5/01/2014

fifth lunar month

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The Fifth Lunar Month 五月 gogatsu - 皐月 satsuki -

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 .


. Edo Saijiki 江戸歳時記 .


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


under construction
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- - - - - H A I K U and S E N R Y U - - - - -


Fujisan yamabiraki


. WKD : tango no sekku 端午の節句 Tango festival for Boys .
5th day of the 5th lunar month


. inji uchi 印地打 throwing stones at each other .

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kashiwamochi 柏餅 sweet rice cakes
for the Japanese boy's festival, wrapped in an oak leaf.

The oak leaves become dry in autumn, but stick to the tree until the new buds are coming out in the next spring. Therefore these leaves are a symbol for the continuation of a family, carried on by the first-born oldest son.



The one's filled with sweat bean paste (anko 餡子) had the green side outside,
the one's filled with sweetened miso paste (misoan 味噌あん) had the inside out, so they could be easily identified from outside by the Edo customers.


石臼で家風を守る柏餅 
ishi-usu de kafuu o mamoru kashiwamochi

keeping the family tradition
with the stone mortar -
kashiwa rice cakes


Iida Reito 飯田礼人


柏餅妻には妻の型があり
kashiwa mochi tsuma ni wa tsuma no kata ga ari

kashiwa rice cakes -
my wife has her own way
of making them


Hosomi Kusuke 細見九如

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shoobu 尚武 the samurai fighting spirit
shoobu 勝負 winning - a pun with shoobu, 菖蒲 the iris. Especially important for the samurai families.

shoobuyu 菖蒲湯 bath with Shobu iris, hoping to keep healthy
shoobuzake 菖蒲酒 Sake with shobu iris, considered a medicine

During this festival, the girls had to keep quiet, 忌み籠もり (imigomori), since they had to become active soon after that for the rice planting.


koi no maneki 鯉のまねき small flags "to invite carps"
forerunners of the koinobori こいのぼり 鯉幟 flags
risshin shusse 立身出世 social success and promotion - with a prayer for boys to grow.

Vendors walked around in Edo with these small flags to be placed in the home.


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. WKD : ka 蚊 mosquito, mosquitoes - Schnaken .




kayaribi 蚊遣火 fire to ward off mosquitoes
already popular in the Heian period. The wood of chips of matsu and sugi pines as well as the leaves of kaya susuki grass and yomogi mugwort were used.

kayaribi o taku 蚊やり火をたく to burn a mosquito-repellant fire
. katori senkoo 蚊取り線香 mosquito coil .  



buta no kayari, 豚の蚊遣り kayari buta 蚊遣り豚 pot in form of a pig to hold the fire
(maybe made from a sake tokkuri sidewise). The oldest ones look more rounded like a wild boar than a pig.
Many have been found in the old kilns of Tokoname, Aichi 常滑市.
Once a pig farmer wanted to protect his animals from the mosquitoes and tried to burn some repellant in a tube, but the opening was too large. He looked again at his poor suffering animals and at their snout . . . and voila, the smaller opening was found. From Tokoname it made its way all around the country very fast.

遠花火蚊やりの豚とふける縁 
too hanabi kayari no buta to fukeru en

far away fireworks -
another chance missed as the night
with the repellant pig-holder gets late



瀬戸物の豚は蚊を追う煙を吐き
setomono no buta wa ka o ou en o haki

this pig from pottery
vomits smoke to drive away
the mosquitoes






- - - - - Look at some modern versions of the popular pig!

CLICK for more fun!


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yobimizu 呼び水 "water to call the mosquitoes"
Put into the barrels for extinguishing fires.
When the mosquitoes had laied their eggs into the barrels, the water was sprinkled on the road.
Now buckets are used too.


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. WKD : hebi 蛇 snake, serpent .


nagamushi 長虫 "long insect", snake, mamushi 真虫 "the real mushi"

In the Edo period, snakes were considered as part of the insect realm.
When they came out during the rice-planting season, the poisonous one's were quite dangerous.
There was no real medicine to heal them, so people made use of amulets.


source : www7.ocn.ne.jp/~ponpoko
Kitami no mamushiyoke 喜多見のまむしよけ amulet against snake bite from Kitami

One day the lord of the region was hunting in Tamagawahara when they observed a wild boar chasing a snake. Iemon draw his sword and chased the wild boar away in no time. A few nights later he had a dream: The snake appeared and handed him a scroll with an amulet to prevent bites of snakes and poisonous vipers (mamushi) and also for the worst case the recipe for a medicine.

齋藤伊右衛門忠嘉 Saito Iemon had this special recipe of salt, bamboo leaves, hackberry leaves (enoki 榎) grind and mixed with his own spittle, twisted into a small stick and rubbed on a bite. Otherwise, the amulets were sold to be put in the breast pocked before the field work.

Every year on the 8th of the fourth (lunar month) people would line up before his store in Edo to get the amulets, since it was time for the regional daimyo to go back to their home domaines in exchange (sankin kootai 参勤交代) with the regional caretaker.
The Saito family is now in the 18th generation and still in possession of this precious amulet and medicine.

- reference -

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mamushiyoke no majinai 蝮除けのまじない spell against poisonous snakes

蛇もまむしも どっけどけえ - mushi mo mamushi mo dokkedokee
おいらは喜多見の伊右衛門だあ - oira wa Kitami no Iemon daa
槍も刀も持ってるぞお - yari mo katana mo motteru zoo
ぢょっきり切られて腹たつな - jokkiri kirarete hara tatsu na

snakes and vipers, get out of my way, my way
I am Iemon from Kitami - yea
I have a spear and a sword - yea
don't get angry when I have to cut you - yea


This is a song/prayer that children used when walking in the fields.

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hebiyoke no gofu 蛇よけの護符 amulet against snake bite


source : kyukan.com/staff

mamushi yoke no jinja 蝮除けの神社 - Suwa jinja 諏訪神社
蝮除け 御神砂


. mi (hebi) 巳 amulets for the Year of the Snake .
The Snake / Serpent is one of the 12 zodiac animals of the Asian lunar calendar.


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mizumaki otoko 水撒き男 water-sprinkling man


source : www.cleanup.co.jp

They were hired by the merchants to sprinkle water in front of the store.
They carried two barrels of water with holes in the bottom.
The roads of Edo were from earth and produced a lot of dust during the dry summer months.
Sprinkling water would also keep the area just a little bit cooler.


. uchimizu 打水 sprinkling water .
has now become popular in Tokyo and other cities again as a means to save energy for air-conditioning!

. Doing Business in Edo - 江戸の商売 .


sanja matsuri Asakusa 三社祭は浅草神社
- source : 江戸の歳時記 -

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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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