Reading symbols

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When one says Haiku, the first thing that crosses the mind is probably "5-7-5 syllables!" There's more to Haiku than that, in fact there are at least two other important elements that are often overlooked: Keriji (Caesura) and Kigo (season symbol).

In this journal, I'd like to focus on season symbols.



Here are examples of kigo from all seasons (kigos in italic):

1.
Snow melts
and the village floods
with children
-Issa

2.
Rainbow oh rainbow
You be in my dreams somehow
Golden spectrum brow
-Peter S. Quinn

3.
To learn how to die
watch cherry blossoms, observe
chrysanthemums
-Anonymous

4.
Through frozen rice fields,
moving slowly on horseback,
my shadow creeps by
-Basho


  
While the haiku as a whole paint a pretty clear picture, the kigo help define the season they represent. Though less important for obvious haiku like 1 and 4, it greatly benefits the more abstract ones-- 2 and 3.

It lends the season's mood to the haiku. This I feel is the most important use of the kigo-- without a mood, the haiku feels emotionless, empty.

Let's look back at the haiku and see the feeling they're conveying:

The first is Spring: joyful, young, vital.
As the snow melts, the children come out to play! I'd say that hits all the marks.

The second is Summer: bright, colorful, loud.
A rainbow perfectly encompasses all those feelings, but without its presence in the haiku, you'd be hard pressed to guess the season.

The third is Autumn: introspective, nearing the end of a life/season cycle.
Ever heard the expression "to be in the autumn of one's life"? This haiku touches on the exact same subject matter, life coming to an end. To give extra emphasis, the author choose to use two death related flora: the cherry blossoms (sakura) and chrysanthemum flower.
While sakura are a spring symbol and chrysanthemum are an autumn symbol, by using both in that order the image moves from youth (spring symbol) to death (autumn symbol).
There's also the additional symbolism of the flowers themselves. Sakura are short lived blooms and symbolize transient life. Chrysanthemum are a medicinal flower (symbolic of long life) but also used as for funerals in Japanese culture.

The last is Winter: cold, sluggish , lonely, and death.
Basho knocks it out of the park with this one, everything said just fits. The lifelessness of a frozen rice field, the agonizing slow movement of the horse and creeping shadow, and the loneliness of only having one's shadow as company.
A more literal man would say "guy on horse passes rice-field in winter". And no one would have remember his saying that.  



  
Some schools of thought say kigo aren't necessary (Ippekiro Nakatsuka). Rather than debate over it, let's compare two haiku-- one with, and one without a season symbol.

1.
Sea waves
a siren call
on summer days
-Flying leap

2.
Moon     b  u  r  s  t  s
stones skip
on a still lake
-Lake song

The first haiku uses the most basic kigo possible, the season's name. Though it'll work, I recommend against being this obvious.
Here, 'summer days' brings the feeling of a hot day, giving motivation as to why one would find the sea's call so tempting. Go wild, jump into the cool sea water!

Haiku two has no season symbol. It could be argued that the full moon is a kigo, but truth is 'moon' is a symbol for many seasons and a full moon is too non-specific.
While this haiku conveys a clear images, what mood is it expressing? If it was spring, it might have been kids playing skip-stone. In autumn, a bum occupying his lonesome night.

The point is, without Kigo, a haiku's intention may be ambiguous. Think of a kigo as a metaphor, letting you express your intention in a not overly obvious manner (think show, not tell).


  
My partner in this Kigo project: Laurence55
The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season words
A Dictionary of Haiku
World Kigo Database
Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku