Saijiki
title: "Saijiki" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["japanese-poetry", "haikai-forms", "japanese-literary-terminology", "kigo"] topic_path: "geography/japan" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saijiki" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
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A is a list of Japanese kigo (seasonal terms) used in haiku and related forms of poetry. An entry in a saijiki usually includes a description of the kigo itself, as well as a list of similar or related words, and some examples of haiku that include that kigo. A is similar, but does not contain sample poems. Modern saijiki and kiyose are divided into the four seasons and New Year, with some containing a further section for seasonless topics. Each seasonal section is further divided into a standard set of categories, each containing a list of relevant kigo. The most common categories are the season, the heavens, the earth, humanity, observances, animals and plants.
Japanese seasons
In the Japanese calendar, seasons traditionally followed the lunisolar calendar with the solstices and equinoxes at the middle of a season. The traditional Japanese seasons are:
- Spring: 4 February–5 May
- Summer: 6 May–7 August
- Autumn: 8 August–6 November
- Winter: 7 November–3 February
In categorising kigo, a saijiki or kiyose divides each season into early, middle, and late periods, as follows:
- Early spring: 4 February–5 March
- Mid-spring: 6 March–4 April
- Late spring: 5 April–5 May
- Early summer: 6 May–5 June
- Mid-summer: 6 June–6 July
- Late summer: 7 July–7 August
- Early autumn: 8 August–7 September
- Mid-autumn: 8 September–7 October
- Late autumn: 8 October–6 November
- Early winter: 7 November–6 December
- Mid-winter: 7 December–4 January
- Late winter: 5 January–3 February
Bibliography
English
- The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words, selected by Kenkichi Yamamoto, on Renku Home
- William J. Higginson, ed. Haiku world: an international poetry almanac. Kodansha, 1996.
- The Japanese Haiku Topical Dictionary at the University of Virginia Japanese Text Initiative
- World Kigo Database, worldwide saijiki
French
- LE SAIJIKI: Ephéméride poétique à l'usage des poètes composant des haïku en langue française - Le Saijiki, the French version of the Saijiki by Seegan Mabesoone, has been available since 1998.
Japanese
- Masaoka Shiki, ed. Kiyose. 1930 ()
- Kyoshi Takahama, ed. A New Saijiki, 1934 ()
- Teiko Inahata, ed. The New Hototogisu Saijiki, 1996 ()
References
References
- Gill, Robin D. ''The Fifth Season—Poems to Re-Create the World: In Praise of Olde Haiku: New Year Ku; Books 1 & 2'', Paraverse Press, 2007, {{ISBN. 978-0-9742618-9-8, p.18
- Higginson, William J. ''Kiyose (Seasonword Guide)'', From Here Press, 2005, p.24
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