On The Trail With Basho ... Encore #15 flower-like snowflakes

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

You had to miss "On The Trail With Basho ... Encore" last month, because of our third anniversary, but now I will bring "Encore" again as a bi-weekly feature on Fridays, it will "take shift" with our Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge.

This week I have a nice haiku by Basho to inspire you which he wrote in winter 1687. Before I share this haiku with you I have a little anecdote about this haiku.
As you all know I am a big fan of Basho. I see him as my master and sometimes, without being aware of it I write haiku, which I think they are new and mine, but then it turns out that it is a haiku once written by Basho.
Several years ago I was interviewed by a local newspaper and the journalist asked me to create a haiku at that same moment. I was of course willing to do that so I came up with the following haiku:

polished again
on the clear mirror
flowers of snow

© Chèvrefeuille

Several years later, as I was reading all Basho's haiku, the above haiku turned out to be written by Basho. Don't ask me how this could happen, I really don't know it, but I realized then that I am totally one with Basho ... his haiku, in a translation by Jane Reichhold, is:

polished again
the mirror is as clear as
flower-like snowflakes

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

The above haiku is the haiku for your inspiration. I will give you the romaji translation too and a short notice by Jane Reichhold.

togi naosu kagami mo kiyoshi yuki no hana

Basho wrote this haiku for the completion of the reconstruction and repairing of the Atsuta Jingu Shrine

Credits: Atsuta Jingu Shrine

This is what Jane writes as a notice to this haiku:

[...] "This shrine was in disrepair for many years until the shogun government ordered repairs that began in 1686 and ended in 1687. Military rules allowed the shrine to disintegrate because these treasured sites were closely connected to the worship of the emperor. However, the military discovered that the treasures were important to the people, regardless of who was ruling, and quickly repaired the shrine. "Snow of flowers" refers to the huge, fluffy snowflakes that fall out of a clear blue sky. There is also the idea that the cold, hard snowflakes polish the mirror." [...]

As you all know the goal of this feature is to write an all new haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form inspired on the given haiku by Basho. Here is my attempt to write an all new haiku inspired on this haiku:

Buddha
covered with fresh snow
still smiles

© Chèvrefeuille

I love this one ... a beauty if I may say so.

This episode of "Encore" is open for your submissions at noon (CET) and will remain open until next Friday November 13th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem On The Trail With Basho Encore #14 "falling willow leaves"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's time again for an all new episode of our special feature "Encore" in which I present haiku written by Basho to inspire you to write an all new haiku (or tanka). This week I have chosen a beautiful haiku which Basho wrote while he was on his journey into the deep north.

When travelers stayed in a temple, they were expected to perform some work like sweeping out their rooms and or sweeping up the garden or make a payment in some kind. Basho was now alone, because Sora had traveled on ahead of him. When Basho went to leave the temple, some monks stopped him by asking for the payment of at least a poem. Sora had stayed the night before in the same temple and had left the following verse for Basho.

yomosugara   aki kaze kiku ya   ura no yama

all night long
hearing autumn winds
in the mountain behind

© Sora

One wonders if 'the mountain behind' was Basho, and if he 'autumn winds' were Basho's cold feelings. It is easy to see, how on a journey of this length (2400 km) two friends could get very tired of each other.

The following haiku by Basho, he wrote as a payment for his stay at the temple.

niwa hou te   ide baya tera ni   chiru yanagi

to sweep the garden
before I leave
falling willow leaves

© Basho

Basho and Sora

A wonderful haiku I think. I love this verse and I have written the next one. I hope that my haiku will be in the same tone and sense as Basho's.

tears in my eyes
I give Honeysuckle blossom
when I leave

© Chèvrefeuille

In 'My Narrow Road' I have used some of the traditions as they were used in ancient Japan. This verse I wrote for friends as payment for staying at their home.

It's for sure in Chevrefeuille's Spirit and I think ... also in the Spirit of Basho.

Another one also from 'My Narrow Road'.

a bound verse (*)
farewell gift for my host
and blossom petals

© Chèvrefeuille

 (*) a renga was also called a 'bound verse'.

I wrote this one to thank the host of a bed and breakfast in Nikko. He was very pleasant and friendly.

This episode of "Encore" is open for your submissions at noon (CET) and it will remain open until next Friday October 2nd at noon (CET).

On The Trail With Basho Encore #13 a hangover

Dear haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's time again for a new episode of "On The Trail With Basho Encore" and this episode I will tell you a little bit more about Basho's haiku on Cherry Blossom viewing.
As you all know one of my favorite themes for haiku is  cherry blossoms and I have written a lot of haiku about them. I really am in love with cherry blossoms, because of their color, fragility and beauty and of course because my master, Matsuo Basho, has written a lot of haiku about cherry blossoms.
The Japanese are all known for their love of cherry blossoms and as the cherries are blooming they go out with friends and families to watch the beauty of the cherry blossoms. There are several cherry blossom viewing festivals around that time as the cherries are blooming. This week I have gathered a few haiku by Basho about cherry blossoms for your inspiration. For example this one, which he wrote in the spring of 1694, the year he died:

When I went to Ueno for cherry blossom viewing, I saw curtains stretched where people were noisily playing music and singing various songs in various voices, so I moved to a quiet place nearby under a pine tree.

cherry blossom viewing
without a set of nested bowls
in my heart

© Basho

The mention of nested bowls refers to the things a monk on a pilgrimage would have. Basho is saying that even without the nested bowls, his preference to sit quietly under a pine tree instead of singing and dancing under the cherry blossoms, means that he was more like a monk at heart.

Or this one packed with humor, which he wrote in spring 1681:

a hangover
is nothing as long as
there are cherry blossoms

© Basho

In the following haiku Basho uses the comparative technique. The rice balls dusted with roasted flour resemble the delicate tints of the cherry blossoms.

well-matched
rice balls covered with roasted soy flour
cherry blossom gathering

© Basho

Awesome three very different, but all beautiful, haiku on cherry blossoms. Isn't it a joy to read them and be part of the scenes and experience Basho describes? Could I be there just one time ... that would be awesome.

cherry blossom viewing
together with friends and family
celebrating spring

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode of "Encore" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Friday September 18th at noon (CET). Have fun! Be inspired by the cherry blossoms of Basho ...

Carpe Diem On The Trail With Basho Encore #12 How Long

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's time for a new episode of "Encore" in which I share the beautiful haiku by my haiku-master Matsuo Basho one of the four greatest haiku poets (or as I love to say: "one of the 'big-five' haiku-poets). This week I have chosen a haiku which he wrote as a young haiku poet. Of course I will use (again) the translation of Jane Reichhold. This week's haiku Basho wrote in the summer of 1666, he than was 22 years.

One of the traditional occupations of poets was to wait for the first song of this bird in order to write a verse on the arrival of the season. The proverb matsu wa sen-nen ("a pine lives for a thousand years") adds to the classical wordplay of "pine tree / to pine or long for" which is one of the very few that works in English.

Shibashi ma mo matsu ya hototogi - su sen nen

how long
to wait for the cuckoo
about a thousand years

© Basho

A beauty ... not so well known as all the early haiku written by the young Basho. That's why I have created this CDHK feature "encore" to bring the beauty of Basho's not so well known haiku.

The goal is to write an all new haiku inspired on the presented haiku. For this episode I love to challenge you a bit more. 

Credits: Cranes

The challenge? You have to use the words of the first line 'how long'. No need to use 'how long' as the first line, but you have to use it. I have given it a try and this is what I came up with:

how long
until the barren rice fields will be green
cranes fly over

© Chèvrefeuille

By the way, cranes are a symbol for thousand years.

This 'encore' episode is  open for your submissions at noon (CET) and will remain open until next Friday August 28th at noon (CET). Have fun ...!

On The Trail With Basho Encore #11 drinking friends (humor)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Humor ... was, and is still, part of haiku. Basho also used humor in his haiku. However humor isn't something I use in haiku. In some of my haiku it's possible that there is a touch of humor, but I did that unconscious and not on purpose.

