Oranges and Cicadas

 ORANGES AND CICADAS

#waka #cicada #tachibana #hagoromo #japanesepoetry #oranges

Original post 2022 

Reposted with some edits 2024 

I was looking for poems about tachibana and trying to avoid the usual cliches about the scent of orange blossom. The Japanese grow tachibana mainly for the scent. Other types of citrus are grown for fruit.

Its an odd plant in that its described as "native" to Japanese but its a hybrid of a hybrid of a sub species that somewhat made it to Japan and its not quite the same plant as the Chinese version.

This is by Fujiwara Takanobu 

Noki chikaki 

Hanatachibana ni 

Kaze sugite 

Nioi o nokosu 

Semi no hagoromo 

Close by my (house) eaves(from) the orange tree the breeze leaves behind its scent (on) the cicadas robes (or wings) 

Probably he was sitting on a verandah facing a garden with a tachibana tree nearby and he could see a cicada nearby or hear it and imagines the scent also drifting on the breeze onto the cicada but wait!

Hagoromo is it robes or wings ? Hagoromo is literally feathered garment but the word is also used to describe wings and plumage. Cicadas have wings but no feathers and I wonder if seeing their glossy translucent wings made the poet think of summer gauzes those light silken under robes aristocrats might strip down to at home in the summer heat ? 

The poem was written as part of a poetry competition with summer as a theme. 

Higurashi Japanese Sculptures

#Japanese #Sculptures of Higurashi

Here's an actual #higurashi cicada and heres some 3d sculptures

I hope you've enjoyed this medley

Please check the archives for more collections of images based on themes also poetry translations!

Jade cicadas

#Cicadas carved in #Jade originally used as tokens of immortality to be buried with the dead but also used for jewellery in China.

Cicadas - a Waka

This poem about #cicadas is from a sequence of #waka written by #MinamotoNoAkinaka (1064-1135)

Yamakawa no 
Iwa kosu nami ni 
Uchisoete 
Tani hibiku nari 
Semi no morogoe 

mountain yama river kawa  of no

reef  iwa as jagged peaks of rocks sticking up thru waves nami  in a rapid kosu straining or crossing over ni - locative

uchi intensifier prefix "VERY" little / great soete sou following accompanying running along

tani valley hibiku  echo sound nari verb to be archaic

semi - cicada no - of morogoe compound noun moro together goe voice  voices sounds in unison

My notes I hope show why learning even just a little bungo deepens one's appreciation of waka.

Translated directly one loses most of the assonance  ?

I will try though to give you something not too prosaic !

in a mountain valley
waves break over rapids 
following so closely 
 the valley fills with echos of both 
the chorus of cicadas 

Cicadas Two - Lacquer

#zeshin #student #japanese laquer #cicada Number Two in a series of posts about Cicadas.

This Meji era lacquered box is thought to have been made either in Zeshin's workshop or by one of his students but not by the master himself. Note the mixture of textures and the way the gold inlay contributes to the composition. Its painted yet carved yet also molded and exquisite.

Follow me for more posts about cicadas in Asian art.

Cicadas ONE

#cicadas #hanzi #kanji

Copyright J. Vaux 2017

Cicadas and Chiyo

#haiku #chiyo #summer #cicadas

Its mid summer where I am and we have cicadas in Australia.

CHIYO

Taki no ne mo / hosoru ya mine ni / semi no koe 

waterfall of sound despite stretching thin (voice like thread) mountains at cicadas of voice

Let's change that into something that sounds and reads a bit more "poetic" in English

Despite the roar of the waterfall 
Spreading thinly around the peaks
The voice of the cicadas

Despite is perhaps a rather generous interpretation of mo but it works

Cicadas in Japan allegedly like rock crevices as much as they prefer trees in Sydney.
Chiyo uses peaks mine instead of yama. Perhaps she was visiting the Hakusan Mountains South and South East of Matto City ?

I will have more technozi for you over the Christmas but there will be some bumping of old posts.

Support this blog
paypal.me/JulieVaux

or check out my Amazon Wish Lists?