867), and died in Negishi, Tokyo, on
the nineteenth day of the ninth month of the thirty-fifth year of Meiji (1902). Between
the third year of Keio¯ and the thirty-fifth year of Meiji two important changes occurred
affecting the calendar.
The first was the change in the era name (gengo¯) Keio¯ to Meiji, on the eighth day of
ninth month of the fourth year of Keio¯, the year following Shiki’s birth. His first birthday
fell on the seventeenth day of the ninth month of the first year of Meiji (1868), soon
after the change. From then on, the years in the era matched Shiki’s age. Modern Japan
measured out the years apace with his age until his death in the thirty-fifth year of Meiji.
What a providential arrangement this was for Shiki, the haiku, tanka, and prose innovator.
The second change was the replacement of the traditional lunar-solar calendar—the
so-called old calendar (Tenpo¯ calendar)—by the solar calendar (Gregorian calendar),
when Shiki was five years old. The old calendar had been in use in Japan since its official
adoption in the twelfth year of Suiko (604), when it was introduced from China. Japan
had continued to import this calendar as it underwent refinement in China through to
the end of the seventeenth century, but in the first year of Jo¯kyo¯ (1684) the feudal government
adopted the so-called Jo¯kyo¯ calendar invented by Shibukawa Shunkai 渋川春海
(1639-1715), an astronomer in Kyoto. This was the first domestically produced calendar.
In recognition of his contribution, the government named Shunkai the first official
astronomer, and this post went on to become hereditary in the Shibukawa family. It was
the Tenpo¯ calendar, the successor of the Jo¯kyo¯ calendar, that was in use until Shiki
turned five.
From imported Chinese calendars to national versions, the calendar kept changing
and improving. Still, it was the lunar-solar calendar that had been most consistently used
throughout Japan. The Meiji government, however, announced in an imperial rescript
on the ninth day of the eleventh month of the fifth year of Meiji (1872) that the Tenpo¯
calendar was to be abandoned and replaced by the solar calendar starting the following
year. With this announcement, the date of the third day of the twelfth month of the fifth
year of Meiji was renamed the first day of the first month of the sixth year of Meiji.
Japan Review, 2002, 14:151-172
151
From that day on, the date in Japan was to be calculated according to the new solar calendar.
In a purely lunar calendar, such as the Islamic calendar, dates are counted following
only the moon. The length of one full year in a purely lunar calendar, however, is ten
days shorter than the actual length of time it takes the earth to revolve around the sun,
due to a discrepancy between the movements of these two celestial bodies. To fix this,
the lunar calendar was adjusted to match the movement of the sun, although it was still
based on the movement of the moon. The result was the lunar-solar calendar. In this calendar,
an intercalary month is inserted between the months of the pure lunar calendar in
order to compensate for the discrepancy with the earth’s revolution around the sun (i.e.,
one year in a solar calendar). Where is this intercalary month placed? This decision was
made by a doctor of astronomy during the era when the calendars were imported from
China, and by the official (Japanese) astronomer after the national calendar was adopted.
Sometimes, the decision was influenced by the intervention of the government.
The calendar change in sixth year of Meiji was a conversion from the time of the
moon, which was used in Japan for nearly 1300 years, to that of the sun. Let us not say
that this was merely a matter of a calendar. After all, every single human event, from
agricultural activities to court functions, is conducted according to a calendar. The conversion
of the calendar therefore also meant a switchover of human activities as well as of
the consciousness of the people. Shiki was born in an era of government by shogunate
and domains, ruled by the moon, and died in a new era, ruled by the sun.
2
Suffering from serious tuberculosis, Shiki spent the latter days of his life confined to
his sickbed (actually his futon). Despite being bedridden this way, he managed to write
three essays, later known as the “Three Great Essays”: Bokuju¯ itteki (A Drop of Ink),
Byo¯sho¯ rokushaku (Six Feet into My Sickbed) and Gyo¯ga manroku (Miscellaneous Essays on
My Back).
A Drop of Ink, the first essay, took nearly six months to write, from 16 January to 2
July 1901. These dates correspond to the dates that this essay appeared in the newspaper
Nippon, where Shiki worked as a reporter. On 20 January, four days after starting work
on the essay, he wrote:
Buson died on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth month of the third year of
Tenmei, in the middle of all the confusion that accompanies the end of the year.
Convert this day of sadness into the solar calendar, however, and the day he died is
Friday, 16 January 1784. Suddenly, now he has died at the beginning of the following
year.
152 HASEGAWA Kai
Buson (1716-1784) died on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth month according to
the old calendar, i.e., the sixteenth day of the first month by the solar calendar. The latter
date corresponds to the first day that A Drop of Ink appeared in Nippon.
In other words, the essay first appeared on the 117th memorial day of Buson’s death.
This is what Shiki wanted to announce—above all—in the segment that appeared on 20
January.
Buson was an important haiku poet for Shiki, who, indeed, rejoiced over the coincidence
of the two events—the memorial of Buson’s death and the first appearance of A
Drop of Ink. This was possibly because Buson’s straightforward style of haiku was the driving
force behind the kind of modernization of the genre that Shiki promoted.
botan chitte Peonies scatter—
uchikasanarinu two or three petals
ni san pen lie on one another.
Buson
Shiki held up Buson’s haiku, which trumpeted the “beauty of affirmation” seen in
this poem of a peony, as an example of haiku for the new era. His innovation was, in so
many words, a movement to create haiku in the style of Buson. Had Buson’s haiku not
existed, this kind of innovation in haiku would have had no foundation to build upon.
According to A Drop of Ink, Buson died on the twenty-fourth of the twelfth month
of the third year of Tenmei, but it was actually on the twenty-fifth, just before dawn.
(There will be occasion later to comment on this difference in dates.) Let us continue for
the moment and accept that the date was the twenty-fourth, as mentioned in Shiki’s
essay. Buson’s last moments were described by Kito¯ 几董(1741-1789), one of his closest
disciples, in his Yowa Okina shu¯enki (Expiration of Old Man Midnight). “Old Man
Midnight” was Buson’s pseudonym.
