Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is the place to be if you like to write and share Japanese poetry forms like haiku and tanka. It’s a warmhearted family of haiku poets created by Chèvrefeuille, a Dutch haiku poet. Japanese poetry is the poetry of nature and it gives an impression of a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water. ++ ALL WORKS PUBLISHED ARE COPYRIGHTED AND THE RIGHTS BELONG TO THE AUTHORS ++ !!! Anonymous comments will be seen as SPAM !!!
I don't have the new prompt-list ready for this month, so my apologies for that. This month I love to go further on the idea of Impressionism as I described in our last "Haiku Writing Techniques" episode "surprise". This month I will try to challenge you with all wonderful images, photos and other things e.g. music and ask you to write a haiku ... an impression ... of the scenes which I share here. (As you can see I haven't a proper logo for this month ...)
Impressionism
is a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based
artists. Their independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the
1870s and 1880s, in spite of harsh opposition from the conventional art
community in France. The name of the style derives from the title of a Claude
Monet work, Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise), which provoked the
critic Louis Leroy to coin the term in a satirical review published in the
Parisian newspaper Le Charivari.
Impressionist painting characteristics include relatively small, thin, yet
visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of
light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage
of time), ordinary subject matter, inclusion of movement as a crucial element
of human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles. The development
of Impressionism in the visual arts was soon followed by analogous styles in
other media that became known as impressionist music and impressionist
literature.
And today I have a wonderful Impressionistic painting by Claude Monet, Haystacks (sunset), for your inspiration.
Claude Monet, Haystacks (Sunset)
I would say .... "go for it" ... try to write/compose a haiku and share your "impression" with us, be one with the painting, try to step into the shoes of the Impressionists ...
This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 3rd at noon (CET). I will try to post our next episode, ?????, later on. PS. I hope to publish our new prompt-list this weekend
Share your haiku inspired on this post with us all.
This is our last episode of January and I haven't published our new prompt-list, because it isn't ready to publish. I hope to publish the new prompt-list tomorrow. It will be another nice month I think and to tell you a little bit more about our new month ... it's all about Impressions.
As I am preparing this new episode I realize that I had to do a "Time Machine" episode ... well that new "Time Machine" episode I migrate to February 7th, the first Saturday of the next month. Ok ... back to our classical kigo for New Year of today. Today our prompt is Servant's Day (Yabu-iri).
Yabu-iri,
literally "thicket-entering," is an obscure season marker in haiku
for spring (or late New Year). On about the sixteenth of the first month, servants and apprentices
were allowed to go home for a short visit. This would have meant that the
holiday startedwith the full moon. In
Issa’s haiku:
yabu-iri no waza to kureshi ya kusa no tsuki
Ending the Servant’s Holiday
on purpose ...
sliver moon
the final
slip of moon means the holiday is over, which tells us it lasted less than two
weeks (Lanoue, 1991-2009: moon,1803). There also was a second servants’ holiday
on the sixteenth of the sixth or seventh month, but yabu-iri in haiku was codified
as an early spring kigo (or late New Year kigo).
And here is a haiku composed by Buson on the same kigo:
yabu- iri
yamamori- bukuro o wasure kusa
Apprentice’s
holiday:
a good-luck amulet
forgotten in the grass
This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 2nd at noon (CET). I will try to post our new episode, ??????, later on.
Share your haiku inspired on this classical kigo with us all here at our Haiku Kai.
First I have to apologize for the delay of this new Tan Renga Challenge. And second I have to apologize for something else ... I have asked several of you if I may use their haiku for our Tan Renga Challenge, but I have forgotten to write them down. So my apologies for that too. Would you please be so kind as I have asked you for permission to use your haiku to write that in the comment field of this episode.
For this episode of our Tan Renga Challenge I have chosen a haiku by Matsuo Basho, one of the big five classical haiku-poets. I think this haiku by Basho can inspire you in a lot of ways to write a second stanza to the Tan Renga as id the goal of this feature. That second stanza (two lines; 7-7) makes the Tan Renga complete or will continue the scene depicted in it.
borrowing
sleep
from the scarecrow's sleeves
midnight frost (Basho)
the abandoned little girl
left alone without grief (Chèvrefeuille)
A very sad continuation, but in those times girls weren't always welcome in a family and in a lot of countries nowadays that's still reality ....
This continuation is inspired on a Dutch special week "The Week of the Forgotten Kids" which is now. Even in a country like The Netherlands there are abandoned children left alone on strange places. For example several months ago in one of the major cities a little child was found in a waste-bin.
This episode of our Tan Renga Challenge is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Friday at noon (CET).
Make the Tan Renga complete by adding your two lined second stanza towards it.
I will publish our new Tan Renga Challenge and our new regular post later on today, but I cannot guarantee that. I have some other things that need my attention. Sorry for the delay.
As you all maybe know ... sometimes I try to translate haiku into another language than the original, but one way or another those translations are always not strong enough or the "painted" scene with its deeper meaning is lost. So I have asked Jane a question about translating haiku.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear Jane,
How are
you? I hope you are well and that your health has become better. I have a
question for you about "translating haiku".
I started
writing/composing haiku in Dutch at the end of the eighties. Somewhere in 2005
I wrote my first haiku in English:
a lonely
flower
my companion
for one night
A strong
haiku I think with a very deep meaning, but as I tried to translate it to Dutch
the essence which I caught in the English version I couldn't catch. The scene
stayed the same, but the deeper layer I couldn't find ... I think this has to
do with the deeper meaning of English words and the differences in that meaning
in Dutch.
Is it possible to translate haiku into another language than its
original and catch that same feeling or deeper meaning?
frogpond
I have read
a lot of haiku since I discovered this wonderful poetry form. And for example I
ran into several translations of Basho's famous "frogpond haiku":
furu ike yakawazu tobikomumizu no oto (1686)
an ancient
pond
a frog jumps in
the splash of water
I don't
know who the translator was, but I found another translation of this famous
haiku:
A lonely
pond in age-old stillness sleeps . . .
Apart, unstirred by sound or motion . . . till
Suddenly into it a lithe frog leaps
Translated
by Curtis Hidden Page
These
translations are so different, but the essence of the haiku is lost in that
second haiku in my opinion of course. I once
tried to translate it myself and I came up with the following:
old pond -
the sound of water resonates
as a frog jumps in
Why is it
so difficult to translate haiku? In my opinion I think this has to do with the
Japanese language. It's very clear that Japanese works with sound units (onji),
but the characters can mean a lot too.
In short:
Why is it
so difficult to translate haiku from the one language to the other language
without loosing the essence of the original?
I hope you
can give us at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai some insight in translating haiku and how
to catch the essence ...
Well you
have jumped into a can of worms with translations! I think the biggest mistake
translators make is adding words that are not in the originaltext in an attempt to convey the levels of
meaning the original has for them. This suavely cripples that translation. Do
you have a copy of my book, Basho's Complete Haiku? In the notes at the end I
give word-for-word translations of all of Basho's hokku. There you can see the
word 'resonance' is not in the original.
(I am
sorry! I tried to copy your version from your letter and my d--- computer lost
the copy!) But you did add the word that spoils the translation (IMO).
I truly
feel that as a translator, word-for-word translations are the kindest way to
handle the work. If one wants to say more or show layers one finds in a haiku,
then do that in a discussion of the poem and not in the translation.
A Lonely Flower
In your
a lonely
flower
my companion
for one night
I would
question the use of "lonely"-
that is a human feeling you are giving to a thing. You may feel lonely when
there is only one of you (do you?) but the flower is not alone if you are
there!
a single
flower
my companion
for one night
or
a single
tulip
my companion
for one night
has more
connotations. . . even some sexual with single / unmarried and tulip / two
lipped!I hope this helps!
\o/ Jane
Jane Reichhold
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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Thank you Jane for this wonderful and clear explanation of my question. Thank you for your kind words and a special thank you for you for the "re-write" of my haiku as you have done. With the explanation you have given I think my "lonely flower" has become now "a single flower".
Dear Haijin I think you all have ideas about translating haiku. Please respond in the comments field with your ideas about translating haiku. Maybe I can create a nice feature around translating haiku.
For every new year there are first things (following the ancient ideas of Japan) there is a first meal, a first calligraphy and there is, as is our prompt for today, a first dream or Hatsuyume. The first dream of the New Year was, as the ancient Japanese thought, a dream in which you could see what the new year would bring you. So the Japanese people were sometimes anxious to have their first dream of the new yera, because of the fortunetelling idea behind it.
Dreams are sometimes telling you the future, but they are sometimes just a kind of lesson to show you what you have to deal with or have to change. Sometimes dreams can be very lively, that kind of dreams are called lucid dreams. Lucid dreaming was the first thing which came in mind as I was preparing this episode so I love to tell you a little bit more about this phenomena which is called "lucid dreaming".
A lucid
dream is any dream in which one is aware that one is dreaming. In relation to
this phenomenon, Greek philosopher Aristotle observed: "often when one is
asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents
itself is but a dream". One of the earliest references to personal
experiences with lucid dreaming was by Marie-Jean-Léon, Marquis d'Hervey de
Saint Denys.
The person most widely acknowledged as having coined the term is Dutch
psychiatrist and writer Frederik (Willem) van Eeden (1860–1932). In a lucid
dream, the dreamer has greater chances to exert some degree of control over
their participation within the dream or be able to manipulate their imaginary
experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can be realistic and vivid. It
is shown that there are higher amounts of beta-1 frequency band (13–19 Hz)
brain wave activity experienced by lucid dreamers, hence there is an increased
amount of activity in the parietal lobes making lucid dreaming a conscious
process.
Skeptics of the phenomenon suggest that it is not a state of sleep, but of brief
wakefulness. Others point out that there is no way to prove the truth of lucid
dreaming other than to ask the dreamer. Lucid dreaming has been researched
scientifically, with participants performing pre-determined physical responses
while experiencing a lucid dream.
Did I experience this? I don't know it for sure. The only thing I know is that I am not aware of my dreams and I never can tell about the dreams I had simply because I forget them. Is there another way of dreaming? For sure there will be another kind of dreaming. I once experienced what I call an "astral trip" and I love to tell you something about that experience.
As you all know I am a big fan of Basho and once I thought "I would love to meet him in life". Of course that isn't possible, but in that "astral trip" I really met him and I could have a conversation with him. It brought me more insight in his life, but he also learned me more about how to write haiku. I recall a haiku which I wrote that time ... a strong one and in tune with his teaching
Ah! that
fragrance
delicate cherry blossoms
in the spring rain
In this one really can feel the influence of Basho, my haiku master, and I am so proud that he is my haiku master.
Cherry Blossoms (woodblock) (couldn't retrieve the credits)
Was the above mentioned experience an "astral trip" or was it a kind of "lucid dream". I don't know, but it was an awesome experience.
Back to our prompt for today. Hatsuyume is
the Japanese word for the first dream had in the new year. Traditionally, the
contents of the dream would foretell the luck of the dreamer in the ensuing
year. In Japan, the night of December 31 was often passed without sleeping,
thus the hatsuyume was often the dream seen the night of January 1. This
explains why January 2 (the day after the night of the "first dream")
is known as Hatsuyume in the traditional Japanese calendar.
It is considered to be particularly good luck to dream of Mount Fuji, a hawk,
and an eggplant. This belief has been in place since the early Edo period but
there are various theories regarding the origins as to why this particular
combination was considered to be auspicious.
One theory suggests that this combination is lucky because Mount Fuji is
Japan's highest mountain, the hawk is a clever and strong bird, and the word
for eggplant (nasu or nasubi) suggests achieving something great (nasu). Another
theory suggests that this combination arose because Mount Fuji, falconry, and
early eggplants were favorites of the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Although this superstition is well known in Japan, often memorized in the form
Ichi-Fuji, Ni-Taka, San-Nasubi (1. Fuji, 2. Hawk, 3. Eggplant), the
continuation of the list is not as well known. The continuation is as follows:
Yon-Sen, Go-Tabako, Roku-Zatō (4. Fan, 5. Tobacco, 6. Blind Musician). The
origins of this trio are less well known and it is unclear whether they were
added after the original three or whether the list of six originated at the
same time.
