first lunar month EDO

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The First Lunar Month　一月 ichigatsu - 睦月 mutsuki -

In the old lunar calendar of the Edo period,

spring lasted from the first month to the third,
summer from the fourth month through the sixth,
autumn from the seventh month through the ninth,
winter from the tenth month through the twelfth.

. WKD : The Asian Lunar Calendar and the Saijiki .

. hatsuharu 初春 "first spring" .
refers to the season of the New Year in Edo.


. Edo Saijiki　江戸歳時記 .



source :　art.jcc-okinawa.net/okinawa/edonosiki

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Welcoming the deity of the New Year
. toshitokujin 歳德神 / toshigami 年神 .
He stays at a home decorated with a kadomatsu and leaves on the 7th day of the New Year, when all decorations have to be cleared away.


. kumade 熊手 "hand of a bear", bamboo decoration to rake in good luck .




. takarabune 宝舟 "treasure ship" .
promising an auspicious first dream (hatsuyume　初夢）　on the second day.


. Hagoita 羽子板 Girls playing battledore, shuttlecock .
with the wish for healthy children


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鶯の初音に北の窓を開け
uguisu no hatsune ni kita no mado o ake

at the first sound
of the bush warbler the north windows
are opened

The North Window was closed in early winter (kitamado tojiru 北窓閉じる) and opened again in mid-spring.

. WKD : kitamado 北窓 kigo about the north window .


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若水を地主の後で大屋汲み
wakamizu o jinushi no ato de ooya kumi

after the land owner
the caretaker goes
to draw first water


Drawing water was usually the work of the womanfolk.
Only the "first water" of the year was drawn from the well by the land owner and caretaker, and the ladies could take a rest.
Water was carefully used and reused, finally often given to water plants. Very little ended up in the waste water drainage system.

In the row houses of Edo the ooya 大屋 was a kind of caretaker who had to look after the other tenants "like a parent after his children".

. wakamizu　若水 "Young Water" .

. nagaya 長屋 row house, tenement house .


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. Edo Saijiki　江戸歳時記 .


. - Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .

. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu poems in Edo .


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