In the evening on the twenty-fourth, his sickly body was very quiet and his
speech was normal. Suddenly, Master beckoned Gekkei to approach. I was told that
I should bring the brush immediately, as Master was composing poems in his
sickbed. My mind was in a turmoil as I hurried to bring the brush, inkstone, and
paper. When I waited for his composing voice, I heard:
fuyuuguisu Winter bush warbler—
mukashi O¯ I ga is it the same one
kakine kana once at the hedge of Wang Wei’s?
uguisu ya Bush warbler,
nani gosotsukasu why are you rustling?
yabu no shimo Frost on the bush.
Time in Saijiki 153
Master seemed to fall into deeper contemplation. A few minutes later, another
composition:
shiraume ni With white plum blossoms
akuru yo bakari to the dawn is about
narinikeri to break.
He said this poem should be titled “New Year.” Leaving these three poems with his
last breath, the final moment had come, and Master passed away peacefully, as into a
deep slumber.
Gekkei 月渓(1752-1811), who was at Buson’s deathbed to write down his final
poems, was his disciple in both haikai and ink painting. He called himself Goshun as a
painter.
The problem here is the third poem, starting with the phrase shiraume ni.
The first two poems are obviously winter haiku. The season word in the first is winter
bush warbler. In the second poem, there is a spring word, bush warbler, but also a
winter word, frost. It can therefore be interpreted as either a winter or spring haiku. If we
think of bush warbler as the main season word, then frost could refer to a spring frost. If
frost were considered the main season word, then bush warbler could be a winter bush
warbler. The query “Why are you rustling?” seems to indicate the bird is still nestled in
the warmth of the bush. It might be a winter bush warbler, not a spring bird.
Since both are winter haiku, no inconvenience arises even if people at the time mistakenly
thought that the date of the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth month according to
the old calendar, when Buson composed these poems, was the same date (24 December)
in the solar calendar. The third poem, however, is clearly a spring haiku, using a season
word white plum blossoms. If the date is as per the solar calendar, then it is still in the
middle of winter, around the solstice, when the plum buds have yet to come out. If one
were hastily to conclude that the date of the twenty-fourth day of twelfth month in the
old calendar is the same as in the solar calendar, one may wonder why Buson, who died
before year-end, had left behind a spring haiku as his deathbed haiku. This posed a serious
problem for Shiki, since Buson was the pioneer in the kind of modern haiku that he
developed. Shiki had to respond to this question.
Buson died in the evening on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth month of Tenmei
3. As Shiki wrote “he died during the confusion that accompanies the end of the year,”
and the date is close to the end of the year. In the solar calendar, year-end is in midwinter.
The New Year by the lunar calendar, however, comes at the start of spring, which is
one month later than in the solar calendar. Year-end is close to the coming of spring,
unlike year-end in the solar calendar. By the old calendar, the coming of spring was near
at hand when Buson died; it would begin on the fifteenth day of the first month of
154 HASEGAWA Kai
Tenmei 4 (4 February 1784), nineteen days after Buson’s death.
shiraume ni With white plum blossoms
akuru yo bakari to the dawn is about
narinikeri to break.
The twenty-fourth day of the twelfth month of Tenmei 3 was actually close to the
coming of spring. And on that day, Buson and his pupils felt that spring was at hand.
When we read again with an acute consciousness of the above facts, it is certain that the
last poem of Buson fits our feelings perfectly.
The poem describes how he was waiting impatiently for spring to come, knowing his
end was approaching. When that day broke, Buson would no longer be able to stand
beside the white plum blossoms described in the poem. Judging from this haiku, Buson
was as void inside as the lightness of dawn, and yet filled with happiness. His words, “the
title of New Year should be put to this poem,” may well express such feelings.
Now it becomes clear that the preceding poems also describe a winter bush warbler
waiting for spring.
fuyuuguisu Winter bush warbler—
mukashi O¯ I ga is it the same one
kakine kana once at the hedge of Wang Wei’s?
uguisu ya Bush warbler,
nani gosotsukasu why are you rustling?
yabu no shimo Frost on the bush.
Wang Wei 王維(Jp. O¯ I, 701-761), a Chinese poet and ink painter of the Tang
dynasty, was a model for Buson. After resigning his official post, he spent the rest of his
life in quiet retirement in his villa on the banks of the Wang river, on the outskirts of
Chang’an. In the first poem, Buson asks himself if the winter bush warbler, keeping
silent in his garden, is the same bird that had once sung at the hedge of Wang Wei’s cherished
villa by the Wang river. Though the season is winter, it would be better to interpret
“the hedge of Wang Wei’s” as a hedge filled with spring plum blossoms in beautiful
bloom. In the second poem, “Why are you rustling?” means that the bird is looking for
spring in the frosted bush.
The three last poems of Buson express his impatience for the soon-to-come spring,
whereas his feelings would not be conveyed if the date of twenty-fourth of the twelfth
month were mistaken as mid-winter in the solar calendar. What is worse, even the seasons
would become incoherent. Shiki was surely concerned with this, which would be
another reason to write the article in A Drop of Ink on 20 January.
Time in Saijiki 155
3
The passages of A Drop of Ink that appeared on 20 January enable us to glimpse the
confusion caused by the change of calendar in 1873. The confusion arose from two calendars
existing side by side.
When Shiki wrote, it was 1901, twenty-eight years after the change of calendars. It
was also the first year of the twentieth century. Overtly, people lived according to the
solar calendar, adopted as the official calendar of Japan, although this did not mean that
the lunar calendar, which had been used until only twenty-eight years before, was completely
forgotten. It continued to exist, in a latent manner, even after the change of calendar.
One reason for this was that annual events were still recorded according to dates in
the old calendar. If one wanted to know the date of a specific event according to the old
calendar dates, one needed to keep in touch with the old calendar. When this is known,
one wants further to know the corresponding date in the solar calendar. An event with
an old date is nothing more than dead knowledge of the past. Only when it is converted
into the current solar calendar is the date placed within the time continuum linking the
past with the present, and that dead knowledge is resurrected into living knowledge. In
this way, the calendars that were severed from each other by the government are linked
again by people, just like a wound closing up.
What Shiki reported about Buson’s memorial day in A Drop of Ink precisely describes
this. He wrote, “when we convert this memorial day into the solar calendar, however,
apparently the date becomes Friday, 16 January 1784.” The expression “apparently” here
means “I hear that,” referring to hearsay knowledge. In other words, Shiki did not find
out by himself that the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth month in the old calendar, the
day Buson had died, was 16 January in the solar calendar. He was told by someone else,
or perhaps he read something someone wrote. This expression, “apparently,” hints that
some method existed for converting the date from the old calendar into the solar calendar,
and also that there were specialists in this method. Why did such a method exist?
Because people needed to know solar calendar dates corresponding to the old calendar.
There is a bulky two-volume reference book called the Correlation of Japanese Lunar
and Solar Calendars (Nihon in’yo¯ rekijitsu taisho¯hyo¯, compiled by Kakara Saburo¯, Nitto¯
Shuppan). It is filled with tables showing correspondences for months, dates, and days of
the week between the lunar-solar calendar and the solar calendar, starting in the thirtyfourth
year of the reign of the Inkyo¯ Emperor (445)—a past so remote that it has no eraname—
up to the fifth year of Meiji.
The raid on Kira’s residence by the “lordless samurai” (ro¯shi) of Ako¯ occurred on the
fourteenth day of the twelfth month of the fifteenth year of Genroku (1702), in the
snow. Nowadays it hardly snows in Tokyo at year-end. Turning to the above Correlation,
we find that the date is actually 30 January 1703 by the solar calendar. We see now that
this is a reference to the spring snow for which Tokyo is famous.
156 HASEGAWA Kai
Shiki could not have consulted this Correlation of Japanese Lunar and Solar Calendars,
of course—it was published only in 1993—but he probably would have had a similar
reference work available to him.
Another reason that the old calendar remained in use even after the change of calendar
is that people were accustomed to observing several important events whose dates
could not be translated easily to the solar calendar. They needed to know a specific date
in a specific year in the old calendar that would correspond to a date in the solar calendar,
and vice versa.
The Bon Festival is a good example. It was formerly held on the fifteenth day of the
seventh month. In the old calendar, spring was from the first month through the third
month, summer from the fourth month through the sixth, autumn from the seventh
month through the ninth, and winter from the tenth month through the twelfth. The
Bon Festival was an event in early autumn.
mochizuki ya A full moon—
bon kutabire de exhausted after the Bon Festival,
hito wa neru people go to bed.
Rotsu¯
Since every month had a full moon falling on the fifteenth in the old calendar, the
Bon Festival always fell on the day of the full moon, as on the occasion captured in this
poem by Rotsu¯ 路通(1649-1738), a disciple of Basho¯’s. Under the full moon of early
autumn, people invite their ancestors’ souls to their homes for consolation.
According to the solar calendar, however, the fifteenth day of the seventh month is
close to the end of the rainy season when summer is at its climax. Besides, as farmers are
busy at this time of year weeding their paddy fields, they cannot spare the time to hold a
memorial service for ancestors. Therefore, the Bon Festival was moved to 15 July in the
solar calendar only in a small number of urban communities such as Tokyo, where there
were no constraints from farm work. Tokyo, as the political front and the capital, with
statesmen and officials at its center, is more disposed to bend to the will of government.
On the other hand, in rural communities or cities like Osaka or Kyoto, which maintained
a certain distance from the government in Tokyo, the Bon Festival was still held
on the fifteenth day of the seventh month according to the old calendar. The entire
country thus did not follow along with the official change of calendar. Presumably
because of such circumstances, the Meiji government was forced to print old-style dates
alongside new-style dates on the Official Calendar until 1909.
There arose another problem when the government ceased to print the old calendar
dates, starting in 1910. With a lunar-solar calendar, there is a great deal of room for
human arbitrariness, for instance in the placement of the intercalary month. In certain
years, the calendar cannot be set in one way only by reckoning solar and lunar movements;
several different calendars can be devised for the same year. It was the doctor of
Time in Saijiki 157
astronomy or the official astronomer—or finally the government—that decided which
calendar should be adopted. Unless someone with authority determines a single calendar,
the matter of the calendar remains unsettled.
After the government stopped the parallel indication of the old calendar, people no
longer had an authoritative lunar calendar. For instance, they had no clue whether the
first full moon after the coming of autumn referred to the full moon of the seventh
month in the old calendar, or that of the sixth month, or even that of intercalary sixth
month. If the old-style calendar itself was not fixed, it was vain to try to find out a date
in the old calendar. Therefore, people in rural communities decided to observe the Bon
Festival one month later, according to the solar calendar, on 15 August.
The idea of delaying Obon by one month was the second best policy. People preferred
the old date, but they had no other choice as the old-style calendar itself was
uncertain. The fifteenth of August in the solar calendar certainly does not always coincide
with the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the old calendar. Nor does it necessarily
always have a full moon. However, the two dates are not too far apart, as the average
delay of the old calendar from the solar calendar is around one month. Mid-August
is not exactly the same as the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar,
but it is close. By this time, people have finished weeding their paddy fields and only
have to wait for the harvest in autumn. They have plenty of time to hold memorial services
for their ancestors. Above all, it is convenient to have a fixed date according to the
calendar that everyone uses.
On the surface of things the old calendar was obliterated in 1910, but deep in people’s
hearts, there remains a feeling that there is a delay of one month.
4
A saijiki is a compilation, or glossary, of “season words” (kigo 季語) used in haiku.
These words, such as “snow,” “moon,” or “flower,” are used to express times of year. One
of the rules of haiku is that each poem should contain one season word. Therefore,
knowledge of which words belong to which season is essential in the composition of
haiku, and a saijiki serves as a guide. The structure of saijiki differs slightly from that
other books, though the basic pattern is that season words are classified and put in the
order of the four seasons, with an explanation and example for each word.
What is the origin of saijiki? Roughly speaking, they were born through a combination
of ancient Chinese calendars of daily events and the classification of the anthologies
of poems collected by imperial command.
The Xingchu suishiji (Jp. Keiso saijiki) is an almanac of events in life edited by Zong
Lin during the sixth-century Liang dynasty. Various customs and events in the middle
course of Yangtze river, the editor’s home region, are recorded. The contents are classified
according to months and a cycle starting in the first month. Here are some excerpts for
158 HASEGAWA Kai
the first month and the seventh month. As the lunar-solar calendar is applied, the first
month is early spring and the seventh month is early autumn.
