[Goldfish Swimming in Words] Vol.1: 'Coolness' Imbued in Seventeen Syllables

In the world of Haiku, goldfish are an important seasonal word announcing the arrival of summer.Edo period poets captured their figure swimming in a bowl not just as mere fish, but as beings that brought "coolness itself".

Capturing a Momentary Shimmer

"Kingyo uru / koe no hibiki ya / mizu no naka"(The voice selling goldfish / echoes / inside the water)

This is a haiku composed by Tan Taigi, a poet in the middle of the Edo period.

The vigorous voice of a peddler selling "Goldfish~ eh, Goldfish~" echoes in the silent town on a summer afternoon.The vibration of that voice travels to the water in the bowl at the storefront, and the goldfish turns around in surprise.Such a momentary movement is depicted.The poets of that time tried to vividly capture not just the shape of the goldfish, but the "movement of water" and "temperature of the atmosphere" created by the goldfish being there, within the seventeen syllables.

Red Shadow Inherited in Poetry

The reason goldfish became established as a seasonal word is also because they strongly remind people of "water".Chasing the red shadow swimming coolly with eyes in the height of hot summer to get a moment of coolness.It was a quiet and rich luxury of the heart in daily life for Edo people.

Defining the beauty of goldfish by words and admiring it.That culture is still breathing in our sensibilities while changing its form.The figure of goldfish cut out in the limited world of seventeen syllables delivers a cool breeze to us even after hundreds of years.

Katsumi Suzuki, "Goldfish and Japanese"(Kodansha Academic Paperback, 2019): Description of how goldfish were treated in Haiku and Senryu, and the spread of appreciation culture through literature.

"Kadokawa Haiku Great Saijiki Summer": Basic material on how goldfish are defined as a seasonal word and what kind of haiku have been composed since ancient times.

Tan Taigi "Taigi Kushu": Delicate style capturing the daily life of the middle Edo period and the depiction of goldfish.