A New Haiku Era:
Non-season kigo in the Gendai Haiku saijikiRichard Gilbert, Yūki Itō, Tomoko Murase, Ayaka Nishikawa, and Tomoko Takaki

Faculty of Letters, Kumamoto University, March 2006
Publication: Modern Haiku Journal 37.2 (Summer 2006)

In 2004 the Modern Haiku Association (Gendai Haiku Kyôkai; MHA) published a new, innovativesaijiki in five volumes. Along with four seasonal volumes of modern haiku, a volume of muki ("nonseason") kigo was included. At first glance a non-season saijiki is an oxymoron; however, this is arational conceptual act — we can say that poetry comes first, and any sort of glossary of terms comessecond. In the relationship between haiku and a saijiki, it follows that the saijiki is a map for haiku poets
to explore the haiku world, but the map is created by adventurers on the frontiers. Many poets haveadventured through the haiku world and have found new lands and new horizons. From these horizons
arise at times new kigo, and sometimes new non-season kigo. We can witness this activity in thehistorical example of Bashô, who pursued great adventures to enhance the cultural value of haiku andintroduced new vocabulary into the haiku world. For instance, he gave us the first haiku with the poetic
taste of neglected flowers, such as sumiregusa ("small mountain violet") and kareobana ("witheredJapanese pampas grass"). These accomplishments have been written down and placed on the saijiki map.
We can say that a saijiki ought to be a compilation of haiku poets"adventures. Traditionally, however,the saijiki has compiled seasonal kigo only, right up until this new and revolutionary MHA muki saijiki,
published less than two years ago. Unlike kigo, muki-kigo do not indicate one particular season; alongwith kigo, they include our own feelings, images, cultural backgrounds, and native environments; oursociality.
According to Kaneko Tohta, muki-kigo contain nikukan ("vital warmth"): "For example, yama('mountain') is not kigo, but the language has nikukan. ... There is no haiku subject that is ... not a 'naturalthing.' Needless to say, in essence, a mountain and a river and likewise, buildings, pavement, and arocket have nikukan. It is important to grasp them" (Kaneko Tohta. Kon nichi no haiku ("Today'sHaiku"). Tokyo: Kôbunsha, 1965 and 2002, 116).
The muki saijiki is a new map, revealing the new world of modern haiku. Bashô has said, "freshness
is a flower of haikai (haiku)." Through experiencing the new world of modern Japanese haiku withmuki-kigo, we hope that readers and lovers of haiku will have a better opportunity to feel the mixture ofJapan"s own unique and traditional sensibility, while exploring contemporary perspectives and taste—as
the two remain fundamentally united.
Below we present a translation of Kaneko's preface to the MHA muki saijiki. It should be stressedthat the new saijiki is not meant to represent the full extent or limit of modern haiku in Japan. As

Kaneko notes, a great majority of the many thousands of poems included have been composed by MHAmembers. Also mentioned is the problem of all Japanese saijiki: their Tokyo-district based nature. As aresult of these and other issues, some notable modern haiku poets such as Hoshinaga Fumio (who isconstructing an alternative saijiki local to Kumamoto prefecture), Natsuishi Ban'ya, and others who havebeen published in English are not represented. Nonetheless, the MHA saijiki is a tremendous
achievement, offering to readers and scholars worldwide for the first time a massive compendium ofmodern haiku in a single exemplary collection. Please note below that all text in square brackets
indicates material added for clarification.

As an Introduction[Preface to Gendai haiku saijiki (5 vols.)
Tokyo: Gendai Haiku Kyôkai, June 2004]
Tohta Kaneko

The publication of this saijiki commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the Modern Haiku
Association [MHA]; this project took five years to complete. Members of the editorial committees,
which were mostly composed of MHA members, held more than sixty meetings while preparing thispresent work. First, members discussed the entire concept of what a contemporary saijiki [a gendaihaiku kigo compendium] might be, from the ground up. Following these conversations, each proposed
kigo was examined in great detail as to its merits for inclusion, and subsequently submissions of haiku
examples were solicited from MHA members.
What are some of the unique features of this saijiki? Roughly speaking, the first special feature isthat this saijiki classifies seasons by month, based on the solar calendar [the Gregorian calendar, adopted
in Japan in 1872]. Although many earlier saijiki have attempted to find a point of contact with thepresent solar calendar, there have always been unavoidable compromises in relating the traditional lunar
calendar to our current calendar.
Earlier saijiki define "spring" as beginning from risshun [the kigo for "early spring" or, "the first dayof spring"], and many readers are no doubt surprised to find that in the MHA saijiki, risshun is included
in winter [the solar date of February 4]. In our book spring is defined as occurring from March throughMay. Thus, risshun is placed at the end of winter, as an expectation for the approaching of spring. So it
can now be considered a "forerunning seasonal word" that heralds the new season, rather than the literal
first day of spring. As well, shogatsu [the traditional New Year "season" of six days] is no longer treatedseparately from the four seasons but is included within the winter season, which runs from December
through February. We wish to consider shogatsu as an experience within, or consistent with, thecontinuity of the seasons.
The aim is to fit kigo to our actual social experience, our actual life as lived through our calendar.
Therefore, this saijiki places those ceremonies that have already been adapted to our solar calendar —for example, hina-matsuri [a sacred festival to bring happiness for girls, March 3] and tanabata [theannual celestial meeting of two legendary lovers, July 7] — into the familiar and appropriate times:

March and July in the examples mentioned.
Were we to utilize lunar-calendar-based criteria, the day of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima[August 6] would be summer, while the bombing of Nagasaki [August 9] and the anniversary of the endof the war [August 15] would be autumn. Furthermore, under such criteria, most days of the summer
vacation would be categorized as autumn. Such gaps between kigo and our actual social experience canbe solved by adopting solar-calendar-based criteria.
Another remarkable feature of this saijiki is the creation of a new category, tsûki ["spreading throughseasons"], for those kigo that have a relatively vague sense of season, or where it is hard to recognize aseasonal influence in modern life. Some examples would be soap bubbles, a swing, a refrigerator, sumo,and sushi. We do not reject these words as kigo, but at the same time it is unreasonable to regard thesewords as pertaining to certain seasons. Most people would likely agree.
From such a flexible way of thinking, the added muki ["no season"] volume contains kigo thatcannot be treated as pertaining to any one season. Probably those who would question the reason why
muki would be included in a saijiki are not completely familiar with the history and development of thesaijiki. The origin of the saijiki as such is found in Chinese literature, which makes use of detailed
calendars of events and social ceremonies. In Japan seasonal arrangements are rooted in the origins andspread of renga [linked verses], in which a high value was placed upon compositional rules for thehokku [the first stanza of 5-7-5-on [morae, or sound-syllables, from which haiku developed]. This firststanza contains a seasonal word, theme, or expression that is then collaboratively developed insucceeding stanzas.
It is historically correct to define the saijiki as "a compilation of terms relating to saiji, annual
ceremonial events," in its wider meaning; thus, the definition would be too narrow if by saijiki we meant
merely a compilation of seasonal words. Saiji means "observances occurring throughout the year andrelated to work and life." From the early modern period to the present era our lives have become more
expansive and complex, absorbing and accepting various aspects of cultures and civilizations fromabroad. As a result, our language has also become diversified; those terms classified by season haveincreased, while at the same time, the vocabulary of non-seasonal terms has been increasing. As
increasing numbers of kigo and muki-kigo are arriving concurrently, it is natural for the saijiki to include
both: this is what a saijiki should be.
The muki volume includes selected haiku examples from a wide time span, roughly from the Edo
period through the contemporary era. This new saijiki provides examples showing the history andvariation in the use of both muki-kigo and kigo, and we have made an effort to offer a sweeping view. It
is not too much to say that here for the first time is a complete saijiki anthology containing muki haiku.
It is a distinctive feature of this saijiki.
In addition to these basic features, some additional aspects of this saijiki are notable. For example,included are appendixes that feature a compilation of classical, traditional, and regional season words
and a list of dates of death of notable haijin. The length of these lists is limited by the ultimate
reasonable length of the saijiki. The first list is based on our wish that classical season words should bevalued, preserved, and passed to the next generation, although they are not used much these days. As to
the list of dates of death, we focused on notable haiku poets throughout history and tried to record as
many of them as possible. We omitted the dates of people such as Oda Nobunaga — those who are notdirectly related to haiku but who were nonetheless treated in former saijiki.
The MHA members' haiku comprise the core of the haiku examples presented. We can say that thissaijiki is a MHA members' haiku anthology, another remarkable feature of the work.
If I may be allowed to express my wish for the future, I would like to say that one worrying factor
remains: the kigo selection in this saijiki has necessarily been Tokyo-district oriented and as such has
had to give up covering the unique words, expressions, and language of each of the numerous districts ofJapan. I would like to retain this issue as an important question remaining to be solved.
It is a landmark event that such a saijiki with these many new features has been published. I don't
mean to boast, however. My deepest desire is to seek the judgment of the reading public on the occasionof the anniversary of fifty years of the MHA, and I wish for this saijiki to stimulate more eager
discussion on just what a saijiki could be. The saijiki is a singular collection of Japanese aesthetic
sensibility and is a precious cultural property of Japan. If this present saijiki adds new cultural value tothat property, it would occasion no greater joy.

Notes
1 - The compete table of contents of the Modern Haiku Association's muki saijiki discussed in thisarticle, as well as six haiku selected from the saijiki with the current authors" interpretations, is posted at
the authors' Web site, http://research.gendaihaiku.com.
2 - Kaneko Tohta (b. 1919) is an acclaimed author and cultural leader. He is currently the honorarypresident of the Modern Haiku Association.