New Year
New Year’s Day: the first day of the year/New Year’s Day: wake up at the
cockcrow/firecrackers/decoration on the gates and guardian gods of gate/history of
putting a plate on the door to purge evil spirits/New Year’s ceremony among family,
food and drink on New Year’s Day, mulled rice wine/purge evil spirits by throwing
linseed and soybeans/historical fact of Ru Yuan/the seventh day: cook a potage with
seven herbs, make hair ornaments and paper dolls/the seventh day: legend of Evil-
Spirited Bird/the seventh day: invite spring by making a statue of a man/coming of
spring, hair ornaments with colored silk in the form of a swallow, paper plates inviting
spring/play at tug of war/play at kick-ball, play on a swing/the fifteenth day:
worship the god of the silkworm by offering bean gruel/the fifteenth day: divination
by the Purple Goddess/the last day: purge all the evil spirits with reed torches/New
Year’s banquet by the river/the last day: send off the deity of poverty
The Seventh Month
meeting of the Cowherd with the Weaving Girl/story of Chang Chien searching for
the source of the Milky Way/wishing progress in sewing on the Star Festival/historical
fact on Liu Jie-yu in Wei dynasty of the Three Kingdoms/the seventh day: airing
clothes and books/the fifteenth day: the Bon Festival
[Xingchu suishiji, To¯yo¯ Bunko 324, Heibonsha]
The Xingchu suishiji was introduced into Japan in the Nara era. Modeled on this
book, daily events in Japan were compiled in the Edo era under the title of Nihon saijiki
and To¯to saijiki.
On the other hand, the classification of the Kokin wakashu¯ (or Kokinshu¯), edited at
the beginning of the tenth century, is as follows:
Poems of spring (two volumes)/summer/autumn (two volumes)/winter
Poems celebrating longevity of nobles/Poems mourning over death/Poems describing
separation/Poems describing impressions of travel
Poems of love (five volumes)
Other poems (three volumes)/Poems of Buddhist rituals and worship/Poems of
Buddhism and sutras
On the opening page of the Kokinshu¯ appear poems about seasonal objects classified
according to the four seasons. The classification of poems according to seasons—unique
to Japan—was created in this first imperial anthology. This method was imitated by each
imperial anthology in later periods.
As a compilation of season words, the saijiki has inherited the method of monthly
Time in Saijiki 159
classification and explanation, and the name saijiki itself comes from the ancient Chinese
calendars of daily events. The saijiki glossaries took the method of seasonal arrangement
of literature from the Japanese imperial anthologies.
The first example of a saijiki is Yama no i (Mountain Springs), published by Kitamura
Kigin 北村季吟(1624-1705), a haikai poet of the Teimon school, in the fourth year of
Sho¯ho¯ (1647). The renga rule stated that a season word should be included in the first
line, and other rules applied to where seasonal words might be placed elsewhere in a
verse. This book was compiled as a guide to renga, with 114 main season words in seasonal
order accompanied by prose explanations and examples. Kigin was in his midtwenties
at that time.
A couple of decades later, in his fifties, Kigin edited Zo¯ Yama no i (Mountain Springs,
Expanded Edition) and Zoku Yama no i (Mountain Springs, Continued), published in the
seventh year of Kanbun (1667). Mountain Springs, Expanded Edition brings together
explanations for the words, while Mountain Springs, Continued lists example poems.
These two volumes form a complete saijiki.
ukarekeru Wandering people
hito ya Hatsuse no in Hatsuse under
yamazakura wild cherry blossoms.
Basho¯
Basho¯ (1644-1694) was studying haikai under Kigin at this time. Kigin included
lines of his pupil in Mountain Springs, Continued—twenty-eight for the first line of renga
including the above poem, and three for the second line, both under the name of
“Matsuo Chikafusa of Ueno, Iga.” He was then twenty-four years old.
In Zo¯ Yama no i, the season words are classified according to season, and further put
in monthly order, each with a concise explanation. This collection is improved and more
practical than Mountain Springs. A saijiki such as Mountain Springs, Expanded Edition
that does more than merely list season words and provide illustrative examples, is also
called a “collection of seasons” (kiyose 季寄せ).
Here are some excerpts of season words for each month appearing in Mountain
Springs, Expanded Edition:
Spring
New Year (Mutsuki: the first month of the lunar calendar)
New Year’s Day/first dream/young greens/feast of the seven herbs of
spring/spring wind/plum blossoms/bush warbler
February (Kisaragi: the second month)
Vernal Equinox Day/hazy moonlit night/equinoctial week/swallow/
butterfly/frog/first bloom
March (Yayoi: the third month)
160 HASEGAWA Kai
peach blossoms/long day/approach of summer/wild cherry blossoms/new tea
Summer
April (Uzuki: the fourth month)
switching wardrobe/Buddha’s Birthday/Kamo Festival/deutzia flower/summer
grove/cuckoo
May (Satsuki: the fifth month)
Boy’s Festival/midsummer rain/mandarin orange/rice-planting girls/firefly
June (Minazuki: the sixth month)
ice room/Gion Festival/Half-year’s End Festival/cool/peaks of cloud/cicada
Autumn
July (Fumizuki: the seventh month)
coming of autumn/Star Festival/Bon Festival/living spirit/dew/morning glory/
bugs
August (Hazuki: the eighth month)
the first day of the eighth month/harvest moon/Autumnal Equinox Day/potato/
scarecrow
September (Nagatsuki: the ninth month)
Chrysanthemum Festival/next full moon/chrysanthemum/long night/fleeting
autumn
Winter
October (Kannazuki: the tenth month)
coming of winter/first shower/first frost/fallen leaves/first snow
November (Shimotsuki: the eleventh month)
snow/ice/narcissus flower
December (Shiwasu: the twelfth month)
Setsubun (the last day of winter)/the coldest season/coming of spring within
the year/New Year’s Eve/looking forward to spring
A glance at the excerpts shows us that all the season words are systematically classified
in seasonal and monthly order. The twelve months are divided and distributed among
the four seasons in three-month units, beginning with January. The season words are
arranged for each month to form a cycle. This cycle exemplifies a simple beauty.
The change of calendar in the sixth year of Meiji broke the beautiful cycle of the saijiki
in the old calendar.