In our next “On The Trail With Basho Encore” – episode I have chosen a haiku in which Basho used humor very clearly. He has written this at Ryumon Falls at the southern foot of Mount Ryumondake in Yoshino, province of Nara. This is the area with Japan's most notable display of cherry trees. This verse uses a comparative technique: Basho is comparing how a person who is drunk stands (or doesn't stand) with the shape of a waterfall and with the way branches loaded with blossoms hang down. (Source: Jane Reichhold).

sake nomi ni    katara n kakaru    taki no hana

drinking friends
to talk I'll hang over like this
a waterfall of flowers

© Basho

Not a common (counted) verse in this translation by Jane Reichhold, but I think that's no problem. I myself don't count the syllables when writing my haiku.

A Waterfall of Flowers

To write a haiku by myself in the Spirit of Basho's and inspired on this haiku isn't easy, but I just have to try. I have written a few haiku in the sense and tone of this one by Basho. I only can hope that it has also a little bit of Basho's humor in it.

on the way home
drunken sailors bend over
to vomit

it's a strange sight
like a waterfall they fall
drunken sailors

Ah! that sight
a waterfall of flowers
when vomiting

© Chèvrefeuille

I hope you did like this “Encore” episode. I have decided to make “Encore” a bi-weekly feature on Friday. And as it is “Encore” there will be no Tan Renga Challenge. I hope you don’t mind that little change.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until Friday 21st at noon (CET).

Carpe Diem's On The Trail With Basho Encore #10 a bush warbler

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I have a new episode of "Encore" for you to inspire you to write in the same sense, tone and spirit as Basho.

Basho knew his classics and used that knowledge frequently in his haiku. The following haiku is, as Jane Reichhold says, a pseudo-science haiku.

Let us look at the haiku on the Bush warbler.

uguisu no   kasa otoshi taru   tsubaki kana

a bush warbler
has dropped his hat
a camellia

© Matsuo Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

Taiwan Bush Warbler

In old (classic) poems (e.g. waka) there was a phrase about the bush warbler (looking similar to our cuckoo) stitching a hat from plum blossoms. Basho changed the hat to a camellia and had the bird dropping it - which was much more natural than stitching. If birds wore hats the camellia would be the right size and shape. Maybe you can visualize the picture of the bush warbler wearing a camellia for a hat. It looks like a cartoon I think, but why not. Humans wear hats so why shouldn't birds and animals don't wear them. Maybe you lost your hat in a storm or something, so also the bush warbler could lose his hat in the storm or dropping it.

a gust of wind
a hat tolls around and around -
camellia flower

© Chèvrefeuille

Pink Camellia

A haiku with a smile? I think so ...

This episode of "Encore" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Thursday August 6th at noon (CET). Have fun ... be inspired and share!

On The Trail With Basho Encore #9 Bridge of Morning

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's time for a new episode of "On The Trail With Basho Encore". This week I have a nice haiku by Basho about moon-viewing. Also a great one, but not so well known. As we know, the moon is a season word for autumn. So this one is an autumn verse written in 1689.

asamutsu ya   tsukimi no tabi no   ake banare

bridge of morning
a journey of moon-viewing
at dawn

© Basho

With this haiku came a preface: "When we crossed the bridge of Asamutsu, which is popularly known as 'Asazu', I recall a passage in 'The Pillow Book of Sei Shanagan (a female poet) who wrote: "The most interesting bridges are the bridge of Asamutsu, (and of Nagara and of Amabiko)". This is the very bridge.”

According to Jane Reichhold the third sentence 'ake banare' in a longer translation would be to say 'to leave the darkness of night into the light of morning'. The bridge of Asamutsu is about 8 km south of Fukui, in Asuwa. Personally I love the longer translation of the third sentence, but it's really to long 'at dawn' says the same.

A closer look, pictures the moon in the early morning hidden behind thin clouds making her mysterious. At the same time as the moon-viewing in the early morning the sun rises to his place at the autumn sky.

And as you all know the goal of “Encore” is to write an all new haiku inspired on the given one by Basho. Well ... here I go ... a new haiku:

in the thin line
as the night flows into the day
sun and moon together

© Chèvrefeuille

Or what do you think of this one?

sun and moon dancing
as the night flows into the day -
a skylark’s song

© Chèvrefeuille

A tough task to write another haiku in Basho's Spirit. I don't know if this one has that Spirit, but I love the scene.

This episode is open for your submissions at noon (CET) and will remain open until July 23rd at noon (CET). Have fun!

