Carpe Diem #1660 Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019 (7) Wisteria

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019. Today I have chosen to challenge you with a haiku by Yosa Buson (1716-1784), one of the "Big Five" haiku poets. As Buson started creating haiku he used his own way of writing, because he wasn't a "fan" of Matsuo Basho (whom is seen as the "father of haiku"), but in his later life Buson went back to the way of Basho. He even illustrated the first published edition of Basho's "Narrow Road Into The Deep North" with his beautiful haiga-qualities.

Bird and Wisteria (Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 - 1858).

The above Japanese woodblock print shows you a nice composition of a bird and wisteria crafted by Utagawa Hiroshige. This woodblock print points you already the way to the haiku to use for your Tan Renga Challenge.

Here is the haiku by Buson to work with:

In the moonlight,
The color and scent of the wisteria
Seems far away.

© Yosa Buson

A fragile scene I can imagine it before my eyes. The soft light of the moon shines upon the wisteria. The wisteria's colors faint a little towards white and grey and with losing its color it also loses its scent... and the last line makes that scene very strong.

To create a Tan Renga with this haiku will not be an easy task, but I have given it a try:

In the moonlight,
The color and scent of the wisteria
Seems far away.                                                       © Buson

the sound of the thundering waves
makes the silence stronger                                      © Chèvrefeuille

Not a strong second stanza in my opinion, but I like how with this 2nd stanza there is another sense present ... hearing and the realisation that through sound the silence can become deeper. It makes the scene even stronger ...

And now it is up to you. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 15th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!