5
Even after 1873, new saijiki were edited one after another. The saijiki of the new era,
however, could not just attach the season words to similar dates of the solar calendar, so
that, for example, an observance of the ninth day of the ninth month (old style) would
Time in Saijiki 161
be attached to 9 September (new style). Events and customs that were firmly bound to
the old calendar still remained throughout the country.
Many events and customs were identified with certain seasons through the old calendar
dates of their annual observance. If those events were arbitrarily assigned to the same
days and months—by number—in the solar calendar, it caused an inconsistency with
the seasons. Sometimes people assented to this in spite of their awareness of the problem.
But there were places where people persisted in adhering to the old calendar and, after
the Meiji government ceased to provide an authoritative version of the old calendar, they
came to hold the events on dates one month later than they should have been.
The season words collected in a saijiki reflect people’s daily life. Unless daily life is
regulated by a single version of the calendar, confusion will arise in the season words, as
well. When this occurs, editors are perplexed about where to place these words in the saijiki.
The biggest problem caused by the change of calendar was the one-month discrepancy
in correspondences of the four seasons and the twelve months. In the old calendar, the
months of the year were distributed in an orderly fashion over each season: the first three
months were spring, the second three, summer, the third three, autumn, and the last
three, winter. This beautiful circle made it so that the New Year always comes at about
the beginning of spring.
In the solar calendar, however, the New Year comes one month earlier than in the old
calendar. When we distribute the twelve months across the four seasons, spring is from
February to April, summer is May to July, autumn is August to October, and winter is
from November to January of the following year, with the winter months crossing years.
Somehow this arrangement does not mesh. The months of the solar calendar are about
one month ahead of those of the old calendar.
Seasonal festivals are important annual events today as in the past. There are five in
all: jinjitsu 人日(or nanakusa 七草, Seven Herbs) on the seventh day of the first month,
jo¯shi 上巳(or hinamatsuri 雛祭り, Doll Festival) on the third day of the third month,
tango 端午(Boy’s Festival) on the fifth of day of the fifth month, tanabata 七夕[ (Star
Festival) on the seventh day of the seventh month, and cho¯yo¯ 重陽(Chrysanthemum
Festival) on the ninth day of the ninth month. All dates fall on the odd days in the odd
months, and further, the day and month have the same number except jinjitsu. People
long ago found miraculous powers in odd numbers, and started to celebrate the days
with recurring odd numbers as special days.
As the celebration of seasonal festivals began when the old calendar was in force, it is
natural that the five festivals were firmly bound to the seasons of that calendar. Sei
Sho¯nagon 清少納言(966?- ?) praised tango in these terms in Makura no so¯shi (The Pillow
Book):
May is the best month for festivals. The harmonious scents of the iris and mugwort
are really very attractive. From the imperial palace to the houses of the com-
162 HASEGAWA Kai
mon people, all decorate their eaves with these plants, trying to use them as much as
possible. And it looks wonderful, too. Is there a festival like this in any other season?
(Chapter 39)
“Is there a festival like this in any other season?” No, said the author. As described in
the above text, iris and mugwort were indispensable for tango. In the same way, the seven
herbs of spring for jinjitsu, peach blossoms for jo¯shi, a clear starry sky for tanabata, and
chrysanthemum flowers for cho¯yo¯ were all essential.
iro yori wa More than the colors,
otoni haru meku the sounds of shepherd’s purse
nazuna kana tell of the coming spring.
Yayu¯
hina matsuru Dolls on display
miyako hazure ya on the edge of town—
momo no tsuki the moon and the peach blossoms.
Buson
naga naga to The drooping plants
hiji ni kaketari hanging from the elbow of
sho¯buuri the iris seller.
Shirao
fukeyuku ya Night deepens—
mizuta no ue no the Milky Way looms
amanogawa above the rice paddies.
Izen
kiku no ka ni At the scent of chrysanthemums,
kuragari noboru climbing in the darkness
sekku kana on Festival day.
Basho¯
The haiku by Yayu¯ (1702-1783) describes the sound of chopping shepherd’s purse (a
kind of herb) on a board to add to the seven-herb rice gruel on the morning of jinjitsu.
The haiku by Shirao (1738-1791) depicts an iris seller who has come to town around
tango. The haiku by Izen (?-1711), with the prefatory word tanabata, describes the reflection
of the bright Milky Way on the surface of the water in the rice paddy.
When these seasonal festivals are moved to the “same” dates in the solar calendar, the
seasons come about one month early. As a result, jinjitsu comes in midwinter, when the
Time in Saijiki 163
seven herbs of spring can hardly be expected to grow. There are no peach blossoms in
jo¯shi, and iris has no leaves in tango. Tanabata falls right in the middle of the rainy season;
a view of the Milky Way is out of the question. Cho¯yo¯ comes in the heat of late summer,
when chrysanthemums have only fresh green leaves. This is rather awkward.
In the provinces, beyond the jurisdiction of the government, people started to celebrate
seasonal festivals a month late. This habit still remains in various places around the
country, such as in Sho¯nai in Yamagata prefecture, where the Doll Festival is held in
April, or Sendai, where the Star Festival is held in early August.
Let us take a look how saijiki compiled after the change of calendar treat the seasonal
festivals. The following examples are culled from the Shin saijiki (New Saijiki), edited by
Takahama Kyoshi 高浜虚子(1874-1959) and published by Sanseido¯ in 1934.
* seven herbs, seven herbs of spring, young greens, shepherd’s purse, jinjitsu (January,
winter)
* Doll Festival, court dolls (March, spring), peach blossoms (April, spring)
* iris, Boy’s Festival, carp streamers, chimaki (rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo
leaves), kashiwa mochi (rice cake wrapped in oak leaf), sweet-flag bath (May, summer)
* Star Festival, Milky Way (August, autumn)
* Chrysanthemum Festival, chrysanthemum (October, autumn)
In the New Saijiki, while jinjitsu and the Boy’s Festival are classified according to the
solar calendar, the Star Festival and the Chrysanthemum Festival go by the old calendar.
For jo¯shi, the association of Doll Festival follows the solar calendar, whereas the linkage
with peach blossoms makes sense only under the old calendar. The coexistence of two
calendars in a saijiki shows a complication, in contrast with the lucidity of saijiki that
tracked only the old calendar, such as Mountain Springs, Expanded Edition.