On The Trail With Basho Encore #8 plowing a field

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It is time for an all new episode of "Encore" in which I share haiku by Basho, my haiku master, to challenge you to write an all new haiku inspired on the one I gave. Of course I will try to write an all new haiku in the same sense, tone and spirit as the one given.

Basho was also a tanka poet although there are no tanka of him published. He is known by his haiku, but uses also tanka techniques in his haiku.
In the following haiku he uses words that are usually in tanka as we will see in the preface and comment by Jane Reichhold.

hatake utsu   oto ya arashi no   sakura asa

plowing a field
the sound of a violent storm
morning blossoms

(c) Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

With this haiku came a preface, as was very common use:

'On March 11, at the shrine of Shirahige in Araki village'. Usually in tamka the words 'arashi' (a violent storm) and 'sakura' (cherry blossoms) are combined in the fear that the blossoms will be blown down in a storm. So the 'wit' here is to combine these words with another (much more common) meaning.

The Japanese were very anxious as the wind blows while all the delicate blossoms are in full bloom. The Japanese are entwined with nature and when nature is in danger, the Japanese are experiencing the pain of nature their selves.

The delicate blossoms of the cherry trees and plum trees are famous for haiku, so I think that I will try a new haiku with one of these famous kigo (season word).

the spring storm
torns apart the delicacy
of cherry blossom

(c) Chèvrefeuille

For the Japanese this haiku is painful. As we know they are entwined with nature, but also a late spring storm that torns apart the delicate cherry blossoms is part of nature and ... when the blossoms have left with the wind they can grow those delicious cherries in summer.

Alright ... I will give a few new haiku on the delicacy of the blossoms. I was inspired.

do not scatter
the lovely cherry blossoms
oh violent storm

so fragile
the white plum blossoms
in the evening sun

Ah! that fragrance
delicate cherry blossoms
in the spring rain

(c) Chèvrefeuille

Well ... this time no long episode, but I hope you did like it and that it will inspire you to write an all new haiku or tanka.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 16th at noon (CET) Have fun!

On The Trail With Basho Encore #7 butterflies

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I love butterflies, they're so fragile and I find them very beautiful. However I didn't write a lot of haiku about butterflies. I don't know why, but it could be a lack of inspiration.
I love to share haiku on butterflies for this episode of our special feature “On The Trail With Basho Encore” for example this haiku which he wrote for a woman named Butterfly when he was asked for.

ran no ka ya   cho no tusubasa ni   takimono su

orchid fragrance
from the butterfly's wings
scenting the clothes

(c) Basho

My first response on this haiku:

in the Buddleia
fluttering of fragile wings
waving on the wind

(c) Chèvrefeuille

Another one:

waving on the wind
butterflies resting in the sun
on the Buddleia

(c) Chèvrefeuille

In this episode I will look at a few haiku by Basho  in which he used butterfly as season word. (A season word is particular for one of the seasons, butterfly is a season word for summer). cho no ha no   ikutabi koyuru   hei no yane wings of a butterfly how many times do they flutter over roof and wall kimi ya cho   ware ya Soji ga   yume gokoro you are butterfly? I am Chuang-tzu's dreaming heart Chuang-tzu is a well known classical author of China and Basho wrote this one for one of his friends named Dosui who was an enthusiastic reader of Chuang-tzu's work. According to Jane Reichhold however this one is an unconfirmed haiku by Basho. Another butterfly haiku: cho mo ki te   su wo suu kiku no   namasu kana a butterfly also comes to sip the vinegar from mums (*) and pickles (*) ‘mums’ is short for Chrysanthemums

With this one came a preface: 'While I was staying in Awazu, a man who liked tea ceremony very much, invited me and served vinegar boiled chrysanthemum flowers picked from a nearby beach'. He wrote this one for his host, a physician.

okiyo okiyo   waga tomo ni se n   nuru ko cho

wake up wake up
I want you for a friend
sleeping butterfly

This one is discussed by several authorities and they came to the conclusion that this one must be seen in relationship to the famous story of Chuang-tzu who dreamed he was a butterfly and then wondered which was real, his dream or his life as a human. (Source: Jane Reichhold's Old Pond: Basho's (almost) thousand haiku).
Others say that this haiku refers to one of Basho's (male) lovers. The truth will stay in the middle I think.

