Carpe Diem #957 lake

Dear haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today I hope to inspire you with the prompt "lake". I think it's anice prompt, but I don't know if it can be a source for inspiration, but ... well I have to give it a try.

Today I love to trigger your inspiration through a few haiku by Jane and a nice haiku by Basho. Here are the haiku by Jane:

the spring lake
rising up to sit
on the bench

ripples
the lake ear listening
to us

© Jane Reichhold

Lake Biwa

Lake Biwa is a very well known fresh water lake in the Northeastern region of Honshu (the Southern Island of Japan) and Basho has written a lot of haiku with Lake Biwa as theme. Here are a few examples:

open the lock
let the moon shine in -
Floating Temple

© Basho (Tr. David Landis Barnhill)

The "Floating Temple" (or Ukimi Temple) is located on Lake Biwa by Katada, and is reached by boat or bridge.

Mii Temple,
I'd love to knock on its gate:
tonight's moon

© Basho (Tr. David Landis Barnhill)

Basho held a moon-viewing party at Gichuji Temple, a few miles from Mii Temple on the souther shore of Lake Biwa. Basho draws on lines from a Chinese verse by Jia Dao: "Birds sleep in trees by the pond. Under the moon, a monk knocks on the gate".

I hope I have inspired you to create a haiku (haiga) or tanka (tank-art) with this episode.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 20th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode, muddy road, later on.