Smell and Fragrance

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Smell and Fragrance in Haiku

***** Location: Japan, worldwide
***** Season: Various, see below
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

The five senses, one of them : SMELL !

Let us examine some fragrant kigo and haiku!

ka, kaori　香り
smell, fragrance, aroma

smell, nioi 匂い

bad smell, kusai 臭い　くさい

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Kigo for Spring

fragrant bird, nioidori 匂鳥 においどり


fragrance of the plum blossoms, ume ga ka 梅が香

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Kigo for Summer


mildew smell, scent of mildew, kabi no ka 黴の香 のかかび


mosquito coil, katori senkoo 蚊取線香 かとりせんこう
a kind of incense coils everywhere used in Japan. Lately we even have battery-driven ones.


perfume, koosui 香水 こうすい


rank weeds, kusa ikire 草熱れ, 草いきれ, くさいきれ
Late summer.
Refers to the oppressive smell steaming from the leaves in the summer heat.


sweetfish, "fragrant fish" koogyo 香魚 こうぎょ
a kind of trout, Plecoglossus altivelia


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Kigo for Autumn

fragrance of rice plants, ine no ka 稲の香, いねのか


scarecrow, kakashi 案山子 かかし
The word kakashi was once pronounced kagashi -- something foul-smelling -- and referred to burnt hides or rotten fish heads, the odor of which was counted upon to keep pests away.
University of Virginia Saijiki


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way

Quote

Gary Snyder offers some insight in critiquing the assumptions of earlier nature writers:

There is an older sort of nature writing that might be seen as largely essays and writing from a human perspective, middle-class, middlebrow Euro-American. It has a rhetoric of beauty, harmony, and sublimity. . . Natural history writing [is] semi-scientific, objective, in the descriptive mode.
Both these sorts are "naively realistic" in that they unquestioningly accept the front-mounted bifocal human eye, the poor human sense of smell, and other characteristics of our species, plus the assumption that the mind can, without much self-examination, directly and objectively "know" whatever it looks at.

Kigo Versus Seasonal Reference in Haiku
by Richard Gilbert

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Negoro Temple 根香寺
The Temple of the Fragrant Root

... The fragrance of this statue was so strong that it welled down with the river, Kagawa 香川, which later gave name to the whole province of Kagawa.

Read the full story
by Gabi Greve 　

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HAIKU

risshun ya tanuki no koi no nioi kana

.. .. .. .. .. First Spring Day !
.. .. .. .. .. the smell of badger's love
.. .. .. .. .. in the fields

Fruehlingsbeginn !
der Geruch von liebestollen Dachsen
in den Feldern

Gabi Greve
Read a little explanation here !

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Smell of soap and starch
white sheets
in the morning breeze.

Lanie Shanzyra P. Rebancos, Philippines
http://www.szirine.com/countrytemplate.php?id=89

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仏間まで岩海苔匂ふ能登雑煮
butsuma made iwanori niū noto zōni

even into the prayer room
the seaweed smell wafts
from the Noto-style zooni soup

杉山郁夫 Sugiyama Ikuo

The hokuriku region in northern Japan is known for its devoutly religious character. Many houses have magnificent prayer rooms. The zōni soup recipe with fragrant seaweed is also something characteristic of the noto region. The smell pervades even the prayer room, bringing in the celebratory New Year's mood. This poem is heavily spiced with regionalism.
University of Virginia Saijiki

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手花火の消えたる闇の匂ひかな
tehanabi no kietaru yami no nioi kana

sparks from fireworks
disappear in my hand—
oh the scent of darkness

斎藤蘆穗 Saitoo Roho

University of Virginia Saijiki

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梅が香にのつと日の出る山路かな
ume ga ka ni notsuto hi no deru yamaji kana

fragrance of plums in the air --
in the distance on the mountain path
the morning sun

芭蕉 Basho

... ... ...

梅が香やどなたが来ても欠茶碗
ume ga ka ya donata ga kitemo kakejawan

Oh the alluring scent of plum tree—
And yet was there to be any visitor, [I have] only
a broken tea cup.

一茶 Issa
University of Virginia Saijiki

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ふるさとはよし夕月と鮎の香と
furusato wa yoshi yuuzuki to ayu no ka to

my hometown's
just fine -- the evening moon
the fragrance of sweetfish

桂信子Katsura Nobuko

When sweetfish is grilled it gives off a pleasant aroma. The poet returns to her hometown, near the Nagara River (長良川), and takes comfort in the abundance of cooked sweetfish. The evening moon is fine. The smell of the fish is fine, too. Both have strong associations with the longing for home and the pleasures of being there again.
University of Virginia Saijiki

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湿り香の大陽を置き春田鋤く
shimeri ka no taiyoo o oki haruta suku

ignoring the sun's
damp aroma -- I spade
the spring paddy

佐藤鬼房 Satoo Onifusa (Sato Onifusa)
University of Virginia Saijiki

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桃青忌夜は人の香のうすれけり
toosei-ki yo wa hito no ka no usurekeri

Peach Green Anniversary
at night people's scent
has grown faint

飯田蛇笏 Iida Dakotsu

University of Virginia Saijiki

WKD : Basho Memorial Day

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sake kusaki tasogare goro ya kiku no hana

the smell of sake
around about dusk...
chrysanthemum

Issa 　

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Jizoo Bon arashi no ato no kusa no koo ni

Jizo Bon Festival -
the smell of weeds
after the storm

Oono Rinka
More about the Jizo Bon Festival　

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Some haiku by Gabi Greve

Chandrika soap -
the smell of India
in my Japanese bath
http://happyhaiku.blogspot.com/2006/09/chandrika-soap.html



焼きたての パンの匂いや！ 梅雨晴れ間
yakitate no pan no nioi ya tsuyu harema



the smell off
reshly baked bread -
a break in the rainy season
http://happyhaiku.blogspot.com/2006/06/fresh-bread.html



hot waterfall -
the smell of foul eggs
all the way home
More is here ! 　



ame no oto ame no nioi no gokan kana

sound of rain
smell of rain -
the five senses



closing my eyes -
so much spring to
smell and hear



Kannon Lily -
the smell of Buddha
everywhere
http://happyhaiku.blogspot.com/2004/10/kannon-lily.html



I will spare you the smell that goes with this haiku ...

shoveling horse manure
to the summer fields -
Horseheaded Kannon
http://happyhaiku.blogspot.com/2005/05/horseheaded-kannon.html



My cat is talking now:

quince in full bloom -
I just love the smellof that
Siamese tomcat
http://happyhaiku.blogspot.com/2005/04/cats-in-paradise.html



natsu booshi / naki chichi no ko / ima mo nao

summer hat -
the smell of my late father
still lingering

published in Go-Shichi-Go of 18 May 2004, Yomiuri Shinbun
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/happyhaiku/message/784



monsoon shower -
the smell of Bombay
in our hair
Monsoon ..

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sora wa haru tsuchi ni wa tsuchi no nioi kana

spring in the air
earth smelling of
earth again

Fruehling in den Lueften
Erde riecht wieder
Nach Erde
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/happyhaiku/message/25


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Related words

***** Incense (India) senkoo (Japan)

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Please send your contributions to Gabi Greve
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