All Year Haiku Topics

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All Year Haiku Topics

question to Bill Higginson

Dear Bill,
I use the saijiki in World Haiku.
I assumed that all the words were considered kigo.
But there is a controversy
because I used the "all year" words as kigo.

Could you please explain this.
Thank you.


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Dear friend,

I assume you're talking about my book Haiku World, yes?

Please refer to the paragraph immediately above the center of page 24. You'll notice that I refer to "topics", not "season words", when speaking of non-seasonal topics.

The Japanese word _kigo_ means exactly "season word" or "seasonal word", as some would have it. In any case, it does not make sense to use a nonseasonal word or topic in a haiku and call it a "kigo".

Rather, one could refer to it as a "topic" or, perhaps, as a "keyword".
This last expression, "keyword", has actually been taken up by some Japanese haiku people to refer to exactly this kind of topic, a word or phrase that one might understand as linking a haiku to other haiku on the same topic, but one that has no seasonal meaning. (You might notice that I also use "keyword" to refer to the nonseasonal entries at the beginning of the saijiki index, as well.)

I hope this helps. But you must realize that this whole business of season words and keywords is very complex. Please read through my introduction several times, so that you are fully prepared to make use of the whole book with ease.
Better yet, you should also get my book The Haiku Seasons, which is really a longer introduction to Haiku World, and explains very carefully the centuries of development that went into the traditional system.
(For relief, there are many wonderful sample poems along the way in The Haiku Seasons, as well!)

Best wishes,
Bill Higginson


quoted with permission from Bill.


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talk, talking

This word is in the section of "all year" in Higginson's book.

Higginson writes
"from argument to sweet nothingness and confessions.
Some talk makes a point, some does't. "

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. WKD - LIST of haiku topics and Keywords 　


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