Haiku beyond Earth「天上俳句会」Happy New Year 2025

The Year of the Snake

　 　　　

　 2025 is “the Year of the Snake”, which is called Mi-Doshi（巳年）in Japan. The character for Mi（巳）is a pictograph that represents the shape of a fetus, and is said to have originated from the appearance of a uterus enveloping a fetus.

　 When “Mi” is applied to animals, it becomes “Snake”, and there are two reasons for this.

Since ancient times, snakes have been the subject of faith and have been worshipped as valley gods (who govern valleys and lowlands) and fertility gods. The reason why Mi（巳）is used in the Matsuri（祀り, “sacred part of rituals and rites”）is because Matsuri（祀り）refers to the worship of nature gods, and because the most representative deity of nature gods is the Snake.

　 In addition, snakes are also associated with “rebirth” because they shed their skin, and because they can live a long time without eating, they are worshiped as “messengers of the gods,” and there are shrines throughout Japan that enshrine the snake god.

 　 For example, Benzaiten（弁財天）, one of the Seven Lucky Gods（七福神, Shichifukujin in Japanese）is the goddess of wealth and performing arts, and her messenger and incarnation is said to be a snake.

　 Last of all, as a snake awakens from hibernation and crawls out onto the ground, it signifies the budding of plants that took root in the winter and “the birth of new seeds.” This is why the year of the snake is considered to be “the year that marks the beginning of a new era.”

　

Haiku for the Snake 　

　

　 It was on May 30, 2019 that I had the good fortune and unexpected opportunity to encounter a snake, the valley god of Kai-no-Sawa（貝の沢）, Yamaya at the foot of Mount Taihei in Akita City, Akita Prefecture, Japan.

　 The snake seemed to have appeared to view the azaleas in full bloom in the early summer sunshine and to celebrate the Kai-no-Sawa Azalea Festival.

　

躑躅祭蛇も開園祝いけり

　

The snake

celebrating azalea festival

in full bloom

　

　

貝の沢司る蛇目の前に

　

The snake

governing Kai-no-sawa

in front of me

　

　 Kai-no-Sawa（貝の沢）is a valley with a lowland that is governed by a snake, the god of the valley, and I was lucky and surprised to encounter the snake while walking around the valley.

　 Additionally, Kai-no-Sawa is an interesting geological site, with large rocks dotted high in the valley containing relics resembling shell fossils.

　 The place name Kai-no-Sawa uses the word “shell” (貝, Kai in Japanese) in reference to these shell fossils.

　 At the beginning of the year, I wrote two haiku to celebrate the new year. In addition, tomorrow I will briefly introduce a rebirth story related to Kai-no- Sawa to celebrate the new year.

秋田国際俳句ネットワーク　

蛭田　秀法

Hidenori Hiruta

Akita International Haiku Network