Almost all of them belong to one or another school of haiku, though some declare themselves to be independanto. However, even those who omit the season-word reveal in their haiku some consciousness of season. The Japanese seem to be more season-conscious than Western peoples. From its earliest stages, Japanese literature has been rich in words concerning the seasons. Certain descriptions of the seasons are much admired.
People seem to agree that autumn is the best season to appreciate the beauty of things.
In Western languages the names of the four seasons became complete only a few centuries ago. Because Japanese literature is so rich in seasonal terms it was not difficult for early haiku masters to select and estabilish certain words as a special vocabulary to denote the seasons. When the Gregorian calendar was adopted it caused some difficulty in the choice of season-words. As a result of this change of calendars many other old season-words that fit the luner caalender do not fit the new calendar, but we continue to use them. The number of season-words for Japanese haiku has never been constant, varying from tree to five thousand at different times and according to different authorities.