Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday #14 Wisteria Beans

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our special feature Tan Renga Wednesday, that wonderful feature in which I challenge you to complete a Tan Renga by adding your two-lined stanza to a given haiku.

During lack of time I will give you only the haiku to work with. This week I have chosen a haiku by Basho:

wisteria beans
let's make that a theme for haikai
a flower fruit 

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

Well ... a nice one I think to work with.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 25th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Wednesday #10 such a cold night

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

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

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

Japanese Quilt

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).

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #104 Photo-shopping Haiku "Camellia" (Yosa Buson)

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday September 29th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new weekend meditation here at our wonderful Haiku Kai. This weekend I have chosen for an episode of our so called "Photo-shopping Haiku", that wonderful special feature in which I challenge you to "photo-shop" a renown haiku to make it (maybe) better.

For this "photo-shopping" episode I have chosen a (not so) renown haiku by Buson (1716-1784). Buson is one of the so called big five (next to him we have Basho, Issa, Shiki and Chiyo-ni) and he has written wonderful haiku. He was also an awesome haiga painter and he illustrated the first official print of Basho"s "Small Road Into The Deep North".

Illustrated version of Basho's "Narrow Road Into The Deep North" with haiga by Buson

What a wonderful haiga Buson created for this printed version of Basho's "Narrow Road Into The Deep North", but the haiku to photo-shop is not taken from this haibun by Basho, but a haiku by Buson.

Here is the haiku to "photo-shop":

tama-suri-no zayu ni hiraku tsubaki kana

Unfolding at the
hand of the glass polisher:
a camellia!

© Buson (1716-1784)

More about "photo-shopping haiku".

Well .... a nice challenge I think. This weekend-meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday September 29th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until October 6th at noon (CEST). Have a wonderful weekend full of inspiration and joy.

Carpe Diem #1716 Poppies

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the 2nd episode of our new CDHK month August 2019. This month we are "creating" a field of flowers, all prompts will be flowers that we can find in the fields around us. We will see a lot of beautiful flowers ... Today I have chosen "poppies" to work with.

Today I love to start with a "reprise" from an episode of one of my other weblogs, Basho Revisited. So a haiku by my master, Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) and a little background on it.

shira geshi ya   shigure no hana no   saki tsu ran

white poppy
it must have bloomed
from a wintry shower

© Matsuo Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

As you can see ... this haiku is in Kanshicho-style. Let's take a closer look at the Romanji text and count the characters (syllables).

shi-ra ge-shi ya (5 syllables or characters)
shi-gu-re no ha-na no (7 syllables or characters)
sa-ki tsu ran (4 syllables or characters)

And now let us look at the English translation. Is that also in Kanshicho?

white poppy (2 syllables)
it must have bloomed (5 syllables)
from a wintry shower (5 syllables)

The English haiku is also in Kanshicho. Kanshicho is just another way of writing haiku.  In our Western world we use our own way of translating the Japanese haiku and that's not always following the classical syllables-count. So maybe we can say that all Western haiku are in Kanshicho?
Well maybe, but as you and I know, in the Western world we have a lot of classical written haiku, sometimes convulsively counted to serve the rules of the classical syllables-count 5-7-5. I am not a fan of that classical style, counted verse, but I do like to write them sometimes. To me the classical way of writing haiku is very difficult. Maybe that's because English isn't my mother tongue.
By the way. The haiku written by Basho, the one in this episode, was published in a three-volume collection of haikai by Ochi Etsujin in 1717.

At Basho Revisited I try to create haiku inspired on the haiku by Basho trying to "touch" the same tone and sphere. So here is the haiku I created:

at sunrise

poppies still redder

sacrifice for God

© Chèvrefeuille

Awesome! Gorgeous haiku in Kanshicho-style. Hope you enjoyed the read and of course the whole episode.

To conclude this episode I have another haiku for you:

one summer day

poppies coloring the meadows -

raindrops start to fall

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... a nice one don't you think so too? This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until Auhust 9th at noon (CEST). Later today I will publish our new weekend meditation, so today ... two episodes to read. Have fun!

