Carpe Diem #912 Movement/Propriocept​ion

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Yesterday Hamish brought back "baransu" (balance) and today he brings again one of the new Haiku Writing Techniques which I dared to create back to CDHK. In today's post he refers to the Haiku Writing Technique Undou (movement) ... a wonderful, but controversial, Haiku Writing Technique which we have explored in several CDHK episodes. Why controversial? Well ... haiku is just the impression of a moment (a moment in time) and movement in haiku was "not done" until Basho came up with his "frogpond" haiku. In which he talks about the movement of the frogs and not their croaking.

Introduction

In that famous haiku by Basho lays the birth of "undou" (movement). "Undou" (movement) however is more than only the movement of a frog. It's the movement of nature, of our world, movement that is everlasting like a "perpetuum mobile" and that, my dear Haijin, visitors and travelers, is why I created "undou" (movement) as a new haiku writing technique.

 I know that Jane Reichhold follows this discussion and maybe, just maybe ... I can convince her that "movement" can be part of haiku.

apple blossom falls
scattered by the late spring breeze
apple blossom falls

© Chèvrefeuille

This is "undou", this is movement. 

Credits: Undou (movement)

Hamish on Movement/Propriocept​ion

Close your eyes and touch your nose. If everything is working properly, this should be easy because your brain can sense your body, as well as its position and movement through space. This is called proprioception. But how does this "sixth sense" work — and what happens when it clashes with other senses?

We're all familiar with the five standard senses, which include vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch. The idea that there are only five of them has been rooted in our minds since the time of Aristotle, who explicitly rejected the idea of a sixth sense. But for centuries scientists have seriously entertained the idea of a sixth sense that allows us to perceive our bodies. There remains a lot of debate about whether this sense, which later became known as proprioception, can be considered an additional sense alongside the five standard ones. After all, the five senses all allow us to experience the outside world, whereas proprioception allows us to understand our physical place within that world.

Sixth sense or not, proprioception is recognized as being vital to our daily experiences and something that contributes to our overall body ownership. As Nature's Allison Abbot says: "Without it, our brains are lost." Proprioception is the master controller of our balance and spatial orientation, involving the senses movement and placing an emphasis on the body's motions, as well as incorporates routine or habitual behaviors to improve movements. Both hand-eye coordination and muscle memory involve kinesthesia — the more you perform certain actions, such as during sports, the better at them you will become.

We introduced the wonderful concept of 'Undou' motion or movement in haiku, sometime ago on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. It is such an innovative concept that we should bring it back for today's post on Movement. Please compose a haiku with 'Undou' therefore, for today's haiku. 

Movement

 My response

"Movement" (or "undou") is something new in haiku, but not that new as we could read above. However ... movement is still not part of haiku, because of the idea that every haiku is an impression of just one moment as short as an eye-blink ... a static scene.

I ran through my archives and found a nice series of haiku on movement.

seasons come and go
she ... the moon always the same
plays with the waves

dew drops shimmer
on colorful leaves
rainbows sparkle

waterfall of colors
leaves whirl through the street -
departing summer

ankle chimes
listen to the movement
of the young dancer

ballet dancers
ghostly images covered in smoke
modern swan lake

© Chèvrefeuille

A nice series of haiku I think in which "movement" (or "undou") is shown in several ways. I hope you did like this episode and that it will inspire you all to write haiku, tanka or an other Japanese poetry form. Have fun!

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 8th at noon (CET). I will publish our new episode, Spirituality, later on.