Autumn Equinox

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The World Haiku Club

WHC World Kigo Database

　 Autumn Equinox (aki higan, Japan)

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Location: Japan, other countries

Season: Mid-autumn

Category: Seasons

Explanation:

http://www.butsudanya.co.jp/gif/hakamairiImage.gif

This season comprizes some kigo for mid-autumn.

O-higan お彼岸

is a special time, rooted in Buddhist tradition, when families remember and tend to their loved ones who have passed away. It is said that when a person dies, they cross the river of the netherworld, “Sanzu no kawa” from “Shigan” (this world) to “Higan” (the other side of the river or other world); families hold memorials for their relatives living across the river. During this week, families visit cemetaries to clean and maintain graves. They also pray for their loved ones, burn incense and offer them flowers and food. The spirits are known to prefer round food, so botamochi (round glutinous rice balls covered in bean paste) are eaten on this day. The treat gets its name from botan, Chinese peonies which bloom in the spring time.

As spring and fall approach, people often say “Atsusa samusa mo Higan made,” This expression refers to the favorable seasonal changes that occur at the time of the biannual equinoxes. “Heat and cold last until Higan.” So, we can all look forward to this time of change, and soon welcome spring and its bounty.

http://www.yoke.city.yokohama.jp/echo/0403/c.html

Shuubun no hi秋分の日 Day of the Autumn Equinox,

September 23

This is an official holiday in Japan since 1948, when the constitution defined it as a day “to honor the ancestors and remember the dead “「祖先をうやまい、なくなった人々をしのぶ」. Before 1948, this day was called “Shuuki koorei-sai 秋季皇霊祭, Autumn Celebration of the Ancestors Souls”

In Buddhist communities it is celebrated as “Autumn Equinox Celebration“ shuki higan-e 秋季彼岸会, when it is customary to visit the family graves. This custom started already during the Heian period.

The seven days with this day in the center are called “autumn equinox” aki higan 秋彼岸, the equinoctial week.

Another word is “the other, later equinox, nochi no higan 後の彼岸“。

The vernal equinox in Spring is simply called “higan” 彼岸” in haiku manuals.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A7%8B%E5%88%86%E3%81%AE%E6%97%A5

http://www.jaist.ac.jp/misc/cosmos/sep95/holidays.html

Since from this day on, the days become shorter, the use of the autumn kigo about

“long nights, yonaga　夜長“　from this day on.

Another kigo for this season is “an end to the voice of thunder, kaminari-koe o osamu 雷声を収む“, but as for the year 2004, I heared the thunder this morning of September 27.

The Buddhist rituals may have their predecessors in nature cults and sun cult rituals for the sun. In some areas in Tajima, Tango area, on the day of the equinox the farmers visit three different small shrines in the morning, midday and evening to make offerings to the sun the whole day.

http://www.agara.co.jp/column/mizu/2003-09/mizu030923.html

Look at the tradition of visiting the family graves, cleaning them and pooring water over the stones.

On this link there are more photos about the proper visit of a grave.

1 First clean the stone. 2 Next remove the old incense sticks. 3 Offer some flowers.

4 Burn some fresh incense sticks. 5 Say your prayers with folded hands.

http://www.zenbutu.com/abouthigan/higansouzi6.jpg

http://www.zenbutu.com/abouthigan/ohiganhaka.htm

Here you can read details about the Night Sky changing within the seasons.

Most star patterns in the night sky are associated with specific seasons of the year. Evening skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere enjoy Orion the Hunter only during the cold wintry months, for example. Spring evenings provide a view of the Sickle of Leo, the Lion. In summer, the stars of Scorpius, the Scorpion dominate the southern sky. And the Great Square of Pegasus vies for the stargazer's attention on fall evenings.

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/seasonal_stars_030207.html

Here is a newspaper article about the “science behind the season”.

A year-long series of pictures by Greek photographer Anthony Ayiomamitis helps put the equinox into perspective, while also illustrating why we have seasons.

The image shows the Sun's position in the sky at the same time each day, every week or so, during a full year. The figure-8 pattern created by the Sun's apparent annual movement is called an analemma.

http://www.space.com/images/040921_analemma_02.jpg

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/space/20040921/sc_space/thesunstravelsandwhyfallisnigh&e=5

Safety copy:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/happyhaiku/message/501

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Worldwide use:

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Things found on the way:

LINK of National Holidays in Japan

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2062.html

Haiku:

《きらきらと秋の彼岸の椿かな　木導》

kirakira to aki no higan no tsubaki kana Kidoo

shining bright

the camellias

at the autumn equinox

http://www.agara.co.jp/column/mizu/2003-09/mizu030923.html

In rural Japan, most of the farmhouses have their own small privategraveyard with stone monuments for the ancestors. It is stillquite common to visit these graves and make offerings four times a year, spring and autumn equinox, o-Bon in mid-august and during the New Year Holidays.

But this year in our area

autumn equinox -
so many gravestones
without flowers