A last example of haiku on butterflies by Basho:

cho no tobu   bakari nonaka no   hikage kana

a butterfly flies
only in the field
of sunshine

What an awesome picture. A tiny butterfly dances in the wide field in the light of the sun.

Because I love the butterfly haiku by Basho. I will give another example. This is an impromptu verse.

monozuki ya   niowa nu kasa ni   tomaru cho

how curious
on grass without fragrance
perches a butterfly

Well ... I rest my case :-) All wonderful haiku by Basho about butterflies. To write myself a new one in the Spirit of Basho will not be easy, but ... I have to do what I have to do.

the cobweb scattered
by the fluttering of wings
a blue butterfly

on the veranda
a yellowish butterfly
the light of sun down

(c) Chèvrefeuille

Butterflies ... I love those tiny creatures, so fragile and yet so strong. I bow my head and thank the Gods for the butterflies.

I hope you did like this episode of "Encore" and that it will inspire you all to write an all new haiku or tanka and share it here with us.

This episode of "Encore" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Friday 10th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem "On The Trail With Basho Encore" #6 autumn night

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I am glad to present to you an all new episode of our "On The Trail With Basho Encore" feature in which I share haiku written by the master. Basho was, as you all know, a traveling poet and the haiku for this episode he wrote while visiting two of his disciples in September 1694. It is one of his last haiku he wrote.

Jane Reichhold tells us the following about this haiku:

[...] "1694-autumn. This verse began a half renga (18 links) done at Shioe Shado's house on September 21st, in Osaka. One of the reasons Basho had made the trip to Osaka, in spite of his illness, was to mediate between two of his disciples, Shido, a merchant from Osaka, and Shado, a doctor. When both disciples showed up for this renga, they completed only eighteen links. Here, with the associative technique, the autumn night, an abstract idea, and the conversation have been dashed to bits" [...]

aki no yo o uchi kuzushitaru hanashi kana

autumn night
dashed to bits
in conversation

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

Basho shows here that he had heart for his disciples and that he tried to keep the harmony between them. This "hokku" shows in my opinion, not only the associative technique, but also the karumi style, Basho's task for life in his last years.

Credits: Kinkakuji Temple Osaka in Fall

And now I have to try to write an all new haiku with the same mood and spirit as the given one to pay tribute to Basho's poetry skills.

on the porch
a moment of silence
the sound of rain

© Chèvrefeuille

A nice one I think. This episode of Encore is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 2nd at noon (CET). Have fun!

!! The judging of our second kukai "summertime" will start tonight at 6.00 PM (CET) as I publish our regular episode !!

On The Trail With Basho Encore 5 a falling sound

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Time flies ... it's Thursday again and so it's time for an all new episode of our special feature "On The Trail With Basho Encore" in which I share haiku composed by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) for your inspiration. All the haiku used in this special feature are used with permission of Jane Reichhold, whom I am very grateful for giving me the opportunity to use her haiku.

This week's "Encore" haiku was written by Basho in spring 1666 short after the unexpected dead of his friend, Yoshitada. Basho was almost 22 years of age when he wrote this haiku. Jane says the following about this haiku:

[...] "What the Japanese call ume is most often translated as "plum" because of the Latin name Prunus mume, but the fruit more closely resembles the apricot. Because these fruits ripen during mid-June to mid-July, the rains of this time are called ume no ame ("plum rains"). Even ripe, the fruit is inedible until it has been preserved in a salty, sour liquid similar to olives". [...]

furu oto ya mimi mo su-naru ume no ame

a falling sound
that sours my ears
plum rain

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

Credits: Japanese Plums

Here is my attempt to write a haiku in the same sense, tone and spirit as the one I gave by Basho:

rain of summer
cherishes my naked body
after the heat

© Chèvrefeuille

Hm ... not a strong one, but I think it's in the spirit of Basho ... it's certainly, without a doubt in my spirit (smiles). Sorry ... that sounds a bit immodest.

This episode of "Encore" is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until next Thursday June 25th at noon (CET). Have fun!

