Early Xmas morning we got some light rain. I listened to it. Watched the results out my window, then wrote this:

The leaves were mostly gone, but a few were holding on. Now they are mostly all gone. While I was watching the brief rain, the John Lennon lyric popped into my head.

Falling leaves is a winter kigo, so combined with christmas and winter rain, this is loaded with them! But actually, premodern haiku often contained multiple kigo, sometimes multiple kigo from different seasons, confusingly enough. Current more strict rules may frown at more than one kigo, but in it was once something of the norm. Bashō himself used multiple kigo many times.

It's sunny now, but cold. The forecast says snoiw might be coming, which is a bit unusual for this area. Kids will be excited if it does!

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon.