Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is the place to be if you like to write and share Japanese poetry forms like haiku and tanka. It’s a warmhearted family of haiku poets created by Chèvrefeuille, a Dutch haiku poet. Japanese poetry is the poetry of nature and it gives an impression of a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water. ++ ALL WORKS PUBLISHED ARE COPYRIGHTED AND THE RIGHTS BELONG TO THE AUTHORS ++ !!! Anonymous comments will be seen as SPAM !!!
It's Wednesday again ... time for a new Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday, that special feature in which I challenge you to complete a Tan Renga with a given haiku by a classical or non-classical haiku poet.
Your task is to add your two lined stanza (approx. 7-7 syllables) through association on the scenes and images in the given haiku. This week I have chosen a haiku by a modern haiku poet, Nicholas Virgilio.
Yes ... another episode of our wonderful Kai, because I was late with our Monday episode, "snowdrops".
Today I love to challenge you two times. I love to challenge you to create a "fusion-ku" with two given haiku and to create a Troiku with your new "fusion-ku". I have chosen two haiku by Jane Reichhold extracted from her online Saijiki "A Dictionary of Haiku", section New Year.
Here are the two haiku to work with:
a new year rising from wild seas a few stars filling the glass with candlelight champagne
Two beautiful haiku by the Queen of Haiku (and Tanka), Jane Reichhold. She was once my co-host and taught me a lot about all kinds of Japanese poetry ... I miss her still.
This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 3rd at noon (CET). Have fun!
Share your Troiku created with the "fusion-ku" with us all here at our wonderful Kai.
Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai. This month it's about New Beginnings and it means all things that start new. Today I have chosen the prompt "snowdrops", those beautiful small white flowers that start blooming in Winter already ... Snowdrops are the first signs that Spring is near.
!! Open for your submissions Sunday January 26th at 7:00 PM (CET) !!
Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
The last days were very busy, so I couldn't publish or regular Friday episode and a bit late with the Weekend Meditation. My excuses for it.
This weekend I love to challenge you to create a Troiku Hineri. What doea it mean? I will give you a haiku. With that haiku you create a Troiku. Than you have three new haiku. The Hineri (with a twist) is that I love to challenge you to create with those three new haiku NINE new haiku following the Troiku idea, so you have to create three new haiku from every haiku you created from the given haiku.
I have chosen one of the first haiku by Yozakura, the Unknown Haiku Poet. Here is his first haiku to work with:
yoake ni arau tsuyude watashino ashisaichoubi at dawn I wash my feet with dew the longest day
A nice challenge I think for this weekend. Have an awesome weekend!
This Weekend Meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday January 26th at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 2nd at noon (CET).
Share your Troiku Hineri created with the given haiku by Yozakura with us all here at our wonderful Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like to create Japanese poetry and share it with the world.
Maybe you think "What?" because of the title of this new episode "without beginning". Maybe it brings you ideas of that classical dillema "What was first the chicken or the egg", but no ... that's not the dillema here.
"Without beginning" points towards the circle, or the wedding ring. The wedding ring is a milestone, it's a new beginning, but its form ... a circle ... is without beginning. So today our prompt is related to the circle ... without beginning.
I recall an article I once read about deathpoems and one of the examples was the deathpoem by Shinsui.
During his last moment, Shisui's disciples requested that he write a death poem. He grasped his brush, painted a circle, cast the brush aside, and died. The circle— indicating the void, the essence of everything, enlightenment— is one of the most important symbols of Zen Buddhism.
Deathpoem by Shinsui (* - 1769)
Isn't it a wonderful deathpoem? But as we look closer to this deathpoem ... we see were Shinsui started the "circle" (at the 'bottom' somewhat to the left, we can see the start of the brush). Does this mean a circle has a beginning and an end?
eternal circle lotuses blooming and decaying - ancient wisdom grows
It's Wednesday again and that means ... time for a new episode of our special feature Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Wednesday. The challenge of this special feature is to create a Tan Renga with a given haiku by adding your second stanza of two lines (approx. 7-7 syllables). This week I have chosen a not so well known haiku by, my master, Matsuo Basho (1644-1694).
kazuki fusu futon ya samuki yo ya sugoki lying down with quilts over the head such a cold night
As you can see, in this haiku Basho uses rhyme, a not so very well known haiku writing technique, because, as you maybe know, in (translated) haiku the use of rhyme isn't common (according to Western studies).
Rhyme is a major component of Western poetry. In Japan most of the sound units (onji) are built on only five vowels, and rhyming occurs naturally. Yet, haiku translated into rhymed lines often need so much padding to make the rhyme work that the simplicity of the poem gets lost. However, if the reader takes the time to read the romaji version of the above haiku by Basho. one can see how often the old master employed the linkage of sound in his work. The rhyme, in the above haiku, occurs in "kazuki", "samuki" and "sugoki"..
So that brings us a new challenge ... try to let your 2nd stanza, of two lines, rhyme too.
This Tan Renga Wednesday episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until January 28th at noon (CET).
Share your completed Tan Renga with us all here at our Haiku Kai.
"Listen ... listen carefully ... Do you hear the first cry of a new born?" I always enjoy the first cry of a new born. That can be a new born human, but also a new born bird for example. Maybe if you have a super hearing ... you maybe can hear the first blossoms cry out their joy ...
Here in The Netherlands we have one of the warmest winters ever. There are already birds building their nests, the Daffodils are blooming ... it's a very strange happening ... maybe it's the Global warming ... maybe not ... I don't know, but it feels already like spring here in the Netherlands.
halfway winter daffodils bloom, cherry trees almost -- first cry of a newborn
I hope all have had a wonderful weekend and that you all are capable to do a new week here at CDHK. This month is themed "New Beginnings" and today I have chosen a nice prompt for you to work with.
Today I love to challenge you to create Japanese poetry themed "first leaf falling", autumn is in my opinion one of the most beautiful seasons and it's, according to classical sources of Japan, the best season to see the moon and praise her beauty. Autumn ... gives me always the feeling of departure and letting go ... Leaves are coloring and finally fall ...
light of the full moon silverly beautiful ... so fragile leaves are falling
!! Open for your submissions next Sunday, January 19th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!
Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
Welcome at a new Weekend Meditation here at our wonderful Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like to create Japanese poetry and share it with the world.
Maybe you remember that new feature I introduced a while ago "Carpe Diem Transformation" in which I challenge you to "re-build" a given haiku into a tanka. In the first episode of this feature I challenged you to "re-build" a famous haiku by Chiyo-Ni (that episode you can find HERE).
And for this weekend meditation I have chosen a haiku by that other famous haiku master, Masaoka Shiki. In this episode I love to challenge you to re-create a haiku by Shiki into a Tanka. Maybe you can remember that Shiki has a certain haiku writing technique named "shasei". Let me introduce this technique again here.
The word "shasei" has not yet been invented at the time of Basho, but the idea was there according to what Basho tells his disciples:
[...] Matsuo Basho advises his disciples: “Learn from the Pine!”To do that you must leave behind you all subjective prejudice. Otherwise you will force your own self onto the object and can learn nothing from it. Your poem will well-up of its own accord when you and the object become one, when you dive deep enough into the object, to discover something of its hidden glimmer. [...]
Though this technique is often given Shiki's term Shasei (sketch from life) or Shajitsu (reality), it has been in use since the beginning of poetry in the Orient. The poetic principle is "to depict the thing just as it is". The reason Shiki took it up as a poetical cause, and this made it famous, was his own rebellion against the many other techniques used in haiku. Shiki was, by nature it seemed, against whatever was the status quo - a true rebel. If older poets had overused any idea or method, it was his personal goal to point this out and suggest something else. This was followed until someone else got tired of it and suggested something new. This seems to be the way poetry styles go in and out of fashion.
Thus, Shiki hated associations, contrasts, comparisons, wordplays, puns, and riddles - all the things we are cherishing here! He favored the quiet simplicity of just stating what he saw without anything else happening in the haiku. He found the greatest beauty in the common sight, simply reported exactly as it was seen, and ninety-nine percent of his haiku written in his style. Many people still feel he was right. There are some moments that are perhaps best said as simply as possible in his way. Yet, Shiki himself realized in 1893, after writing very many haiku in this style, that used too much, even his new idea could become lackluster. So the method is an answer, but never the complete answer of how to write a haiku.
I hope you can relate to this Shasei technique and can work with it. This weekend I love to challenge you to re-create a haiku (in Shasei style) by Shiki into a Tanka. Here is the haiku to work with:
kaboocha yori nasu muzukashiki shasei kana
Sketching from life — eggplants are harder to do than pumpkins
Today a very special episode in our wonderful Kai. This month our theme is "New Beginnings" and today I will leave that theme in a way.
As you all know one of the renown modern haiku poets was Jane Reichhold (1937-2016), she was a co-author here and co-host. She is still missed.
Today I have chosen two haiku written by her and I love to challenge you to create a "fusion-ku" and with that "fusion-ku" a Troiku ... (more on Troiku above in the menu).
Here are the two haiku by Jane to work with:
a huge wave thundering across the beach my birthday sky-clad the new-born comes wrapped in previous lives
Two beautiful haiku created by the Queen of Haiku, Jane Reichhold, to work with. Enjoy this excercise.
This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 23rd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend meditation later on.
Share your "fusion-ku" and the Troiku, created with it, with us all here at our Kai.
Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai, the place to be if you like to create Japanese poetry and share it with the world. This month is themed "New Beginnings" and there is an amazing new beginning in nature's small world of insects and butterflies.
Today I love to challenge you with "metamorphosis", that awesome idea of a caterpillar changing into a butterfly.
What a transformation this creature makes ... awesome!
This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 22nd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. Have fun!
Share your inspired Japanese poetry with us all here at our wonderful Kai.
Welcome at a new Tan Renga Wednesday, that special feature in which I challenge you to complete a Tan Renga by adding your second stanza of two lines with approx. 7-7 syllables.
This week I have a nice haiku by Shiki to create a Tan Renga with, but let me first tell you a little about Shiki.
Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) put effort into poetry activities to bring about innovation in the haiku from the Edo period. In the seven years of his later years, he kept making haiku while suffering from tuberculosis.
In 1867, Masaoka Shiki was born in Iyo Province (today’s Ehime Prefecture). He was a son of the lower-class samurai who died 40 years old in 1872. With the support of his mother, he entered the Iyo clan school Jobankai. He began to learn haiku when he was 18. But Shiki got the illness which he suffered from ever since. Tuberculosis was fatal disease at that time and 21 years young haiku poet vomited blood for the first time. Shiki (子規, hototogisu) means little cuckoo in Japanese. He named own pen name after the bird because a little cuckoo was described as a bird sing so much that it vomit blood.
He entered Tokyo Imperial University (today’s Tokyo University) in 1900 and gave the lessons of haiku for Kawahigashi Hekigoto (1873-1937) and Takahama Kyoshi (1874-1959). Shiki gave up to graduate from Tokyo Imperial University and started to work at Nippon Shinbun Newspaper. While working as a journalist, he continued to publish haiku poems. During the Sino‐Japanese War (1894‐95) he went to the front. But that made worse of tuberculosis and Shiki went home. He had been in ill bed and suffered in his later years but he composed the jolly and creative haiku poems.
Can you create a Tan Renga with this beauty by Shiki?
This Tan Renga Wednesday is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 21st at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.
Make the Tan Renga complete by adding your 2nd stanza through association and share it with us all here at our Kai.
First my excuses for not publishing yesterday. I had some trouble with my PC, but now it has been made, so today I will publish two episodes. This (belated) episode will be short. I will give you only the prompt and a few examples of haiku created by several haiku poets.
Today's prompt is "First Snow", it's a classical kigo for Winter and that means you have to try to create a classical haiku or tanka following the rules as I think you all will known.
The first snow That the young Hijiri-monk has The color of the wooden box.
This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 20th at noon (CEST). I will publish our new Tan Renga Wednesday episode later today. For now ... have fun!
Share your classical haiku or tanka themed "first snow" with us all here at our wonderful Kai.
We are continuing our exploration of our them "New Beginnings". There are a lot of new beginnings as we have seen already last week. Every day starts with the first sunray. As a new day rises we see how the sky is starting to change colors ... and than ... there it is the first sunray. That first sunray awakens us from our sleep and has something magical.