Carpe Diem #1700 cooling down

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at our 1700th regular episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai. This month it's all about "Summer Love" and today I have chosen for that other part of a hot summer ... cooling down. Here are a few haiku by Basho about this:

delightfulness
cooling one self in a rice paddy
the sound of water

a midday nap
putting the feet against the wall
it feels cool

essential to life
the little space under my hat
enjoying the coolness

© Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

Summer In Japan

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 17th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1682 Troiku month (11) The Wind Of Fuji

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend and that the weekend inspired you and gave you the time to relax. I had a very busy weekend at work, but I survived it (just joking). A new week is in front of you and as you all know we are creating Troiku this month.

For this first regular episode of this new week I have chosen a haiku by my master, Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) and maybe you know it, because I think we have had this haiku earlier here at CDHK.

Here is the haiku to work with:

the wind of Fuji
I've brought on my fan
a gift from Edo

© Basho

Fuji no Yama and Sakura

A very nicely crafted haiku by Basho and I think it gives you the opportunity to create a wonderful Troiku with it.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until June 23rd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1674 Troiku Month (3) chestnuts by the eaves

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome ... a new episode in our Troiku month and I will keep it short, because of lack of time. Today I will give you only the haiku from which you have to create your Troiku.

For today I have chosen a haiku by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), whom I see as my sensei. It's one of the 50 haiku he used in his wonderful haibun "The Small Road Into The Deep North" (Oku-no-Hosomichi).

Here is the haiku to work with:

people in the world
hardly notice these blossoms
chestnuts by the eaves

© Basho (Tr. Tim Chilcott

Chestnut Tree in full bloom

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until June 11th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1671 Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019 (18) lightning flash

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the last episode of this wonderful Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019. It was really a joy to create this month and I am glad to see all your responses. Thank you all for being part in this Tan Renga Challenge.

For this last episode of our TRC month I have chosen a haiku by my master, Matsuo Basho. This haiku is extracted from his renown haibun "The Small Road Into The Deep North", one of the most beautiful pieces of Japanese literature.

Here is the haiku to work with:

lightning flash–
what I thought were faces
are plumes of pampas grass

© Basho (Tr. unknown; taken from "The Small Road Into The Deep North")

Lightning Flash (above Athens, Greece)

What a spectacular photo this is. It fits the haiku by Basho in a great way and makes it easier to create your 2nd stanza to this Tan Renga I think.

This was the last episode of our Tan Renga Challenge Month and I hope you are inspired to complete the Tan Renga task.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until June 6th at noon (CEST). I hope to publish our new (and first episode of June 2019) later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1665 Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019 (12) "special" Basho "Miscanthus bud"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a "special" episode of our Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019. Today I have a few nice haiku by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) for you to work with. You may choose a haiku to work with of you can use them all. Why is this episode "special"? Well I realised today that this year Basho's birth and death are celebrated. He was born 325 years ago and died 375 years ago, so in my opinion this is "special".

I will give you a short overview of his life hereafter:

Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694), born, then Matsuo Chūemon Munefusa, was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest master of haiku (then called hokku). Matsuo Bashō's poetry is internationally renowned; and, in Japan, many of his poems are reproduced on monuments and traditional sites. Although Bashō is justifiably famous in the West for his hokku, he himself believed his best work lay in leading and participating in renku. He is quoted as saying, "Many of my followers can write hokku as well as I can. Where I show who I really am is in linking haikai verses."

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

Bashō was introduced to poetry at a young age, and after integrating himself into the intellectual scene of Edo (modern Tokyo) he quickly became well known throughout Japan. He made a living as a teacher; but then renounced the social, urban life of the literary circles and was inclined to wander throughout the country, heading west, east, and far into the northern wilderness to gain inspiration for his writing. His poems were influenced by his firsthand experience of the world around him, often encapsulating the feeling of a scene in a few simple elements. (Source: wikipedia)

Here are the haiku to work with:

the Dutchmen, too,
kneel before His Lordship --
spring under His reign.

by my new banana plant
the first sign of something I loathe --
a miscanthus bud!

Miscanthus

another year is gone
a traveler's shade on my head,
straw sandals at my feet

now then, let's go out
to enjoy the snow ... until
I slip and fall!

© Basho

Four very nicely crafted haiku by my master, Matsuo Basho. You may choose from these four to create Tan Renga with or you can use them all. That's up to you.

This "special" episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 22nd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

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.

Carpe Diem #1642 wild rose (yamabuki)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a busy weekend I have had. I had to work and our oldest son and his kids were visiting us including sleep over. And today it was a real warm spring day here in The Netherlands, almost 22 degrees Celcius, so also this day could have been a summer day, but ... well it's spring.

