Carpe Diem #1647 Japanese-radish flower (daikon no hana)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend full of inspiration. I am looking forward to all of your wonderful "new masterpieces". Maybe you have written that masterpiece just a few minutes ago or maybe you have written it a while ago, but weren't sure of it was a masterpiece. Well ... in my opinion every haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form is a masterpiece, because you have written it. It was your experience with nature, that moment short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water.

This month we are exploring the classical and non-classical seasonwords for spring. Spring is the season of new life. Everywere you look you can see that new life, young green leaves, a diversity of blossoms and flowers ... birds creating their new nest ... to create new life.

wakaba shite    om me no shizuku    nuguwa baya

young leaves
I would like to wipe away
tears in your eyes

© Basho (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)

Young Green Leaves

But let us take a look at our new spring kigo. Today I have chosen for a classical kigo taken from the Shiki saijiki, Japanese-radish flower (daikon no hana), but what kind of plant this is? I have ran through the Internet and found the following description of this plant.

Daikon literally means ‘big root’. This long white crunchy vegetable looks like horseradish, but it’s mild-flavored, similar to watercress. Daikon is also known as winter radish, oriental radish or Japanese radish. By itself, daikon radish is a superb vegetable. It’s a staple of Japanese food culture,  whether pickled, garnished, or served steaming in miso soup. Traditionally know as a yin food, it cools and calms the body.

Japanese-radish flowers (daikon no hana)

Here are a few examples for this classical kigo by my master Matsuo Basho:

kiku no ato daikon no hoka sara ni nashi

After the chrysanthemums,
Apart from radishes,
There is nothing.

mononofu no daikon nigaki hanashi kana

samurai's gathering--
their chat has the pungent taste
of daikon radish

© Matsuo Basho (1644-94)

And now ... it is up to you my dear CDHK family-members. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 21st at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.