Kigo

Kigo (季語, "season word") (plural kigo) is a word or phrase associated with a particular season, used in traditional forms of Japanese poetry. Kigo are used in the collaborative linked-verse forms renga and renku, as well as in haiku, to indicate the season referred to in the stanza. They are valuable in providing economy of expression.

History of kigo

Although the term kigo was coined as late as 1908, representation of and reference to the seasons has long been important in Japanese culture and poetry. The earliest anthology of Japanese poetry, the mid-8th century Man'yōshū, contained several sections devoted to the seasons. By the time of the first imperial Japanese anthology, the Kokinshū a century and a half later (AD 905), the seasonal sections had become a much larger part of the anthology. Both of these anthologies had sections for other categories such as love poems and miscellaneous (zō) poems.

The writing of the linked-verse form renga dates to the middle of the Heian period (roughly AD 1000) and developed through the medieval era. By the 13th century there were very set rules for the writing of renga, and its formal structure specified that about half of the stanzas should include a reference to a specific season, depending upon their place in the poem. According to these rules, the hokku (the opening stanza of the renga) must include a reference to the season in which the renga was written.

KIGO

For the Japanese words for particular seasons, see Kigo.

KIGO (1420 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a regional Mexican format. Licensed to St. Anthony, Idaho, USA, the station is currently owned by Albino Ortega & Maria Juarez.

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