＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
(Reference) Original article in Japanese
No other country experiences such rich seasonal changes as Japan. This is because the country lies in a temperate zone with a nearly regular alternation of hot and cold seasons, surrounded by the sea on all sides, and experiencing monsoon weather with seasonal winds in summer and winter, resulting in pronounced seasonal phenomena such as spring rains, the rainy season, and typhoons.
However, the Japanese people, originally an agricultural society, have a remarkably keen and delicate sensitivity to the changing seasons, which likely gave rise to uniquely Japanese forms of short poetry such as waka and haikai (haiku).
Words like “flowers, birds, wind, and moon,” “snow, moon, and flowers,” “three kinds of scenery,” and “five kinds of scenery” succinctly express this delicate sensibility of the Japanese people.
This sensibility seems to have been passed down to the DNA of modern Japanese people.
1. Kachōfūgetsu (花鳥風月)
“Kachōfūgetsu” refers to “the beautiful scenery and natural phenomena of nature, as well as the refined pastime of appreciating them and creating poetry, paintings, and other works of art based on them.” While “fūgetsu” literally means wind and moon, in a narrower sense it refers to “clear breeze” and “bright moon.”
The following passage appears in “Fūshikaden” by the Noh actor Zeami (1363-1443):
…The stories of famous figures like the Minamoto and Taira clans are depicted in the style of nature, incorporating elements of flowers, birds, wind, and moon…
・・・源平などの名のある人の事を花鳥風月に作り寄せて・・・
A very similar expression is “setsugetsufuka（「雪月風花（せつげつふうか）」）” (or “fukasetsugetsu(「風花雪月（ふうかせつげつ）」）”, which means “the beautiful scenery of nature in each of the four seasons, and the refined pursuit of poetry and songs while admiring it.”
2. Setsugetsuka（雪月花）
“Setsugetsuka” refers to “the beautiful natural scenery of snow, moon, and flowers.”
Many people may think that “Setsugetsuka” is a uniquely Japanese expression, but it actually originates from the poem “To Yin Xie Lu（「寄殷協律」）” by the Chinese Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi （白居易）(772-846).
The day we played together when we were five years old.
One morning, you vanished like a floating cloud.
All the friends with whom I shared the zither, poetry, and wine left me.
I remember you most fondly during the beautiful seasons of snow, moon, and flowers.
How many times have I listened to the song “Yellow Rooster” and sung the melody of “Bright Sun”?
I even wrote poems about a beautiful woman in a red-hemmed dress while riding a horse.
I haven’t heard the song of Wu Niang since we parted in Jiangnan.
五歳優遊同過日 一朝消散似浮雲
琴詩酒伴皆抛我 雪月花時最憶君
幾度聽鶏歌白日 亦曾騎馬詠紅裙
呉娘暮雨蕭蕭曲 自別江南更不聞五歳の時に一緒に遊んだ日。
ある朝、浮雲のように消えてしまった。
琴や詩、酒を共にした友たちが皆私を離れた。
雪や月や花の美しい時、君を最も懐かしく思い出す。
幾度「黄鶏」の歌を聴き、「白日」の曲を歌ったことだろう。
馬に乗って、赤い裾の衣を着た美人を詠じたこともあった。
江南で君と別れてから、一度も聞いていない呉娘の曲。
Yin Xie Lü was a subordinate of Bai Juyi when he was in Jiangnan, and he presented this poem to him from Chang’an. The phrase “snow, moon, and flowers” in the poem refers to the times when each of the four seasons is at its most beautiful. The poem expresses thoughts of Yin Xie Lü, who is far away in Jiangnan, during these beautiful seasons.
However, prior to 825 AD, when Bai Juyi’s poem was written, there is a waka poem by Ōtomo no Yakamochi (c. 718-785 AD) titled “A Poem on Snow, Moon, and Plum Blossoms at a Banquet,” which is preserved in the Manyōshū anthology. This poem was written in 749 AD.
On a moonlit night, shining brightly on the snow, I wish I had a beloved child to pick a plum blossom and give it to them.
雪の上に 照れる月夜に 梅の花 折りて贈らむ 愛しき子もがも
“Snow, moon, and flowers（「雪月花」）” is also seen as one of the defining characteristics of Japanese art and aesthetics. The phrase “Snow, moon, and flowers, I most long for you” is included, along with the preceding verse, in the section on friendship in the “Wakan Rōeishū” (Collection of Japanese and Chinese Poems for Recitation), compiled around 1013. It also appears in an anecdote about Emperor Murakami in Sei Shōnagon’s (c. 966–c. 1025) “The Pillow Book.”
While “snow, moon, and flowers” is often used as the phonetic reading, the traditional Japanese usage is “moon, snow, and flowers” (tsukiyukihana)（「月雪花（つきゆきはな）」）.
Incidentally, the divisions of the Takarazuka Revue into “Flower Troupe,” “Moon Troupe,” and “Snow Troupe” also originate from this.
３．The Three Scenic Views（三種の景物（さんしゅのけいぶつ）
As time passed, “snow, moon, and flowers” came to be understood as a combination of “snow,” “moon,” and “cherry blossoms,” and these “three scenic views” further came to be understood as “a term that represents the refined attitude of appreciating such scenic views.”
(1) The Three Views of Japan（日本三景）
・Snow: Amanohashidate（天橋立）
・Moon: Matsushima（松島）
・Flowers: (Likening autumn leaves to flowers) Miyajima（宮島）
(2) Japan’s Three Great Gardens（日本三名園）
・ Snow: Kenrokuen Garden（兼六園）
・Moon: Korakuen（後楽園）
・ Flowers: (Plum blossoms) Kairakuen Garden（偕楽園）
4. The Five Scenic Objects（「五箇の景物（ごこのけいぶつ）」）
In the “Kin’yō Wakashū,” the fifth imperial anthology of Japanese poetry, the moon, which had not previously been associated with a specific season, was designated as an autumn scenic object. From then on, along with “flowers” (cherry blossoms in the seasonal word) (spring), “cuckoo” (summer), “autumn leaves” (autumn), and “snow” (winter), it was considered one of the “Five Scenic Objects” and was highly valued.