Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
Awesome! You all posted wonderful haiku on our 'Special by Buson' and 'Charcoal'. I am so glad to see that Carpe Diem gives you the joy to write haiku and surely this month of Classical Japanese Kigo (seasonswords) isn't easy, even to me.
Today our prompt is Tea Flowers (cha no kana). Tea Flowers, or better Tea Blossoms, are wonderful and fragile and the flowers are also used to make tea. In Japan a large range of tea is consumed, but it's also used in a ornamental way.
A tea blossom or flowering tea can be an "arrangement of delicate tea leaves and freshly dried flowers that are hand sewn and dried into a ball shape. They are designed to unfurl into beautiful flower-like arrangements when steeped in hot water. They are usually prepared in a clear teapot, cup, mug or other clear vessel so that you can enjoy the performance."
As soon as you pour hot water into the clear mug with the blossom, it, well, blossoms right before your eyes. It's should be a beautiful sight!
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| Tea Flowers or Tea Blossom as ornament |
It's was common to use this as we use bouquets of flowers on our table. In this way it's easier to write haiku on Tea Flowers. For example:
On Tea Blossom:
playing hide-and-seek
in tea blossoms ...
sparrows
(c) Buson (?)
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| Tea Blossom |
So let's go craft a few haiku on tea blossom/tea flower (cha no hana).
on the table
a ball of glass sprouting
yellow tea blossom
blossoming tea
for a wedding gift -
Ah! What a sight.
Well ... to me this one wasn't easy to do, but I hope to read wonderful haiku on this prompt for today.
This prompt will stay on 'till December 9th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will publish our new prompt Winter Rain (fuyu no ame) later on today around 10.00 PM (CET).
Have fun, enjoy the read, be inspired and write your haiku for Carpe Diem.
That Buson example surprises me. Personification (birds playing hide n seek) sneaks into even the master's work. I like that.
ReplyDeleteNew look for blog...old year out, new in.
ReplyDeleteIn progress but hope it will be easier for
people to read.
Sabrina DeBeck of Dallas, Texas is the
designer.
The is was a hard prompt for me... it had
many directions in my mind, but wanted to
stay with the tea blossom that bloomed as
tea was steeped.
Hope you enjoy the haiku
Wonderful prompt, and inspired images in my head. Thank you Kristjaan
ReplyDeleteAdded a 2nd - which is more in line with initial prompt of flowers in tea! Both were enjoyable to write! I love tea and tea ceremonies!!
ReplyDeleteI have had a hard time with creativity of any kind for the last couple weeks, and have found this month's prompts too challenging at times....I wish I could channel some of the wonderful poetry I have read on your site....
ReplyDeleteKris -- for some reason, siggiofmaine's link is not working. I had to backtrack to find hers ... I read in on the reader last night ... http://siggiofmaine.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/carpe-diem-64-tea-flowers-cha-no-kana/
ReplyDeleteFollowed my poet friend Bjorn Brudberg here ( I hope he does not mind ) I would love to follow along, just not sure how to link so I will check back tomorrow for a new prompt. Thanks everyone for the kind words !
ReplyDelete