Ozu title changes

Michael E. Kerpan kerpan
Fri Sep 1 18:13:58 EDT 2000


On Fri, 01 Sep 2000, Lucy Lower <lower at hawaii.edu> wrote:

> In the Kojien (sorry, I can't do the proper diacritics) dictionary, mugi
> aki, properly prounced bakushuu, is defined as "the season when barley is
> harvested, i.e., early summer.  Also, the name of the fourth month in the
> lunar calendar."  Since the lunar calendar begins (in late January or
> February) with three months of spring, the fourth would be the first month
> summer.

Having done some agricultural research,I have determined that barley is
typically the first cereal crop of the year, and that it takes about 4 months
to go from planting to harvest.  Depending on the climate (unlike wheat it
can't be planted in winter weather), harvest times range from April (India) to
July (more northerly locations).  Harvest time in Southern Japan (at least)
appears to be in very late May or early June.  [Some sources do seem to get
confused by the fact that bakushu is something like "rice fall".]

So -- you're right and I was confused (but I do live in Massachusetts, which
obviously has a different harvest schedule from Southern Japan).

This raises the question of when the final scene in Early Summer occurs.  Is it
soon after the Boy's Day celebration we see  -- or is it actually the next
year?  The barley harvest of the same year would seem to be too soon to fit
with the implied chronology of the story.

Michael Kerpan
Boston, MA
kerpan at attglobal.net




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