I found a nice haiku written by my haiku master, Basho at the age of 34, which I love to share here with you:
Fuji no
yuki Rosei ga yume o tsukasetari
snow on
Mount Fuji -
Rosei creates the world
in his dream
Well .... a lot to think about ... dream your dream with Carpe Diem Haiku Kai and share your "first dreams" with us all. Here is my haiku inspired on this prompt:
fly like an
eagle
as free as a bird in the sky
living my dream
This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 1st at noon (CET). I will try to post our new episode, Servant's Day (Yabuiri), later on. For now, have fun!
Share your haiku inspired on this post with us all.
January is almost over and I am already busy with creating our new promptlist for February and I think February will (again) be an awesome month. As I told you in earlier posts the classical kigo for New Year (the classic fifth season) are sometimes a little bit strange and today our prompt is also a little bit strange. Today we have Zooni for prompt and there isn't really a good description for this classical kigo for New Year, but I have found an explanation of this kigo.
Zooni is a kind of mixed
vegetable soup for the new year and is eaten on
January first in the morning, usually after the first shrine visit and prepared
with .. the first well water (wakamizu) of the year drawn at the double-hour of
the tiger (tora no koku, from four to six in the morning) . This water was
supposed to bring health and wellbeing to the people who drink it. It is also
renown for bringing back youth to the people ("young water" waka
mizu).
Zooni (picture taken from a Japanese website)
The water
is drawn only by chosen "men of the year" (toshi otoko, but referring
either to the "man of the house" or to men who are born in the animal
sign of the coming year) which are thought of as having special heavenly power
with them. This ceremony is the very first male activity of the New Year. Women
had to stay away from the well. Is some parts of Shikoku island, however, it is
the lady of the house who fetches the first water.
From simple farmers to temple priest to tea ceremony masters, all took this
custom very seriously. The well where this water was drawn is usually decorated
with New Year decorations.
In Western Japan, it is the custom to add a lot of yellowtail (buri) to the
broth of vegetables. People greet each other on the first of January: What did
you eat in your zooni? After that, no hot food was eaten until January 4, to
give the housewife and the kitchen and hearth deities a short holiday.
I have found a nice haiku written by Issa with this kigo in it:
waga io ya
ganjitsu mo kuru zooni uri
to my hut
too
New Year's arrives...
the zooni vendor
Why do I start this episode of our Haiku Writing Techniques with this haiku? I will try to explain that, but I don't know if I will succeed in that goal.
Maybe this episode had to be our first Haiku Writing Techniques episode, because this week it's all about one of the basic writing techniques of haiku, the surprise, that one moment as long as the sound of a pebble thrown into water. That moment we have to catch in three lines, three lines which have to tell the whole story of that one moment, that surprise. That one moment is the essence of haiku. It's an impression caught in three lines and (mostly) seventeen syllables.
Picture this (sorry The Golden Girls are here again :-) ): A walk through the forest on a summer day. Birds are praising their Creator with their fragile voices. A warm breeze caresses the leaves, bringing them to a higher level of consciousness. Their rustling makes you relaxed and one with nature. Far away sounds of traffic making your experience even better. Then you walk onto a bright sunny spot in the heart of the forest, a plain spot of grass mixed with all kinds of colorful (field) flowers and there in the middle of that spot, you find a crystal clear pool with the most beautiful colored water-lilies. As you walk closer to the crystal clear pool you see a pair of deer. "Wow", you think. "What a surprise".
This episode is about "surprise" and that's what I felt as I read the haiku above. The surprise of "trying to keep myself under my hat" instead of "I lose my hat" for example.
Ok ... back to our little story. What is the surprise? Is it that crystal clear pool, the blooming water-lilies, the song of the birds or is it that pair of deer?
I think that every one of us will have another surprisingly beautiful experience, but how to catch it? Haiku is not just a "snapshot", it has to be a sketch of the experience, an impression of the experience. The haiku is more a kind of resonance of the experience.
As I discovered haiku in the late eighties I read "the bible" of haiku in The Netherlands "Haiku, a young moon" by J. van Tooren. In that book the author compares haiku with Impressionism. (Impressionism
is a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based
artists. Their independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the
1870s and 1880s, in spite of harsh opposition from the conventional art
community in France. The name of the style derives from the title of a Claude
Monet work, Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise), which provoked the
critic Louis Leroy to coin the term in a satirical review published in the
Parisian newspaper Le Charivari.)
