Spring Kigo — 150 Words from Risshun to Hanafubuki

The Range and Hon’i of Spring

The seasonal range of spring (haru) is the three months from Risshun (around February 4) to Rikka (around May 5). In the modern solar-calendar sense, “spring-like spring” is March-April; but in the haiku kigo system, spring begins already in early February.

The hon’i (true sense) of spring is “birth” and “opening”:

• The season when, out of winter’s stillness and freeze, all things begin to move
• Flowers bloom, birds sing, people go out to the fields
• Feelings of “warmth,” “gladness,” and “awakening”

Below, the leading 150 spring kigo (400+ if sub-headings are included) are arranged in the order of the seven saijiki categories.

1. Jikō — Words of the Time of Spring

Early Spring (February - early March)

• Risshun — around February 4, the start of spring
• Haru asashi — spring still shallow, close to winter
• Shunkan — spring cold, cold snap
• Yokan — cold that lingers after Risshun
• Harumeku — becoming spring-like
• Sōshun — early spring

Mid Spring (mid March - early April)

• Shunbun — around March 20
• Higan — spring Higan (the 7 days around the equinox)
• Uraraka — mild sunny weather of spring
• Nodoka — calm and warm
• Chūshun — mid spring

Late Spring (mid April - early May)

• Banshun — late spring
• Kure no haru — the end of spring
• Yuku haru — the passing spring
• Haru oshimu — reluctant of spring
• Chijitsu — the day has grown long
• Atataka — the warmth of spring

Representative Verses

• Bashō: “Yuku haru ya / tori naki uo no / me wa namida” — signature verse of “yuku haru” (departing spring), at Senju
• Bashō: “Haru mo yaya / keshiki totonou / tsuki to ume” — the feel around Risshun

2. Tenmon — The Sky and Weather of Spring

Sky and Clouds

• Haru no tsuki — the moon of spring, slightly different from oborozuki
• Oborozuki — the hazy moon, characteristic of spring
• Oboroyo — a night of the oborozuki
• Haru no sora — the bright, high spring sky
• Awayuki — light snow falling in spring
• Yuki nokoru — snow still remaining after Risshun
• Kagerō — air shimmering from the spring heat

Rain and Snow

• Harusame — the fine rain of spring
• Nataneyu — the long rains around April
• Harushigure — a passing spring rain
• Yukidoke — snow melting
• Nadare — spring avalanche

Wind

• Haru ichiban — the first strong south wind after Risshun
• Kochi — spring wind blowing from the east
• Haruhayate — strong spring wind
• Kaiyose — around March, west wind that gathers shells to the shore

Representative Verses

• Buson: “Na no hana ya / tsuki wa higashi ni / hi wa nishi ni” — the contrast of spring moon and setting sun
• Bashō: “Kochi fukaba / nioi okose yo / ume no hana” — (actually a honkadori on Michizane’s waka) a representative use of kochi
• Chiyojo: “Harusame ya / morai mono shite / kaeru ie” — the everyday within a spring rain

3. Chiri — The Landscape of Spring

• Haru no mizu — the water of spring rivers, ponds, marshes
• Yukigemizu — snow-melt water, flowing down from the mountains
• Haru no kawa — the spring river
• Haru no umi — the calm spring sea
• Shiohigata — tidal flats, a spring sight
• Usurai — thin early-spring ice
• Yama warau — the spring mountain, with young leaves showing
• Haru no yama — the spring mountain
• Tsuchi — the earth plowed in spring (its smell)
• Dengaku — preparing the paddy in spring

Representative Verses

• Buson: “Haru no umi / hinemosu notari / notari kana” — signature verse of the spring sea
• Buson: “Haru no mizu / fusagi idekeri / ume no yado” — the water of spring
• Bonchō: “Arau te no / shizuku ni yururu / sumire kana” — a spring waterside and violet

4. Seikatsu — Life in Spring

Farm Work

• Tauchi — plowing the field in spring
• Kuwahajime — the first hoeing of farm work
• Tanemaki — sowing seeds in spring
• Naedoko — a bed for raising seedlings
• Chatsumi — the picking of new tea around May

Everyday Life

• Rofusagi — closing the hearth in spring
• Kotatsujimai — putting away the kotatsu
• Shōjibari — repapering shōji in spring (a seasonal turning)
• Hina arare — sweets eaten at Hina matsuri
• Aona — spring greens

Clothing and Food

• Harugi — spring kimono
• Awase — lined kimono for spring and summer

Representative Verse

• Buson: “Ume oru ya / kago ni michitaru / haru no mizu” — a spring-water scene of everyday life

5. Gyōji — The Festivals of Spring

• Hina matsuri — March 3, the girls’ festival
• Hina ningyō — Hina dolls
• Momo no sekku — the peach festival
• O-Higan (around the equinox) — memorial for ancestors
• Hana matsuri — April 8, the Buddha’s birthday
• Sotsugyō shiki — graduation
• Nyūgaku shiki — matriculation
• O-hanami — cherry-blossom viewing
• Hanami-zake — sake at hanami
• Shiohigari — clam gathering at low tide

