Carpe Diem #1451 young maple-leaves (waka kaede)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai. This month we are exploring the beauty of classical kigo (seasonwords) for summer and today I have another nice summer kigo for you. But first this: Maybe you know that at the start of CDHK I wasn't aware that it would become such a success and I am grateful for that. Back in the beginning of our Kai I created a whole month about the Tarot. The episodes of that month I have brought together in an exclusive CDHK E-book back in 2016, and now, two years later, I have revised that CDHK E-book about the Tarot and I am proud to announce that "The Divine Tarot" is now available for download at the right of our Kai.

Okay ... back to our episode of today. Today I have chosen another kigo from the sub-division "plants" of summer;  young maple-leaves (waka kaeda).

Young Maple Leaves (waka kaede)

And I found a nice haiku by Basho on "young leaves", but not of "young maple leaves". To be honest I couldn't find any haiku on this classical kigo.

ara to¯ to aoba wakaba no hi no hikari

so holy:
green leaves, young leaves,
in sun’s light 

© Basho (Tr. Landiss)

And here is my try to create a classical haiku with this kigo for summer:

young maple leaves

shimmer in the early sunlight
like crystalline waves

© Chèvrefeuille

Not as wonderful as I had hoped, but I like this one anyway. Of course I also have a nice kigo for winter for our friends on the Southern Hemisphere: withered pampas grass (kareobana).

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until June 18th at noon (CEST). Have fun!

Share your haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form inspired on this kigo with us all here at our Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like to write and share Japanese poetry.

1.	Kim M. Russell	3.	humbird	5.	lynn__
2.	Virginia Popescu	4.	Le Beduiin	6.	Isabel Caves

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