This month we will explore the kigo for spring, modern so well as classical and today I have chosen a classical kigo from the so called "Shiki Saijiki" in which you can find 500 classical kigo. Our kigo for today is Wild Rose (Yamabuki).

rippling water
as frogs jump into -
yellow roses bloom 

© Chèvrefeuille

The yellow rose in the above haiku is named "Yamabuki", so this classical kigo means not only "wild rose", but also "yellow rose".

Yamabuki (Yellow Roses, Kerria Japonica)

What a wonderful flower this is. There is an old story about Basho's "old pond" that he first thought of "yamabuki" as third line instead of "the sound of water". In the above haiku you can easily find that world famous haiku by the master, Matsuo Basho.

a wild rose
red delicacy in nature -
my sweet love

red roses
all that remains
after the storm
between the walls
and my heart

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... enough to work with I think. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 14th ay noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1597 Tan Renga Challenge Month 2019 (1) morning tea

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new month here at our wonderful Haiku Kai. Yesterday I told you that I hadn't decided yet, but now ... as you can see ... I have made my choice. This month I challenge you to create Tan Renga.

For those who don't know what a Tan Renga is I will give a short explanation about Tan Renga:

Maybe you know the Tanka that poem with 5 lines following the syllables count 5-7-5-7-7, A beautiful Japanese poetry form to create. The Tanka is a poem written by one poet and that's the difference with the Tan Renga.

The Tan Renga has also 5 lines following the same syllables count as the Tanka, but the Tan Renga is written by two poets. One poet writes the first stanza of three (3) lines in the following example that will be Jane Reichhold:

Here is the first stanza of this example Tan Renga:

morning sun
the twinkle of stars
still in the dew                      (Jane Reichhold)

The goal for the second poet is create the second stanza of two (2) lines through association on the first stanza (as we do in a renga). For this example I have written the second stanza:

her bright shining eyes
she unpacks her new doll     (your host)

Morning Sun

This is what you call a Tan Renga. It's possible to leave a blanc line between the two stanzas, but you can also make it unite with each other as I do mostly. Than this is the result:

morning sun
the twinkle of stars
still in the dew                      (Jane Reichhold)
her bright shining eyes
she unpacks her new doll     (your host)

It's a wonderful way to create a short linked verse. This month I will give you a haiku every day to work with and create a Tan Renga with.

For this first episode of our new Tan Renga Challenge Month I have chosen a nice haiku written by (my master) Matsuo Basho:

for his morning tea
a monk sits down in utter silence-
confronted by chrysanthemums

© Matsuo Basho (Tr. unknown)

A beautiful, not so well known, haiku by Basho. I think this haiku can become a wonderful Tan Renga through your creative minds.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 7th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new weekend meditation later on. For now ... have fun!

PS. I would love to create an exclusive CDHK E-book about this Tan Renga Challenge Month and I hope you all will agree with that.

Carpe Diem #1555 Renga With Basho ... still it sways

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai were we are celebrating autumn as you can read in the theme "the leaves are falling". Today I have chosen to challenge you with a new "Renga With Basho ...". As you all know I see him as my sensei and I am honored that I may give you the opportunity to create renga with my sensei. You can choose your own "line-up" and of course your own "hokku" (starting verse). You have to add your two-lined stanza of approximately 14 syllables. Please try to "close the chain" by creating an "ageku" (closing verse) that associates with the "hokku".

Lactarius Hatsudake (Photo © Ruben Walleyn)

Here are the six haiku to use:

mushrooms *
not yet that many days
of autumn dew

pine mushroom
with its ragged top it's
like a pine tree

moon past full
the beginning of a little more
darkness

morning glories
in the daytime a lock lowered
on the gate **

chrysanthemum flowers
bloom at the stonemason's
between stones

Glistening Dew (image found on Pinterest)

glistening dew
not spilling from bush clover
still it sways

© Matsuo Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold, taken from "Basho, The Complete Haiku")

* The mushroom here is the Lactarius Hatsudake it bleeds a reddish liquid that changes into green when broken. In spite of this spooky attribute, the mushroom is edible. One does not know from the poem whether the autumn dew that Basho mentions is actual dew or this fluid.

** Remarks on Closing The Gate: "... if anyone comes, I have to make unnecessary talk. If I go out to visit anyone, I feel bad for disturbing him. I should be content without any friends. I should feel wealthy in spite of my poverty. A fifty-year-old man writes this for himself as precept for his edification".