Today our prompt is "first sunray". I found an example with this prompt in it hidden by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694):
Mume ga ka ni notto hi no deru yamaji kana Scents of Ume blossoms ― The sun rises like a marvel Ah, this mountain path
What a joy to feel the sun awaken you with his first rays. I can feel the warmth on my naked body and ... makes me happy ... a new day rises, another day to enjoy.
a new day rises the first ray of sun cherishes my body
Not as good as I had hoped, but I think this haiku gives you that feeling to awaken from a night's sleep and the happiness it will give you.
This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 19th at noon (CEST). Have fun!
Share your Japanese poetry inspired on our prompt for today with us all here at our wonderful Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like create Japanese poetry and share it with the world.
Welcome at a new Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation, our special feature for every weekend. My excuses that I am a bit late with publishing this weekend meditation, but ... well you all know the circumstances I have to deal with at the moment.
For this weekend meditation I have chosen a wonderful haiku to work with and create a Troiku with. More on Troiku you can find above in the menu.
Here is the haiku to work with, a haiku chosen from our archives themed New Beginnings:
in deep prayer eyes closed in devotion - Lotus starts to bloom
A beautiful haiku to workj with I think. Have a great weekend!
This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday, January 12th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until January 19th at noon (CEST). Have fun!
PS. If you like Tanka than you can also visit Tanka Splendor, that special website on Tanka. I have published a new Tanka Splendor episode there.
Share your created troiku with us all here at our wonderful Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like to create Japanese poetry and share it with the world.
Welcome at a new episode of wonderful Kai. This month I have themed "new beginnings", so all prompts have to do with new beginnings. Today I have chosen the prompt "rainbow", but what has the rainbow to do with new beginnings? Let me explain that to you all, but maybe you have an idea yourself.
The Rainbow was a sign of God, after the flood He promised Noah that He never would send a flood again to destroy all life. So in that context ... the "rainbow" is also a new beginning. This promise to Noah you can find in Genesis Chapter 9 verses 13 to 16:
13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” (New International Version)
Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful ai. This month our theme is New Beginnings and today I love to challenge you to create a haiku, tanka or other form of Japanese poetry themed "new born". This can be about new born babies, new kittens and more ... it even can be about the birth of a new haiku of a new year.
her smiling face she holds her first born tears of happiness
This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 15th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. Have fun!
Share your inspired Japanese poetry with us all here at our wonderful Kai.
Welcome at a new episode of our special feature "Tan Renga Wednesday" with a new logo for 2020. As you all know this special feature challenges you to create a Tan Renga from a given haiku. You have to add the two lined stanza (approx 7-7 syllables).
For this first Tan Renga Wednesday I have chosen a beautiful haiku by our so missed Jane Reichhold. It is taken from her online "Dictionarry of Haiku" from the season New Year.
Here is the haiku to work with:
New Year's morning the first day begins in the same dream
Welcome at the 2nd episode of this new CDHK month. This month it's all about "New Beginnings" and today I love to challenge you to create a Tan Renga with the following classical kigo: first day of spring.
The first day of spring is in the Japanese calendar around January 15th, because that's the date on which that very special 5th season, New Year, ends. Spring ... new life sprouts, the snow melts, the temperatures becoming higher ... new life ...
First ... HAPPY NEW YEAR ... to you all. Let us make this a wonderful year full of love, beauty and inspiration. This month is themed "New Beginnings" and that's what this year will bring us all I hope.
As I told you several days ago my mother has been institutionalized in a nursing home for the elderly people. She has peace with it, but ofcourse it's not easy to cope with this new beginning for her and for me. Time will bring us healing for this ...
The theme for this month is New Beginnings and today we start with ... New Year's Day ... Our classical haiku masters wrote a lot of haiku about New Year's Day ... here are a few examples:
New Year’s Day dawns clear, and sparrows tell their tales
All wonderful haiku on New Year's Day. In Haiku philosophy we count five seasons and the first season is New Year, it's roughly the period of December 15th and January 15th. So I challenge you to create a classical haiku themed New Year, to celebrate the new year.
Here is mine:
New Year's eve -- through the bare branches the wind as always
This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 12th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!
Share your classical New Year's Haiku with us all here at our wonderful Haiku Kai were we are starting a new year full of New Beginnings.
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