It may be reasonable to classify iris in May, but it is not natural to include the seven
herbs of spring in January. It is also strange to see Star Festival in August and
Chrysanthemum Festival in October, as tanabata literally means the evening of the seventh
day of the seventh month and cho¯yo¯ stands for the recurrence of nine, one of the
positive (Ch. yang, Jp. yo¯) numbers. It seems a better idea to separate seasonal festivals as
annual events and the natural objects related to festivals, as is the case of jo¯shi. However,
we have to tolerate the separation of Doll Festival and peach blossoms. The order to
change the calendars served to push forward the Doll Festival as celebrated by the people,
but could not force peach trees to bloom early.
6
During the time of the old calendar, the twelve months were called not only by their
respective numbers, e.g., ichigatsu (“first month”) and nigatsu (“second month”), but also
164 HASEGAWA Kai
by more elegant names like Mutsuki (“month of friendship,” first month) or Kisaragi
(“month when plant life comes back to life,” second month). The rest are, beginning
with the third month: Yayoi, Uzuki, Satsuki, Minazuki, Fumizuki, Hazuki, Nagatsuki,
Kannazuki, Shimotsuki, and Shiwasu. These names trailed behind the numbered
months even after the shift to the solar calendar; for example, April is called Uzuki (literally,
“month of the deutzia flower”), May is Satsuki, and June is Minazuki (literally,
“month without water”). However, deutzia does not bloom yet in April and June is right
in the middle of the rainy season. The word satsukibare refers to fine weather in May, but
originally meant rare glimpses of fine weather during the rainy season.
The problem has to do with both the composition and the interpretation of haiku.
fumizuki ya The seventh month—
muika mo tsune no even the sixth does not seem
yo ni wa nizu like a usual night.
Basho¯
Basho¯ composed this poem near Izumozaki on his travels in Oku no hosomichi (The
Narrow Road to the Deep North). As Fumizuki refers to the seventh month, the sixth is
the day preceding the Star Festival. The poem says that this night feels unlike other
nights, perhaps because the heart throbs thinking of the meeting between the Cowherd
and the Weaving Girl (two constellations) after their year-long separation. “Does not
seem like a usual night” might mean that the night preceding the Star Festival arrives
with a scent of autumn, unlike the hot summer nights earlier in the summer, when it is
hard to get to sleep. If we imagine the night of 6 July, going by the solar calendar, the
poem makes no sense.
The same happens in the composition of poems. Fumizuki still means July, even after
the shift to the solar calendar, but what is concealed in this word is the air of the seventh
month of the old calendar, or August of the solar calendar. The meaning and flavor of
Fumizuki are thus disjoined. One has to be very careful when using words like this in the
composition of haiku now.
How would it be if these names for months were all moved back by one? Shin saijiki
(New Saijiki) by Kyoshi 虚子adopted this method. Mutsuki is classified here as February
with the explanation that it is “another name for January by the old calendar.” The classification
continues with Kisaragi as March, Yayoi as April, and Uzuki as May. Certainly
name corresponds with reality when we call June Satsuki and July Minazuki.
Everything seems satisfactory enough, although in the end a problem does arise.
Shiwasu winds up being called January. But to call January Shiwasu (literally, “priests
running,” a reference to end-of-the-year busyness) does not work. For this reason, Shin
saijiki associates Shiwasu with December. It explains: “Shiwasu refers to the twelfth
month of the old calendar. Nowadays, this word is also applied to December of the solar
calendar in order to express the closing month of the year. The name symbolizes people’s
Time in Saijiki 165
rushing about at year-end.” But Shin saijiki also associates December with the name
Shimotsuki, and there is thus a strange duplication. The clear linkages of this cycle of
month names are broken.
In fact, the problem of Buson’s death as reported by Shiki in A Drop of Ink has the
same root as this problem. The twenty-fourth day of the twelfth month of Tenmei 3, the
date of Buson’s death, was year-end, according to the old calendar. But it is impossible to
interpret this date as the end of the year by the solar calendar. The case is more serious
with Basho¯’s memorial day.
Basho¯ died on the twelfth day of the tenth month of Genroku 7, or on 28 November
1694, according to the solar calendar. As October is already winter in the old calendar,
the word Basho¯-ki 芭蕉忌(Basho¯ Memorial Day) became a season word for early winter.
His memorial day is also called Okina-ki 翁忌(Old Man’s Memorial Day) or shigureki 時
雨忌(Rain Shower Memorial Day). The last of these names derives not only from the
poet’s famous affinity for the sentiment of falling rain, but also from the fact that a shigure
is a shower in early winter, when Basho¯ passed away. However, when we replace his
memorial day with 12 October in the solar calendar, the word Basho¯-ki becomes a season
word for autumn. And because of this we would hesitate to call Basho¯’s Memorial Day
shigureki.
In the case of Buson, the twelfth month by the old calendar, when he died, is late
winter, and December by the solar calendar is midwinter. Even after the calendrical
change, Buson’s memorial day remains in winter. In the case of Basho¯, however, the season
changes from winter to autumn when we reposition his memorial day in the solar
calendar.
In the Shin saijiki, Basho¯-ki is classified in November, early winter, and Buson-ki in
December, late winter. Different criteria are applied to the classification of the two
memorial days, namely, the old calendar to Basho¯-ki and the solar calendar to Buson-ki.
The same problem occurs in the case of other festival or memorial days in January
(early spring), April (early summer), July (early autumn), and October (early winter) in
the old calendar.
kanbutsu no Coming into the world
hi ni umareau on Buddha’s birthday—
kanoko kana a little fawn.
Basho¯
The birthday of Buddha is the eighth day of the fourth month by the old calendar, or
already summer. Basho¯ composed this haiku on the eighth day of the fourth month of
Jo¯kyo¯ 5, which corresponds to 18 May 1687 by the solar calendar. April is still spring in
the solar calendar, and cherry trees are abloom. Nowadays, in many places people celebrate
Buddha’s birthday on 8 April of the solar calendar under the name of hana matsuri
(literally flower festival). In the shin saijiki, the three season words kanbutsu, bussho¯e, and
166 HASEGAWA Kai
hana matsuri—all evoking the Buddha’s birthday—are classified in April, late spring,
together with the above poem, which is cited as an example. Originally, this haiku
belongs to early summer.