Six wonderful haiku I think. Full of intensity and beauty. A real joy to work with I think and I am looking forward to all your beautiful responses. By the way ... I love to create a new exclusive CDHK E-book in which I will gather all your wonderful renga created with Basho. I hope you all will be okay with that.

Cover of our new exclusive CDHK E-book "still it sways" renga with the master

This episode is NOW OPEN for your responses and will remain open until December 5th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Renga Challenge #3 Chrysanthemum Dew

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I am under the impression that you all love this Renga Challenge feature and I think it's awesome to write a renga together with one of the classic masters. For this third episode I have again six beauties written by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) in a translation by Jane Reichhold. I still miss her, but I know that her spirit is still dwelling here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. As I think of her I only can smile and be gratefull that I have known her and have worked with her.

The goal is to create a renga with a minimum of six stanza and a maximum of 12 stanza. You can use the haiku I give in any order, the only thing you have to do is create the two-lined stanza between the haiku through association on the images/scenes in the haiku.

A Girl Collecting Chrysanthemum Dew by the stream (woodblock print)

Here are the six haiku by Basho to work with:

the image shows
an old woman weeping alone
my friend the moon

passing through autumn
a butterfly seems to lick
chrysanthemum dew

five or six
sitting with tea and cakes
a fireplace

Skylark

a skylark sings
the pheasant's voice is
the instrumental music

how glorious
young green leaves
flash in the sun

early summer rains
falling so heavily they cover up
the waterfall

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold, taken from "Basho, The Complete Haiku")

 All great haiku ... enjoy your renga-party together with Basho.

This Renga Challenge is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 24th at noon (CEST). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #36 "like Basho"

!! open for your submissions next Sunday June 10th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's time again for our weekend meditation that special feature for the weekend to give myself and you a little bit more time to meditate and contemplate before you have to respond. This time I have chosen for an all new feature that I have given the name "Deep Within Self". In that feature the goal is to create haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form from the heart. Try to create Japanese poetry in which you catch your Inner Most Feeling inspired on a given theme.

Carpe Diem's Deep Within Self The Third Opened

Maybe you know the idea of The Third Eye (the pineal gland) on the midst of your forehead. It is said that you can see right from the heart, soul and mind through the Third Eye. I know what that means. As you open your Third Eye you can really see. In my case I saw the past and relived the life of Basho ... and that was an eye-opener.

just one leaf
struggles with the wind
like Basho

© Chèvrefeuille

So ... here is your theme for this weekend-meditation "like Basho". Seek deep within self to create a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form and try to write "like Basho". Have a great weekend and I am looking forward to all of your wonderful "like Basho" responses next Sunday June 10th.

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday June 10th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until June 17th at noon (CEST). Have a great weekend!

PS. Next month, July 15th, our new Summer Retreat 2018 will start. Thirty days creating haiku or tanka on a given theme. I haven't yet decided which theme it will be ... but for sure it will be a nice challenging theme again.
PPS. I have published the prompt-list for June you can find it above in the menu.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #33 Troiku ... Two White Butterflies

!!! Open for submissions next Sunday May 20th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's almost weekend and that means time for another Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation. This weekend I love to challenge you in a special way. As you all know I am the inventor of the Troiku (more on Troiku above in the menu) and I know that you all like to create Troiku. This weekend meditation you have to create a Troiku, but in another way than usually. A while ago I started Carpe Diem Crossroads, the "fusion"-haiku challenge, also a great new feature and I know you all like that feature too.

fusion

So for this weekend I will give you two haiku, as in Crossroads. You have to create a "fusion"-haiku from those two haiku and than create a Troiku with your "fusion"-haiku. A nice challenge I think fortunally you have the whole weekend to create it.

Here are the two haiku to make your "fusion"-haiku from, both haiku are by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694):

temple bells die out
the fragrant blossoms remain
a perfect evening

will we meet again
here at your flowering grave -
two white butterflies

© Basho

This weekend I challenge you to create a "fusion"-haiku with these two haiku and than create a Troiku from your "fusion"-haiku. A nice challenge for this weekend meditation I think and I am looking forward to all of your beautiful submissions.

This weekend-meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday May 20th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until May 27th at noon (CEST). Have fun ... and I hope you all will have a wonderful weekend ... enjoy it to the max!