On The Trail With Basho Encore 4 such stillness

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I am a day late with publishing this new episode of our special feature "On The Trail With Basho Encore" in which I share haiku by Basho just for fun ... he has written such wonderful haiku ... I just have to share them ...

shizu kasa ya   iwa ni shimi iru   semi no koe

such stillness
piercing the rock
a cicada's voice

© Basho

In my first anthology of my haiku, which was published in 1998 (on own account) I defined haiku as the poetry of silence and emptiness. I think that a lot of our fellow haijin shall say the same of haiku.Basho wrote haiku about stillness, emptiness and loneliness, as we already have seen last month. The above verse is, in my opinion, one of his best haiku with stillness as theme. The stillness of the mountains becomes very strong by the fragile voice of the cicada.

This verse is not based on reality, because a cicada's voice can't pierce a rock, but it works with what is felt (also a sense) and not with what is thought. By the way Basho wrote this haiku at the so called 'mountain temple' in Yamagata. Yamagata was one of the places which Basho eagerly would visit on his 'Narrow Road'.

Ah! that sound
the song of a Nightingale
deepens the silence

© Chèvrefeuille

Isn't it a nice one? I love the Nightingale's song and love to write haiku about it. I have written several haiku with the Nightingale in it. For example the following one:

an old temple
shelter for the night -
a Nightingale sings

© Chèvrefeuille

The above haiku is part of a haibun which I wrote titled "My Narrow Road".

I hope you did like this episode of "Encore" and that it will inspire you all to write an all new haiku.

This episode of "Encore" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Friday June 19th at noon (CET).

On The Trail With Basho Encore 3, washing my feet

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As I promised you all last month I love to stay in touch with Basho by bringing you all a new episode of our special feature "On The Trail With Basho Encore". Maybe you remember that in one of the posts in the last days of May I spook about "unconfirmed" haiku by Basho. Today's episode of "Encore" is about another "unconfirmed" haiku.

The following haiku was published by Daichu in a collection of Basho's handwritten poems, but actually this verse is 'unconfirmed' at being Basho's. Let us take a closer look at the verse.

ashi arote   tsui ake yasuki   maro ne kana

washing my feet
I fall asleep for the short night
with my clothes on

© Basho

When I read this the first time I thought 'this is a nice haiku by Basho', but when I read further I was struck by lightning as I read the comment of Jane Reichhold that this was an 'unconfirmed' haiku by Basho. I was in shock. This couldn't be. I read the haiku again and again and it stays a haiku by Basho, but why than 'unconfirmed'?

Let us take a closer look. Why do I think this is a haiku by Basho? I don't pretend that I am a Basho connoisseur, but (as other haiku poets say) I write my own haiku in the same tone and sense as Basho. So I think I can say that I know how Basho wrote. Am I immodest ... that's up to you my dear visitors.

Summer Solstice at Stonehenge (UK)

This haiku has Zen in it, it has humor and it has a season word 'the short night'. Basho was very tired while he crafted this one, he even don't had the strength to wash his feet and put off his clothes. While washing his feet he falls asleep and misses the shortest night of the year, the summer solstice. In that part is the Zen. The shortest night missing because you're too tired, it feels like emptiness and also brings enlightenment.

Time is such a rare thing, time flies. Time doesn't exist is what this haiku says. It's a wonderful haiku. Although mentioned an 'unconfirmed' one by Basho. I think it's 'now confirmed' that this is a haiku by Basho. Daichu was right when he enclosed this haiku in the collection of Basho's handwritten haiku.

And now ... I have to write a haiku by myself in Basho's Spirit.

at dawn
I wash my feet with dew
the longest day

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... it's not completely in the Spirit of Basho, but it's for sure in the Spirit of Chèvrefeuille ... and that is CONFIRMED :)

This episode of "encore" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Thursday June 11th at noon (CET). have fun!

On The Trail With Basho Encore (2) fragile twigs

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Last week I introduced a new feature here at Carpe Diem to honor "my haiku master" Basho and his haiku. I realized myself that I had forgotten to write an all new episode of "Encore" yesterday (Thursday May 21st) so here it is a new episode of our new feature "On The Trail With Basho Encore" and I think I have a nice haiku for you all.

The given haiku Basho wrote when he was 33 years old, a mature man, and he had contributed it, together with 19 other verses,to a colossal poetry contest arranged by Fûko (a rich daimyo patron). The contest was entered by over 60 poets. Kigin and Saiganji Ninko were the referee-judges.