Our task for this CD Haiku Writing Techniques is to catch the "surprise" in the little story I told, try to sketch the impression, be the painter (with words) of the scene. Not an easy task I think, but I am looking forward to all of your wonderful haiku, all of the impressions ....
This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until January 30th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, Zooni, later on. For now ... have fun!
Share your haiku, your impression, the surprise, with us all here at our Haiku Kai.
What a sad idea today I present you all our last haiku by our featured haiku-poet Iio Sogi (1424-1502) a pre-Basho haiku-poet and renga master. A lot of his haiku were once "hokku" (starting verse for a renga), but there aren't a lot of haiku preserved of him. I had a very small choice. Today's haiku by Sogi is the "hokku" of a "Dokugin", a solo-renga, titled "Sogi Alone" written by, as the title shows you, Iio Sogi. I had never heard of this "Dokugin", but I think it's great discovery, but were does that bring me with my "Soliloquy no Renga", which I presented as a new idea ...?
Well ... that doesn't matter in this CD-Special it's all about haiku by Iio Sogi and this one is just wonderful and I hope it will inspire you all to write an all new haiku in the same sense, tone and spirit as the one I gave:
Now that
they end
There is no flower that can compare
With cherry blossoms
Not as strong as I had hoped, but it's in my opinion close to the one by Sogi.
This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until January 29th at noon (CET). I will try to post our next episode, a new Haiku Writing Techniques episode, later on. For now .... have fun, be inspired and share.
Share your haiku inspired on the haiku by Sogi with us all .... have fun!
I have had a wonderful weekend and I hope you all too have had a great weekend. It's Sunday again so time for a new episode of our time challenging feature "Time-Glass" in which the goal is to respond on a given prompt and an image with an all new haiku within 24 hours.
This time I have a Time Glass episode "with a twist", I only give you an image, but you have to write/compose a haiku in which there are more than one senses found. For example you write a haiku in which you describe something you see and hear.
What a beautiful photo don't you think? I hope it will inspire you to write an all new haiku within 24 hours. This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until January 26th 7.00 PM (CET) ... So you have just 24 hours to respond. Have fun! Be inspired and share ...
Share your haiku inspired on the given photo and "the twist", to use more than one of the senses, with us all within 24 hours. Have fun!
!! This is the CD Little Creatures episode of Saturday January 24th !!
Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
It my pleasure to present a new episode of our "Little Creatures" feature inwhich the little creatures of nature are playing the leading role. This time I have chosen for a beautiful little flower, the Daisy. And I love to tell you all a little bit more about this nice sweet little flower. There is so much to tell about Daisies so let's go: If you’re thinking about white daisies,
there’s more to daisies than that.They
can also be bright and sunny yellow, purple, pink, red, and orange. Daisies look like cartwheels with petals as
spokes.In other ways, it also looks
like a star that’s shining brightly.Even if daisies are a very common name for
this flower, it’s also known in many other names.Names like ox eye, horse gowan, moon penny,
poverty weed and dog blow all pertain to the daisy. Daisies are not poisonous.In fact, a lot of people add daisy leaves to
their bowl of fresh garden salad.
Daisies
Victorian
Interpretation:Daisies have many
different meanings attached to them.In
the Victorian age, it meant innocence, purity, and loyal love.It also means that you’ll keep someone’s
secret.You’re saying that “I vow never
to tell anyone” - when you give someone a daisy.
Superstitions:Based on Scottish lore, daisies were referred
to as gools.For every farmer who owns a
wheat field, they have an employee called the gool rider.They had the task of removing the daisies
from the fields.For these farmers, if a
big crop of daisies was found in your field, you had to pay a fine in the form
of a castrated ram.
For the Celts, daisies were thought to be the
spirits of children who died when they were born.It’s God’s way of cheering them up when He
created the daisies and sprinkled them on the earth.This has a big connection to daisies
symbolizing innocence.