Carpe Diem #1293 Time Travel, ancient Japanese poetry to inspire you

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first of our two last prompts in our celebration month. I had planned a lot of new things, but it all turned out to be a to big task ... I had hoped to give you our new CDHK E-book "tribute to Jane", but I hadn't time to create it. I have started creating it, but you have to wait a little while longer. I have tried to create our You Tube Channel "Karumi", but making such a channel turns out to be not very easy. It needs more time and work than I had expected ... so ... our You Tube Channel has to wait too.
There however were a few ideas that I could create. First there is our CDHK Forum, you can find it at the right of our Kai and I finally had time to revive our weekly meme, Haiku Shuukan, that you can find at the left of our Kai.
Than of course there is our special feature which I created for our CDHK feuilleton "Wandering Spirit". Recently I created the "Wandering Spirit Challenge" in which Yozakura asked you for help with creating the 'daisan' (third verse) of a renga. You all had ideas for this 'daisan' and together with Yozakura I am now busy to select the "winning" 'daisan'.

Logo Carpe Diem's Time Travel

Okay ... back on our trip along memory lane. This celebration month we were on a trip along memory lane through the rich history of our Haiku Kai. Today I have chosen a episode of our "Time Travel" feature in which I challenged you with ancient Japanese poetry. And in Japanese history there is a lot of beautiful poetry to find and read.

Let me give you a piece of one of the episodes of "Time Travel":

[...] In the Hyakunin-isshu are themes such as nature, the round of the seasons, the impermanence of life, and the vicissitudes of love. There are obvious Buddhist and Shinto influences throughout.

An example of the Tanka in Hyakunin-isshu created by Emperor Tenchi (7th century):

Aki no ta no
Kari ho no iho no
Toma wo arami
Waga koromode wa
Tsuyu ni nure-tsutsu.

OUT in the fields this autumn day
They're busy reaping grain ;
I sought for shelter ’neath this roof,
But fear I sought in vain,—
My sleeve is wet with rain.

A very nice Tanka I would say. It's written in a very sophisticated style that fits the Emperor. I especially like the rhyme in the last two lines. As you all know (maybe), it is "not done" to use rhyme in Tanka, but in this one it seems that it had to be that way. It gives the Tanka "style". [...]

Mount Yudano

The above tanka brought a (not so well known) haiku by Basho in mind.

katara re nu   yudano ni nurasu   tometo kana

forbidden to say
how sleeves are wetted
in the bathroom

© Basho

Mount Yudano was a sacred and secrative place for the Shinto sect. More about this haiku by Basho you can find at Basho Revisited, one of my other personal weblogs.

There are a lot of haiku (and tanka) in which several myths and secrets are hidden. For example in a lot of haiku and tanka the poets hide sexuality and the beauty of human body.

So for this episode I love to challenge you to create a haiku or tanka in which you hide sexuality and the beauty of the human body. I will give you an example, which you maybe remember:

what has happened?
petals of red roses around
the morning glory

© Chèvrefeuille (2012)

"Morning glory" points to a certain male part. So in this haiku you find hidden sexuality and the beauty of the human body.

This, delayed, episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 5th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our last episode of this celebration month, twilight, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1283 On Our Way Home

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Wow ... wow ... what an unexpected pleasure this is. I have read already wonderful responses on the "Wandering Spirit Challenge" of yesterday ... I am overwhelmed by your responses I hadn't thought it would be such a success. Awesome.

As I was busy with the preparations for this celebration month the last kukai "departure" escaped my attention. I have gathered all the submissions and I hope to publish them for judging this weekend. Sorry for this delay.

We are celebrating our fifth anniversary and I feel somewhat sad that this month is closing in to its end, but until that moment we have still a few wonderful memories to look back at. Today I have chosen a prompt that I used in December 2015, on our way home. It was one of the episodes I created about that wonderful haibun by Matsuo Basho, Oku no Hosomichi (Narrow Road Into the Deep North).
In December 2015 we followed his journey into the deep north and read his journal with eachother. I remember that it is was a wonderful month in which we became even more in contact with the spirit of Basho, my master.

Logo CDHK December 2015

In that (triple) episode I mentioned a famous haiku poet and close friend of Basho, Kasugi Issho. Issho is not a well known haiku poet nowadays, but it is said that he wrote wonderful haiku and love-poems.

