long autumn rain -
the smell of senbei and
smoked cheese
These special senbei, rice crackers, have a very typical smell. They are called mame mochi 豆もち with roasted soybeans, from Tokachi, Hokkaido.
Each one is wrapped in an extra pouch and when you open one, the rich fragrance of rice emerges from it.
The kigo is LONG AUTUMN RAIN, aki no naga-ame 秋の長雨.
WKD - Rain in various kigo
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
WASHOKU ... Japanese Food Culture
. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2009
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Posts
6 comments:
Hello, Gabi san,
So hard to work smell, especially food smells, into haiku. And here is the smell of the crackers (roasted soybean smell?) and the smoky cheese and also the smell of fresh rain.
neko
I love smoked cheese and rice crackers and I would dearly love some long rain but spring preferably there is no growth going in to winter.
I do not know the exact smells but I can easily imagine them as also I can imagine the autumn rain. So often smell is such a part of our lives, especially those of us who are on the land. Olfactory senses are deadened in the concrete canyons where smell is rarely defined by place or season.
Your 'ku resonates by evoking that sense of food specific to time just as for me the seasons evoke certain fare: winter was a time of hearty soups full of fresh garden vegetables dressed with freshly ground pepper and sour cream. Spring and autumn for lighter soups and cold ones such as chlodnik. Feast days with their special meals, Christmas eve had a clear barszcz (beetroot soup) with little dumplings (ears) filled with reconstituted dried mushrooms.
So here I read a 'ku that I cannot really contact with in a concrete sense that has led me on a nostalgic trail. Is that not wonderful!
Thank you Gabi, J.X.
Hi Gabi -
Although I didn't know what senbei was until your explanation, I really didn't need to know. The connection was there already and all I needed to do was make a mental substitution to associate myself with the haiku. (The smoked cheese was enough to grab my attention - love it!). I agree, a wonderful nostaglic sense to this haiku, Gabi.
Nice work, again!
W.
Oh Gabi san! Thank you for the picture and the memories...
Those are my most favourite senbei among the many I love... and I
cannot get them here...!
Isabelle
Thank you for my visit--I am reading and enjoying for although I have so many Japanese Canadian pupils and friends I have not been able to visit. Yours, Fran
lovely feel to this... very tactile haiku
involving touch, taste, smell, hearing...
very nice indeed, D.
Post a Comment