Saijiki for March

These are some poetic words to use for gomei for the month of March:

• Joushi (上巳): March 3rd of the lunar calendar (one of the five annual festivals); dolls festival; peach festival (mainly for girls)
• Keichitsu (啓蟄): “awakening of insects” solar term (around March 6th, the day on which hibernating insects are said to come out of the ground)
• Shunbun (春分): the spring or vernal equinox, around March 21st
• Shanichi or Shajitsu (社日): “tsuchinoe” (fifth sign of the Chinese calendar) day that falls closest to the vernal or autumnal equinox (a day of religious significance for harvests)
• Shunsha (春社): spring “tsuchinoe” day that falls closest to the vernal equinox (a day of religious significance for harvests)
• Shungyou (春暁): dawn on a spring day
• Harunokure (春の暮): dusk on a spring day
• Oboroyo (朧夜): misty, moonlit night
• Shungetsu (春月): full moon on a spring night
• Shunpuu (春風): a spring breeze
• Shunshou (春宵): a spring evening
• Kagerou (陽炎): the shimmer of the air when the heat rises from a field on a beautiful spring day
• Haruichiban (春一番): the first storm of spring (or a strong south wind blowing for the first time since the beginning of spring)
• Haruarashi (春嵐): a spring gale blowing in February or March that makes us momentarily forget that it is spring
• Harunoyuki (春の雪): spring snow (usually of large snowflakes)
• Awayuki (淡雪): light snowfall; large flakes of snow that disappear quickly
• Yukinohate (雪の果): the last of the snow to melt in spring; the remnants of snow
• Yukima (雪間): a patch of ground not covered in snow, indicating that spring is coming, because the snow is starting to disappear
• Yukishiro (雪代): the water that flows to the sea from melting snow
• Yukinigori (雪濁り): water from melting snow that gets muddy flowing through rivers to the sea
• Natanetsuyu (菜種梅雨): a long period of rain in early spring that makes the flowers bloom
• Higan’nishi (彼岸西風): westerly wind blowing around the time of the spring equinox
• Higan (彼岸): the week of the vernal equinox, including the three days before and after the equinox iteself
• Uraraka (麗らか): the sky is clear, and the scenery is bright and calm
• Hinaga (日永): a long day in spring; the days are getting longer, with more sun
• Chijitsu (遅日): a long day in spring; the sunset is late at night, so the dusk is longer
• Wakamidori (若緑): the color of the young buds on pine trees
• Saohime (佐保姫): the goddess of spring
• Hikitsuru (引鶴): the time when the cranes return north, indicating the coming of spring
• Kigan (帰雁): the time when the geese return north, indicating the coming of spring
• Harunogan (春の雁): a goose that does not return north in the spring; the geese that are left behind
• Torigumo (鳥雲): when a bird returning north enters a cloud and becomes invisible
• Nioidori (匂い鳥): the nightingale (or sound of the nightingale)
• Shiokumi (汐干): low tide in early spring

Saijiki for February

These are some poetic words to use for gomei for the month of February:

• Setsubun (節分): last day of winter in the traditional Japanese calendar (usually February 3 or 4); holiday for end of winter (accompanied by a bean scattering ceremony)
• Risshun (立春): first day of spring (according to the traditional lunisolar calendar, around February 4th)
• Usui (雨水): “rain water” solar term (around February 18th or 19th)
• Soushun (早春): early spring
• Haruasashi (春浅し): early, superficial indications of spring, when it still remains cold
• Shunkan (春寒): cold weather that lingers into early spring
• Shunsetsu (春雪): snow that falls in spring
• Zansetsu (残雪): winter snow that does not disappear, even in the spring
• Yukima (雪間): a patch of ground not covered in snow, indicating that spring is coming, because the snow is starting to disappear
• Usurahi (薄氷): the thin ice of early spring
• Yukige (雪解): melting snow; the water from melting snow
• Suguro (末黒): “black powder” produced from the burning of fields in the spring
• Yakeyama (焼山): a mountain off of which the dried grass and scrub has been burned
• Agematsuba (上げ松葉): pine needles laid on top of moss to prevent it from freezing (I believe this word refers to the way these pine needles stick up out of the snow as it melts)
• Haruarashi (春嵐): a spring gale blowing in February or March that makes us momentarily forget that it is spring
• Nehan’nishi (涅槃西風): a westerly wind blowing from the Pure Land around the time the Buddha ascended to nirvana (or died), around February 15th
• Kaiyose (貝寄風): west wind in the early spring (traditionally on the night of the 20th day of the second month of the lunar calendar); wind that blows seashells ashore
• Kochi (東風): rough wind blowing from the east in early spring
• Fukyounohana (不香の花): a nickname for snow; literally “doesn’t smell like a flower”
• Hananoani (花の兄): a nickname for plums; literally “brother of the flower”
• Konohana (木の花): another nickname for plums; “tree flowers”
• Konohana (此の花): an elegant name for the plum