Norman Darlo
Season words (kigo) are of central importance in Japanese poetry such as haiku. Often it is clear what season is intended: ‘swimming’ indicates summer; ‘snow’, winter. But sometimes it is less than obvious: ‘moon’, for example, indicates autumn, because this is the traditional season for moon-viewing parties; and sometimes it is downright counter-intuitive – there’s an example of one of those in the quiz below, so I’ll say no more about that ? This is a fun quiz. Have a go even if you never read a poem in your life!
It may help to know that in the Japanese poetic calendar, the seasons are allocated approximately as follows:
Spring: February–April; Summer: May–July; Autumn: August–October; Winter: November–February.
If you like this quiz, be sure to check out my 99 Amazing Quizzes on a Wide Variety of Topics! – “Guaranteed to make you smarter!”
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Question of
Cherry blossom-viewing (hanami)
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Spring
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Summer
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Autumn
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Winter
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Question of
Fallen leaves (ochiba)
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Spring
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Summer
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Autumn
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Winter
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Question of
Air conditioning (reibo)
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Spring
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Summer
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Autumn
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Winter
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Question of
Peach (momo)
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Spring
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Summer
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Autumn
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Winter
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Question of
Milky Way (amanogawa)
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Spring
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Summer
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Autumn
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Winter
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Question of
Hazy moon (oborozuki)
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Spring
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Summer
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Autumn
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Winter
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Question of
Warm (atatakashi)
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Spring
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Summer
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Autumn
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Winter
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Question of
Basho’s Memorial Day (bashoki)
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Spring
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Summer
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Autumn
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Winter
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Question of
Withered pampas grass (kareobana)
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Spring
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Summer
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Autumn
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Winter
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Question of
Waterfall (taki)
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Spring
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Summer
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Autumn
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Winter
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Question of
Frogs (kawazu)
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Spring
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Summer
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Autumn
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Winter
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Question of
Blowfish soup (fugujiru)
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Spring
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Summer
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Autumn
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Winter
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Question of
Cool (suzushi)
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Spring
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Summer
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Autumn
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Winter
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Question of
Nap (hirune)
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Spring
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Summer
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Autumn
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Winter
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Question of
Red leaves (momiji)
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Spring
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Summer
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Autumn
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Winter
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Question of
Calendar vendor (koyomiuri)
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Spring
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Summer
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Autumn
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Winter
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i love these photos is these in states
Great winter picture of this week…
That was great! I learned and had fun trying to figure out the answers. Like the last questions the best! Thank you, Norman!
Jackie, thank you very much for that great feedback! I’m so glad you had fun 🙂
You got 13 out of 16 right!
Perfect. You rock!
Excellent quiz. Milky Way and calendar vendor were really tough to guess and i got them both wrong. Loved it!!
Well done and I’m glad you enjoyed, Dawnwriter! But I put calendar vendor as an ‘easy one’ to end on. I thought it was self-evident that it would be coming up to new year when calendars would be sold 🙂
Haha, that deflated my ego nicely…i was feeling pretty pleased with myself 🙂
Ah, no, that was far from my intent! I only meant that what seems obvious to one can be quite opaque to another. I find myself on the opaque end of such things all the time 😀
You got 10 out of 16 right!
My eeny meeny miny moe is quite successful, is not it?
Don’t be giving away your secret method!!
It’s okay! I’m generous, said, my next-door neighbor.
got 7 out of 16 right!
It was a hard one, Edith! Thanks for playing 🙂
10/16, really Awesome Quiz!
Hey, well done, Hamza! Thanks for participating 🙂
You’re Welcome Norman!
10/16, really super Japanese poetic quiz!!!
Well done, Anastasia! Thanks for the feedback 🙂
Why so tough? Hihi I got perfect 6.???
Because you’re a tough girl, Cassy 😀 Thanks for taking part!
I got 7 correct…fun quiz…definitely learned something!
That’s great, Mom! Glad you had fun 🙂
Love these learning experience quizzes. This title grabbed me leading me to learn that I have more to learn about kigo.
Thanks for the ++ feedback, Roberta 🙂 Kigo is a really big subject and opens a lot of debates.
5 of 16 must admit thatmost of my knowledge of Japan comes from watching anime
I guess there must be a certain amount of crossover there, but it’s limited 🙂 Thanks for taking the quiz, Paul!
…this is some kind of a “seasons in the sun” quiz..Good jon Norman..I got 6…?
I’m not sure what that means, Traf 🙂 But thanks for taking the quiz!
It’s about 4 major seasons…i had fun from ur quiz..good job Norman 🙂
Wow – this totally depends where you live! Here the leaves fall in autumn ~ I quickly see that we are not the same at all. Tons of fun though.
That’s a very valid point, Trenna. These season-words were codified in Japan, but even there, because the country extends quite far from north to south, they had to agree that it was the situation in Kyoto that would define the validity and value of any kigo. I’ve been involved for years in international collaborations involving seasonal poetry; you can’t even begin to imagine the amount of ‘ironing-out’ and heated disagreements I’ve had to deal with 🙂
Glad you had fun!
Got 10 correct, very interesting quiz!
Glad you liked it, Carol. And well done getting 10 right – this is tricky enough 🙂