Latest newsletter: "Mugi (Barley and wheat)"
May 30, 2018Here is a Tanka compiled in episode 8 in the second volume of “Wakun no Shiori (Japanese Dictinary published in 18c)”.
“Momijibano Chiruya chiranuni Tanemakite Ugetsu satsukini Karuwa kozokusa”
Interpretation: It is wheat which is seeded when Japanese maple leaves fall in any moment, and is harvested in April or May.
It is the time of “小満 (Shoman)” which is the eighth period on the 24th divides the solar year calendar. Shoman was apparently named from wheat and barley. They are seeded after rice was cropped in autumn and it is gradually bear and are now waiting to be harvested around this time of the year. In the Edo period (17-19c) in Japan, a yield of rice in each area was indicated with the measurement, “Kokudaka”, which also showed the power of the area’s economic leaders. Because of the suitable climate, rice cultivation was developed in Japanese society. On the other hand, wheat and barley were already being grown 10,000 years ago in Mesopotamia and it was an inseparable plant for the history of man to progress civilization with settlements in places that were engaged in farming.
Read the full article:
Pioneer in Vitaminology: "Mugi (Barley and wheat)"
Translation by: Hitomi Kochi, reviewed by Chan Yee Ting
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