This is the seasonal phrase for this time of the year. “Thunders no longer growl.” Surely, thunder is one of the features of the summer season.
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この時期の七十二候の名称です。「雷すなわち声をひそめる。」確かに雷鳴は夏を特徴づけるものですよね。
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Since today falls on the autumnal equinox day, I searched old Chinese poems associated with the season, only to find dismal passages like this one. As a matter of fact, in the daytime summer heat still remains, though. “Only plaintive autumn wind moves spikes of rice and millet, in other words, there is no one to hold a conversation with.”
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今日は秋分の日なので、秋に纏わる漢詩を探そうとしたら、こんな暗い一節ばかりが出てきました。実際には、日中はまだ夏の暑さです。「秋の物悲しい風が稲や黍の穂を動かす、つまり、風が吹いているだけで、語り合う人もいない。」
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Today falls on August 15th in the old calendar, the day of the harvest moon. We Japanese have a custom of appreciating the moon. And I thought arranging my calligraphy with some Japanese silver grass and a small chestnut branch with a fruit would look nice because those plants are often associated with full moon. I wrote a passage from an old Chinese poem and a Japanese modern haiku. Both of their motif is the harvest moon.
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今日は中秋の明月にあたりますので、月と似合いそうなすすきや栗などと取り合わせました。明月を謳った古い中国の詩と日本の現代俳句です。
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This is the seasonal phrase for this time of the year. “Black birds” here mean house swallows and the whole phrase means house swallows leave for the south in fall. According to a folklore, swallows have always been a symbol for happiness. The story goes if they come to your house and build a nest every year, they should bring happiness. My mother’s natal home was just like that, which made my grandpa very happy.
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この時期の七十二候の名称です。燕が南国に向けて帰っていく時期だという意味だそうです。燕は昔から、毎年家に来て巣を作ると縁起がいいとされていたようで、母の実家でも毎年燕の一家が春に来て秋に帰っていくので、祖父が喜んでいました。
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This is a seasonal phrase for this time of year, “Wagtails sing their first songs.” As I live quite near Tadasu no Mori Forest, I am certain that I have actually seen the bird and heard its singing. However, to my regret, I can’t identify the variety of the bird the phrase mentions.
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今ぐらいの時期の七十二候の名称です。「セキレイが鳴き始める」糺の森のすぐ近くに住んでいますので、多分この鳥の姿を見たこともあれば、その声を聞いたこともあるのでしょうけれど、今すぐに、あの鳥だわ・・・とはわかりません。
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The phrase is supposed to symbolize this time of year. “Dews on grass give out white light.” It is such a beautiful image but we still don’t realize this image.
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今ぐらいの季節の言葉です。「草に降りた露が白く光る」綺麗なイメージですがまだちょっと実感がありません。
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This is the season words for this time of year. It refers to grain growing and especially, about rice ripening. Families of distant relatives on my father’s side live in the mountainous area north of Kyoto. My parents used to take me there when I was a child. I remember they planted rice in early May, however, I don’t remember when the rice ripened or when they harvested it.
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今ぐらいの時期の七十二候の名称です。穀物が実るということですが、要するに「稲が実る」の意味だそうです。京都市の北の山深いあたりに父方の親戚がいて、幼い頃にはよく親に連れられて行っていました。田植えは大体5月初めだったと思いますが、稲が実ったり、稲刈りをしたりが何月だったか覚えていません。
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I have used the subdivided solar terms as motifs for my calligraphy for some time. In the meantime, some of the phrases don’t give me actual feelings and at some other times, I find things I have never seen in person, like this one 綿柎開, meaning “calyx enwrapping cotton opens”.
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こうやって七十二候の名称を作品のモチーフにしていますが、ときとして「実感が湧かない」と思うこともあり、またこれ「綿柎開」（「綿を包むがくが開く」の意）のように現実に見たことがないものもあります。
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The seasonal phrase for this time of the year is this, “evening cicadas sing”, which somehow implies a sort of loneliness, that is, a feeling the summer season is finally ready to leave.
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今ぐらいの時節の七十二候の名称です。寒蝉はひぐらしだそうですが、何とはなしに夏ももう終わっていくのかなという寂しさを感じます。
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During the Obon period, usually in mid-August, it is believed that the ancestral spirits come back to their family. Today I bought some offerings to the ancestors including sweets, fruits and vegetables. I heard a story that goes fruits of a plant called “Chinese lanterns” should serve to guide the deceased to their house safely.
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今日はお盆のお供えの用意をしました。鬼灯はご先祖さまが迷子にならずに帰れるように提灯の役をすると聞きました。
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O, Chinese lanterns/
Ready to welcome dad and mom/
Brand new tatami mats/
Calligraphy and translation by Chio
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