7
All saijiki compiled after the change of calendar went to great pains to resolve these
problems. The most troublesome matter for the editors was the classification of season
words for the New Year.
In the time of the old calendar, sho¯gatsu (New Year) was identical to shoshun (the
beginning of spring). In the section on New Year in Mountain Springs, Expanded Edition,
we can see season words of the New Year such as first day, first dream, young greens, or
feast of the seven herbs of spring. Words of early spring such as spring wind, plum blossoms,
and bush warbler are harmoniously mixed.
After the shift to the solar calendar, however, the New Year comes a month earlier, in
late winter. By the method of Mountain Springs, Expanded Edition, young greens, a season
word for New Year, is put together with that of late winter, winter grasses, and first
water with ice. This is a bold classification method, also adopted by Kyoshi in the Shin
saijiki.
On the other hand, many new saijiki invented a different method for classifying season
words for New Year. They separated words for New Year and created a new section
in addition to the classification of the four seasons that has been in use since the
Kokinshu¯. Now, there are five categories: spring, summer, autumn, winter, and New Year.
All the season words related to the New Year, such as first day, first dream, young greens,
or feast of the seven herbs of spring, are taken out of the section for the first month, early
spring in the old calendar, and collected in the new section. By adopting this method, we
can avoid a situation where first water is put together with ice. This method, however,
generates another problem.
The New Year does not come all of a sudden. To be ready to greet the New Year, people
have to make preparations at the end of the preceding year. These are known as
toshiyo¯i 年用意(“preparations for the new year”). Among the season words are toshi no
ichi (year-end fair), matsumukae (pine gathering), susuharai (soot sweeping), mochitsuki
(rice cake pounding), o¯misoka (New Year’s Eve) and jo¯ya no kane (the ringing of bells on
New Year’s Eve). Even after separation of the season words for the New Year into a new
section, the words for toshiyo¯i were left in December. The reason is that the season words
of toshiyo¯i remain in winter even after the change of calendar except for the minor shift
from late winter to midwinter, unlike those words for New Year which cross seasons
from spring to winter. However, this classification method disconnects a series of performances
from the preparation for New Year, so we cannot see the year-end and the New
Year as a single unit.
Time in Saijiki 167
In order to solve this inconvenience, there is nothing to do but separate the season
words for toshiyo¯i from December, midwinter, and combine them with those for New
Year to create a new section called “Year-end and New Year.”
Saijiki in the era of the old calendar formed a circle of four seasons. The shift to the
solar calendar forced us to omit the New Year from the circle. Now, we need to createanother
time outside of this circle, which means breaking the circle of time carrying the
four seasons.
There may be only one way to restore the broken circle. That would be to move the
New Year of the solar calendar to a month later, to the first day of the second month.
This way, the beginning of spring and the New Year would come at the same time of
year, as in the old calendar days. Christmas would be separated from the winter solstice
(which occurs on 22 or 23 December; the origins of the present Christmas are in the
winter solstice festivals of primitive people in Europe), but the broken circle would be
linked again.
8
Perhaps we do not need to regret the loss of the circle of four seasons of the era of the
old calendar. A review of the saijiki enables us to understand that the saijiki of the old
calendar, not only those of the solar calendar, were not compiled on the basis of a single
time.
Each saijiki contains season words related to the full moon such as kosho¯gatsu 小正月
(Little New Year) or nakaaki no meigetsu 中秋の名月(harvest moon).
atatakaku After the warm dusk
kurete tsukiyo ya comes a moonlit night
kosho¯gatsu on Little New Year.
Keigaku
In the old calendar days, the fifteenth day of the first month was called Little New
Year, a contrast to the first day of the first month as the New Year. It was customary to
celebrate the day by preparing azuki-bean gruel. As described in the above poem by
Okamoto Keigaku 岡本圭岳(1884-1970), a disciple of Shiki, the night of the fifteenth
day by the old calendar had a full moon. Also, the fourteenth day of the first month was
called “the New Year’s Eve of the fourteenth” (ju¯yokka toshikoshi 十四日年越).
In the section of New Year in Mountain Springs, Expanded Edition, season words such
as these are grouped together: ju¯yokka toshikoshi, sagicho¯ 三打毬(bonfire of New Year’s
decorations), jo¯gen no hi 上元日(the fifteenth of the first month), mikamagi 御薪(ceremony
of firewood offering), kayu no ki かゆの木(ceremony of half-burnt branches used
for cooking rice gruel), kayu zue かゆづえ(ditto), and azuki gayu iwau 小豆粥いはふ
168 HASEGAWA Kai
(celebrating with azuki bean gruel). Sagicho¯, also called dondoyaki どんど焼, is now
expressed with different characters 左義長(also pronounced sagicho¯). Jo¯gen refers to the
fifteenth day of the first month of the old calendar, chu¯gen 中元is the fifteenth day of the
seventh month, and kagen 下元is the fifteenth day of the tenth month. The word
ochu¯gen (midyear gifts) derives from this definition.
The event of Little New Year was a vestige of the ancient Japanese calendar from far
before the introduction of the lunar-solar calendar from China. In this ancient calendar,
the day of the first full moon after the coming of spring was to be the New Year. In the
lunar calendar, the beginning of a month is fixed by a new moon, and the day of the new
moon around the coming of spring is nominated as the beginning of the year. This
method is a bit difficult to understand, as the new moon brings a dark night. A bright
night with a full moon might be considered more appropriate for the beginning of a
month, and likewise a year. After the lunar-solar calendar was adopted officially, this
ancient New Year came to be called Little New Year.
mikazuki no Growing plumper
koro yori koyuru than the crescent night,
koimo kana young taro.
Shiki
The harvest moon on the fifteenth day of the eighth month in the old calendar has
the metonym of Bright Moon of Taro. Nowadays it is said that a festival celebrating the
rice harvest was held on that night, but before the introduction of rice from the continent,
when taro was the staple food, the night would originally have been served to celebrate
a crop of taro. It is a vestige of the ancient celebration to offer kinukatsugi, a dish of
steamed taro, to the harvest moon.
The moon on the thirteenth day of the ninth month by the old calendar is called
Thirteenth Night (ju¯san’ya 十三夜) or the Next Bright Moon (nochi no tsuki 後の月, indicating
that it follows the Bright Moon of Taro). There remain also metonyms such as
Bright Chestnut Moon or Bright Bean Moon, which are nights of thanksgiving for harvests
of chestnuts or beans in the remote past, even before taro became the staple food.
