in the thicket (haiku)

in the thicket

what do chipmunks dream

while vacationing?

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Inspired by Yabu-iri (Servant’s Day or “thicket entering”) - an obscure season marker for spring or late New Year. 

“On or about the sixteenth of the first month, servants and apprentices were allowed to go home for a short visit. This would have meant that the holiday started with the full moon.”

So, in Issa’s haiku:

ending the Servant’s Holiday
on purpose ...
sliver moon

“The final slip of moon means the holiday is over, which tells us it lasted less than two weeks (Lanoue, 1991-2009: moon, 1803).  There also was a second servants’ holiday on the sixteenth of the sixth or seventh month, but yabu-iri in haiku was codified as an early spring kigo (or late New Year kigo).”  (Source)

Apprentices also had a “servant’s holiday”:

apprentice’s holiday:
a good-luck amulet
forgotten in the grass

Buson

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If I recall correctly, “thicket-entering” is sort of like saying the servants were headed home “in the sticks” or “in the boonies” as we would say here in the U.S.    

Here are a slew of Issa haiku about the servants.

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Neat fact of the day:  “chipmunk” comes from the Ojibwe word “ajidamoo” (one who descends trees headlong).  They don’t really hibernate – they enter a state of deep torpor.  I can hardly wait for our friendly neighborhood chipmunk “Boxcar Willie” to return from his “long winter’s nap”!

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