What's the
meaning of Daisies:
Daisies are
flowers that mean different things to different people.It can mean cheerfulness particularly for the
yellow colored blossoms and it can mean youthful beauty and gentleness.Some people look at the daisy to be a symbol
of good luck.However, the most popular
meanings attached to the daisy are - loyal love, innocence and purity.It’s also a taken to convey the message –
“I’ll never tell”.Apart from the Celtic legend that daisies were
the spirits of children, the symbol of innocence also comes from the story
about a dryad who oversaw meadows, forests and pastures.One of the nymphs, Belides danced around with
her nymph sister when the god of the orchards, Vertumnus saw her.To make sure that she escapes his attentions,
she turned herself into a daisy thus preserving her innocence.In terms of loyal love, daisies are used by
women particularly in the Victorian age to see which suitor loves them the
most.By picking on the flower’s petals,
a woman would know who loves her and who does not.
Daisies
I found a few wonderful haiku on Daisies:
sitting
silent still
low to earth, resting old bones
the daisies still grow.
The goal of this Little Creatures feature is to write an all new haiku inspired on the theme. The haiku can be classical or non-classical that's up to you. For this episode I have an extra rule ... you have to write a eight (\8) stanza renga with a twist. What does that mean "with a twist" you have to follow the following "line-structure" 3 lines 2 lines 3 lines 2 lines 2 lines 3 lines 2 lines 3 lines, but of course this is not an obligation. Feel free and inspired.
This "Little Creatures" episode is open for your submissions Saturday January 24th at noon (CET) and will remain open until January 31st at noon (CET).
Share your haiku or 8 stanza renga with a twist with us all here at our Haiku Kai.
Another week has gone. Time flies ... January 2015 is closing in to it's end and we have already forgotten the last year ... we are looking forward to the upcoming of spring, but here in The Netherlands it has finally become winter with strong frost in the nights and frost at day ... it's really cold today here, but .... well it's winter ...
This week's Tan Renga Challenge starts with a haiku written by myself and I hope it will inspire you enough to write the second stanza towards it. The second stanza has two lines of approximately 7 syllables each. The second stanza is a continuation or completion of the images in the first stanza.
The goal is to write a second stanza towards it by associating on the images in this haiku, or hokku (starting verse of Tan Renga).
I am looking forward to your completions or continuations. This Tan Renga Challenge is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Friday January 30th at noon (CET). Have fun!
Make this Tan Renga complete by associating on the images in the first stanza. Have fun!
!! This is a extra long post in which I will publish THREE prompts each with it's OWN LINKING WIDGET, because I take a weekend off as you could have read in our last Carpe Diem Extra !!
Carpe Diem #654, Sheperd's Purse (Nazuna)
Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
It's a bit strange to prepare this post, because I haven't done this earlier, taking a weekend off, but I am in need of a little bit rest ... so I have chosen to take a weekend off. Of course I will not leave you without the prompts from our prompt-list for these days, so in this post I will publish three prompts (each with it's own linking widget). And the first prompt is Sheperd's Purse (Nazuna) it's one of the seven sacred herbs which are use the make a porridge around New Year.
Sheperd's Purse is a little herb which flowers whit little white flowers and it's leaves look like a little purse that's why it's called Sheperd's Purse. It's a fragile little herb and mostly it's overlooked, but (as we will see) it came under the attention of Matsuo Basho once and he wrote a nice haiku about it. This haiku is a kind of tribute to the beauty of Sheperd's Purse and it shows us how we have to look at nature (as haiku-poets). Even the little creatures/creations are worth writing a haiku about ... as we all know from our "Little Creatures" feature.
furu hata ya nazuna hana saku kakine kana if you look closely a Sheperd's Purse flowering underneath the hedge
Really a beautiful haiku if I may say so, because it's really a tribute to the beauty of Sheperd's Purse. To write a haiku about it ... will not be easy.
"look granddad" my granddaughter shows me Sheperd's Purse "a money-purse".
A nice one ... This part of this episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until January 26th at noon (CET). Have fun! Come on let us go further to our next part of this post, First Calligraphy (Kakizome).
Share your haiku inspired on Sheperd's Purse with us all.
I remember that I have mentioned this tradition of writing the first calligraphy earlier here at CDHK, but I can't really say when that was, but it doesn't matter (at least not to me) to do a prompt several times. As I told you in one of the earlier posts of this month the kigo for New Year (the fifth season) are for the main part all things which are done for the very first time.