Representative Verses

• Bashō: “Sangatsu ya / hitoya no uchi ni / mandara” — the spring March
• Bashō: “Hatsu-zakura / orishi mo kyō wa / yoki hi nari” — the first day of the cherry

6. Dōbutsu — The Living Creatures of Spring

Birds

• Uguisu — the bird announcing spring, a leading spring kigo
• Hibari — the skylark, singing high in spring
• Tsubame — the swallow, migrating from the south in spring
• Kiji — the pheasant, crying in spring
• Tori kumo ni iru — the birds that came in autumn return north in spring
• Tori sakaru — the breeding season
• Saezuri — the song of spring birds
• Kaiyosedori — a kind of plover

Insects

• Chō — the butterfly, a leading spring insect
• Hachi — bee
• Kumo no ko — a spider’s young

Others

• Kawazu / kaeru — the frog, croaking in spring, the frog of Bashō’s “Furuike ya”
• Hebi ana wo izu — the snake emerging from hibernation
• Kame naku — a species of frog, not actually a turtle croaking
• Kaiko — silkworm, spring sericulture
• Ayu — young ayu of spring
• Shirauo — whitebait, a spring fish
• Sayori — a spring fish

Representative Verses

• Bashō: “Furuike ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no oto” — the leading frog verse
• Kyoshi: “Shirauo ni / mizu ni sugaruru / inochi kana” — whitebait

7. Shokubutsu — The Flowers and Grasses of Spring

Early-Spring Flowers

• Ume — the plum blossom of February-March, spring’s beginning
• Kōbai / Hakubai — red and white plum
• Bairin — plum grove
• Rōbai — wintersweet, from winter to early spring
• Fukujusō — Adonis
• Suisen — narcissus of early spring

Spring Flowers

• Sakura — the leading flower of spring, early-to-mid April
• Hana — when we simply say “hana” (flower), we mean sakura
• Yamazakura, Yaezakura, Shidarezakura — mountain, double, and weeping cherry
• Hanafubuki — petals blown like snow
• Rakka — falling flowers
• Sakurashibe — the stamens of cherry (after the petals fall)
• Hanabiei — the cold snap around cherry season
• Sakura-zuke — cherry-blossom salt pickle

Spring Grasses and Wildflowers

• Nanohana — the yellow flower of April (rapeseed)
• Sumire — violet
• Tanpopo — dandelion
• Hobo no tō — butterbur bud, an early-spring edible
• Tsukushi — horsetail, early spring
• Warabi — bracken, spring wild vegetable
• Seri — Japanese parsley, one of the seven spring herbs

Mid- and Late-Spring Flowers

• Momo no hana — peach blossom, March
• Anzu — apricot, March
• Sakurasō — primrose, April
• Fuji — wisteria, April-May
• Tsutsuji — azalea, April-May
• Botan — peony, April-May (around Rikka, debated between spring and summer)
• Yamabuki — kerria, April

Young Leaves

• Yanagi — willow’s young leaves
• Mebuki — spring budding
• Ki no me / Kono me — young buds of spring
• Aoyanagi — green willow

Representative Verses

• Bashō: “Samazama no / koto omoi-dasu / sakura kana” — signature verse of sakura
• Bashō: “Hana no kumo / kane wa Ueno ka / Asakusa ka” — hanami in Edo
• Buson: “Na no hana ya / tsuki wa higashi ni / hi wa nishi ni” — rapeseed
• Issa: “Yaseka’eru / makeru na Issa / kore ni ari” — the frog (a spring kigo)
• Kyoshi: “Haru no hi ya / tare ka shiru / yama no haka” — the spring sun
• Buson: “Baiu isagi yoku / medaka no ko” — the medaka at the border of spring and summer

Examples of Kicasanari in Spring

Because many flowers, birds, and events cluster in spring, kicasanari (multiple kigo) needs care:

• “Sakura” and “hana” — since “hana” alone means sakura, using both at once repeats
• “Ume” and “kochi” — both spring kigo, avoid using simultaneously
• “Hanami” and “sakura” — hanami itself implies sakura
• “Hina matsuri” and “momo” — the March 3 peach festival implies peach; unless intentional, they double

The Difficulty of Originality in Spring Kigo

Spring kigo carry the most masterpieces built up over 400 years of haikai history. So when a modern poet writes about spring, producing freshness that doesn’t overlap existing masterpieces is the most difficult of any season.

For instance, to write a new verse about “sakura” one must set oneself apart from Bashō’s “Samazama no,” Narihira’s “Yo no naka ni,” Ryōkan’s “Chiru sakura,” and modern spring masterpieces by Shiki, Kyoshi, Shūōshi, Kusatao and others. A heavy load.

Yet conversely, the width and depth of the “spring” seasonal feel provides fertile ground for new verses even today. Even the way cherry blossom dates shift with climate change becomes material for modern spring verse.

Toward the Next Article

Once spring passes Rikka, the seasonal feel of haikai switches to summer. Cicadas, all-green, the samidare, the cool — summer kigo also number over 100. The next article steps into the world of summer kigo.