After the contest father and son Ninko created an Anthology of the results called Roppya kuban Haikai Hokku awase (The Hokku contest in Six Hundred Rounds). It was shown that of the twenty verses Basho entered nine were published, placing him as one of the best of the participants and that made him an established master.

That's for the background ... now back to the given haiku for this week's “On The Trail With Basho Encore” episode. First I will give the Japanese verse in Romanji followed by the English translation.

eda moroshi   hi toshi yaburu    aki no kaze

fragile twigs
breaking off the scarlet papers
autumn winds 

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

'Toshi' refers to a very fragile paper made in China. The idea of the poem was that even a fragile twig could tear the paper or the twigs were too fragile to hold on to the Autumn leaves.

autumn colors

I can picture this scene in front of my eyes. A stormy Autumn day, the fragile twigs, elastic as they are, ruining the scarlet papers or the soft skin of the tree, but can't stand to hold up their leaves. Fragile as the twigs are they finally break taking with them in their fall the fragile paper or skin of the tree.

To write a haiku inspired on the one by Basho, in his Spirit so to say, isn't easy, but I have to try it of course ...

autumn winds -
colorful leaves struggling
their end is near

© Chèvrefeuille

I think this one is a wonderful one (how immodest). It's for sure in the Spirit of Chèvrefeuille, but is it also in the Spirit of Basho? I don't know ..., but I think ... yes it is.
!! I am behind with commenting I hope to catch up a.s.a.p.

This episode of "Encore" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Thursday May 28th at noon (CET). Have fun!

On the Trail with Basho Encore (01), a grass pillow

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Yes ... you have read it right! A new feature at CDHK "On the Trail with Basho, Encore". I like this month a lot so I have decided to make Basho (and maybe later some other classical haiku-poet) a regular feature (say every week) here at our Haiku Kai. This is our first "Encore"-episode. 
Basho wrote several haiku for his students and followers. He also wrote the next haiku for one of his followers named Rotsu (1649-1738). In the preface he wrote:

"On the departure of Rotsu for Michinoku (the Northern part of Honshu)".

kusa makara   makoto no hanami   shite mo koyo

a grass pillow
is the best to use when coming
to view cherry blossoms

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

When the cherry blossoms are in full bloom whole Japan is going to view the cherry blossoms. A grass pillow was the best seat for sitting under the cherry trees.

According to Jane Reichhold, Rotsu was leaving to follow Basho's trip of the previous year to the Far North. Rotsu was rather notorious for his bad behavior. While in Zeze, visiting in a home, he broke a valuable tea container. Instead of owning up to the accident, he blamed another one of Basho's students. Basho got very angry with him over the incident. He only forgave Rotsu shortly before his death. But he was so concerned about the situation that he had left a note in his will of his forgiving Rotsu for this. Rotsu did attend the funeral service of Basho at Gichuyi Temple in Zeze and wrote a detailed report of the end Basho's life and death. (In this little anecdote we get to see a glimpse of Basho's temper which made him as human as you and I.)

I couldn't see the 'clou' at first of this haiku, but I had an 'aha-erlebnis' when I read the haiku again. I saw the whole picture. In my country we have a proverb 'who burns his buttocks has to sit on his blisters'. This proverb means that 'if you e.g. break something you have to pay for it'. Rotsu wouldn't do that. So Basho wrote the haiku with that proverb in mind. Because if you burn your bud you have to sit on the blisters. A pillow will be good than to sit on and watch the cherry blossoms. I had to laugh when I came to this conclusion. I don't  laugh now, because I have to write a new haiku in the same Spirit as the one by Basho. It will be a tough one.

Well it cost me a few days to write a new haiku, but I think ... I succeeded.

sitting cushion
a friend for today's accident
viewing the full moon

© Chèvrefeuille

Mm ... not a very well done haiku, but I will use this one in this first episode of “On the Trail with Basho, Encore”. Maybe ... another one will come to my mind.

It's a Chevrefeuille haiku, but is it also one in Basho's Spirit? That’s up to you to decide!

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until May 21^st at noon (CET). Have fun! Enjoy the posts by Georgia (a.k.a. Bastet).