Also, the Bon Festival on the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the old calendar
might have once been a night to celebrate the full moon. In early autumn, there was a
magnificent festival of the first waxing moon of the season, from the night of the seventh
with a half moon until the night of the fifteenth.
It may be presumed that both the legend of the Star Festival introduced from the
continent and the Bon Festival of Buddhism later merged with this grand festival.
It was women who took charge of such festivals of the full moon. This is indicated by
several metonyms such as Women’s New Year for Little New Year, Women’s Bright Moon
or Old Women’s Bright Moon for the Next Bright Moon. These suggest that the
Women’s New Year is the day for women to finally have time to relax as they are too busy
Time in Saijiki 169
to take a rest in the New Year. This may, however, be a distorted interpretation of later
days.
In saijiki, there flows not only the time of the old and solar calendars, but also
ancient time, far before the introduction of the lunar-solar calendar in Japan. Moreover,
the words derived from remote time are not dead words, but have become living season
words still applied in the composition of haiku. These three different times coexist in saijiki.
Once long ago time was of the gods. There were particular deities behind particular
times in the system that then prevailed, and those deities controlled time. The lunar calendar
was the heavenly gift of the god of the moon, while the solar calendar was from
the god of the sun. If multiple deities coexist, several time systems exist simultaneously.
A myriad of gods and deities each have a time of its own.
There is no need to be confused because of the shift from the old calendar to the
solar calendar in the sixth year of Meiji. Old time does not perish just because a new
time is adopted. On the contrary, people have embraced several coexisting times. The
same will happen even if a new time is added in the future.
9
On Wednesday, 17 September 1902, the Masaoka family in Negishi, Tokyo, celebrated
Shiki’s thirty-fifth birthday by preparing festive red rice. The family also served the
red rice to Kuga Katsunan 陸羯南(1857-1907), who lived next door. Though Shiki had
celebrated his birthday according to the old calendar until the previous year, this time he
applied the solar calendar. Katsunan was the president and editor-in-chief of the newspaper
Nippon. As Shiki worked for Nippon as a reporter till his last day, Katsunan was his
employer and superior.
In the edition of Nippon that came out that day there appeared the hundred-andtwenty-
seventh installment of Shiki’s serial Byo¯sho¯ rokushaku (Six Feet into My Sickbed).
Shiki copied a letter he had received from Nishi Ho¯hi, a comic tanka poet in Nagasaki;
he wrote no more.
Received a letter from Ho¯hi today.
Dear Sir,
These days, your serial Six Feet into My Sickbed has only been a few inches long. As I
am rather worried about you, I am sending you a letter of inquiry. Bodhidharma has
stayed since the Bon Festival, wearing a rope around his head and practicing austerities
at the waterfall. That is why I have neglected to write or call you.
haibyo¯ no You may be dreaming of
170 HASEGAWA Kai
yume miru naran pulmonary haiku disease,
hototogisu my cuckoo.
go¯mon nado ni But who the hell
dare ga kaketaka tortures you this way?
(17 September)
This is the last piece of writing by Shiki to appear in print during his lifetime. The
word “Bodhidharma” is used in the letter because Ho¯hi called himself by that name as a
collector of Bodhidharma images. In the poem, haibyo¯ (literally, haiku disease) is a pun
on the word for lung disease and hototogisu refers to Shiki. In fact, the word shiki originally
meant cuckoo. Dare ga kaketaka overlaps the song of the cuckoo (represented in
Japanese as teppen kaketaka) as a paronomasia.
On Thursday, 18 September, being unable to clear his throat of phlegm, Shiki wrote
down his last three poems with the help of his family, at around eleven in the morning.
hechima saite The sponge gourd has bloomed—
tan no tsumarishi choked by phlegm,
hotoke kana a departed soul.
tan itto Gallons of phlegm—
hechima no mizu mo even the gourd water
maniawazu cannot clear it up.
ototoi no The gourd water
hechima no mizu mo from the night before yesterday—
torazariki they did not get it either.
There was a saying that sponge gourd water taken during the night of the harvest
moon is effective in loosening phlegm. The date of eighteenth of ninth month refers to
the seventeenth day of the eighth month in the old calendar. The “night before yesterday”
was a full moon night. Shiki composed these last poems within the time of the old
calendar. At that time, the dates of the old calendar still appeared on the Official
Calendar. Shiki fell into a coma that night.
At around one in the morning on Friday, the nineteenth day of the ninth month,
Shiki departed this world. Kyoshi was staying at Shiki’s house. When he left the house to
pass on word of his friend’s passing, he saw a bright moon in the sky.
Shiki yuku ya Shiki passed away!
ju¯shichinichi no In the moonlit night
getsumei ni of the seventeenth.
Kyoshi
Time in Saijiki 171
The date of the nineteenth day of the ninth month refers to the eighteenth day of the
eighth month in the old calendar, not the seventeenth. So why did Kyoshi mention “the
moonlit night of the seventeenth” in his poem? Nowadays, it is agreed that a day begins
at twelve o’clock midnight, whereas in a time without clocks or watches, a day began at
sunrise. If there is no clock or watch, there is no way to know when midnight passes in
the dark. By contrast, everyone knows when the sun rises.
Even now, the dream of the second day of the first month is called the first dream,
not that of the first day. It is because the early dawn of the first day still belongs to the
night of New Year’s Eve. The first day begins with the first sunrise, and the first night of
the New Year is the night between the first day and the second. It is the dream we have
in the early dawn of the second that is called the first dream.
Buson breathed his last in the early dawn of the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth
month of Tenmei 3, although his disciple Kito wrote the date down as being the night of
the twenty-fourth. No doubt the date was the twenty-fifth as it was past midnight
according to the clock, but the dawn of the twenty-fifth would be considered as the
night of twenty-fourth by the old sense of time.

On the night of Shiki’s death, the seventeenth continued until the sunrise on the
eighteenth. After rushing out of the entrance of the Masaokas’ house into the alley of
Negishi under the moon of the night of the seventeenth, Kyoshi strayed into the old
time that must surely have been lost: a shadowy figure running down a path in the
moonlight.
172 HASEGAWA Kai


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