The First Calligraphy (Kakizome) is also such a tradition. I have found a few nice haiku by Issa on this first calligraphy which most times was written in the mud with a cane, and of course later on paper. Every haiku written as the first haiku of the New Year is special, but the ones I love to share here by Issa are really beautiful.
kakichin no
mikan mii mii kissho kana
looking,
looking
at the mandarin orange...
year's first calligraphy
tsui-tsui
to bô wo hiite mo kissho kana
swish,
swish
writing with my cane...
year's first calligraphy
ko-dakara ga bô wo hiite mo kissho kana
the
treasured child
writes with a cane...
year's first calligraphy
In ancient Japanese times it was a great honor to write the first calligraphy so that third haiku is very special, because of the fact that this first calligraphy is done by a child, a treasured child. Maybe one of his own children, who sadly all lost their life at a young age.
I haven't really written a haiku with this kigo in it, but I love to share my "first calligraphy's" of 2013, 2014 and 2015 here with you all:
first day
of year
bad spirits and ghost defeated
royal fireworks
A nice tradition I think, maybe I have to create an anthology of the first calligraphy's (first haiku) of our haiku family here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.
This part of this episode is open for your submissions Saturday January 24 at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until January 27th at noon). Have fun! Now ... let us go on to the last (third) part of this episode, Isle of the Blessed (Hoorai).
Share your haiku inspired on First Calligraphy with us all here at our Haiku kai
Here it is our third part of this weekend-post, because I take a weekend off. It's not easy to write a post about this New Year kigo, because it's so specific for Japan, but well I have chosen to use it so I have to write it.
This also is such a kigo which looks strange as a kigo for New Year. What has Isle of the Blessed (Hoorai) to do with New Year? I will try to explain that.
Isle of the Blessed is the Japanese equivalent of the Western Elysian Fields or Heavens. In myth and legend, heavenly abodes are abundant. There is the Isle of Avalon where King Arthur still sleeps; the Isle of the Blessed ruled over by the giant Cronos; or the Elysium Fields, a place of incomparable beauty where virtuous Romans went after death. For the ancient Celts, there was the Otherworld, a place hidden from human eyes by a magical mist and visible on only one day of the year, the Feast of Samhain (November l), when the gates to both worlds were open and the souls of the dead were said to roam the earth.
Then, of course, there is the Eden story, the Paradise lost by man with the fall from grace of the first two humans, Adam and Eve. This is a concept shared by the world’s three great monotheistic religions — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — though it, too, is subject to much variation.
Interestingly, the most ancient of human civilisations, the Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian, did not believe in the existence of either an afterlife or a heaven. In these technically advanced societies, humans were believed doomed to remain forever in the “house of dust” or darkness, which “none who enters ever leaves”. In this house, the inhabitants find that “soil is their sustenance” and “clay their food” where, clad in bird feathers, they see no light but “dwell in darkness”.
Why is this "Isle of the Blessed" a New Year kigo? I think this had to do with remembering the ones who passed away in the last year, a kind of Halloween, but than on January 1st. Are we not all doing that as New Year's Eve is there? Looking back to what had happened in the last year? And look forward into the future. What a feeling to know that there will be an afterlife ...
I found a nice haiku on "Isle of the Blessed" composed by Narayanan Raghunathan (co-founder of Wonder Haiku Worlds): I enter the Isle of the Blessed - a distant flute plays Bhairavi
I wasn't inspired enough to write a haiku myself about this "Isle of the Blessed", but I sought through my archive and found another nice haiku about a kind of "Blessed Isle", Holy Isle. Holy Isle is a Buddhist Isle at the Northern waters of the United Kingdom. painted on
rocks the devote Buddhist monk Holy Isle Holy Isle the Kagyan Tradition painted on rocks
Well ... I hope you did like this "Triple-episode" and remember every part of this post has it's own Linking Widget. This last part is open for your submissions Sunday January 25th at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until January 28th at noon (CET). Well ... have fun! I will publish our new episode, our last haiku by Sogi, our featured haiku-poet, later on.
Share your haiku inspired on Isle of the Blessed with us all here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai
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