Here is the only haiku which I could find written by Kasugi Issho. I have tried to translate it and honor Issho with that translation.

mi tsukushita me wa shirgiku ni  modori keri

seen with my eyes
white chrysanthemums
again I saw them

© Kasugi Issho (1652-1688)

A wonderful haiku I think. As I have said often in five years of our existence haiku is the most beautiful way to express your feelings and thoughts. I had the opportunity to share my passion with the whole world and I am so grateful that you all are walking this path with me. I have shared haiku created by great classical and non-classical haiku poets and I am just grateful that I can and may do that through CDHK, a warmhearted family of haiku loving people from all over the world. Thank you all ... to give me the opportunity to be your host here at CDHK.

Arigato - Thank you (deviantart)

rising sun
from a far away place
nightingale's song

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 26th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, meaning of life, later on. For now ... have fun!

PS. I have re-opened Haiku Shuukan, our weekly meme today starting with the prompt "restart".

Carpe Diem Tanka Splendor #15 bush clover

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our Tanka Splendor month. This will not be a very long post, because of lack of time, but I hope to inspire you with this episode bush clover. As I was preparing this episode I immediately thought of a haiku by Basho:

in one house

prostitutes lie down to sleep
bush clover and the moon

© Matsuo Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

This haiku you will remember I think, because it's from Basho's "Narrow Road Into The Deep North" his most famous haibun which we have read together here at Carpe Diem. Here is a quote by Basho about the bush clover:

“The loneliness Of autumn on the beach More even than that of Suma In the surf Mingled with small shells Petals of the bush clover” (Matsuo Basho; The Narrow Road Into the Deep North)

The delicate, flowering bush clover has been a favorite motif with Japanese poets since time immemorial. Small pink flowers are borne at the end of arching stems and mix attractively with dainty leaves. It is a vigorous, deciduous shrub of the pea family, and several wild species can be found growing on damp hills and moors. There is a white-flowered variety, but the parti-colored pink types are more common. In the 10th century, no aristocratic villa would have been complete without the modest bush clover, blooming in a dew-drenched garden. Today, there is still a corner in our hearts and small gardens for this charming autumn bush.

Japanese Bush Clover

The bush clover is one of the seven sacred herbs of autumn which we also have seen here at CDHK. So we are all a bit familiar with this fragile beauty.

To write a tanka with this prompt ... will not be that easy I think, but I had to try it of course:

bush clover spreads
my garden becomes a purple sea -
autumn dew shimmers

I wash the feet of my love with the fragility of the dawn

© Chèvrefeuille

And now it is up to you ... This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 19th at noon (CET). I will try to post our next episode, the sixth Tanka Writing Technique by Teika, later on. For now ... have fun!

!! Tomorrow night, November 15th 10.00 PM (CET), our Winter Retreat will start !!

!! I am behind with commenting I hope to catch up a.s.a.p. !!

Carpe Diem Tanka Splendor #6 chestnuts

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First I have to apologize for being a little bit late with this episode. I am on the nightshift so I hadn't time to publish on time.

Tanka was formerly known as waka and to bring some "history" into this episode of our Tanka Splendor month I thought maybe I can tell you a little bit more about waka. In ancient Japanese times it was a custom between two poets (writers) to exchange waka instead of letter in prose. In particular, it was a common use between lovers, mostly in secret affairs. The lovers exchanged waka in the morning when they met each other at the woman's home. These waka were called Kiniginu, because it was thought the man wanted to stay with his lover and when the sun rose he had almost no time to put on his clothes on which he had lain instead of a mattress.
A well known work of this period is the Tale of Genji in which Murasaki Shikibu (the author) uses a lot of waka (795).

Well ... it's always great to tell you a little bit about the background of our wonderful poetry forms. And now back to our prompt for today.
Today our "Tanka Splendor"- prompt is chestnuts. Chestnuts are very common all over the globe and chestnuts have a kind of deeper meaning that fits the idea of tanka being a love poem, because the chestnut's meaning is fertility and desire and it is said that through a kind of ritual with chestnuts you can find the love of your life.
Another meaning tells us that the prickly burrs are the male part of the chestnut, and the fruit inside are the female part. Well ... maybe that's true, the burrs defend the fruits, and that's what man do ... defending women.

The chestnut, as we have seen above, is a great theme for tanka according to its meaning. So I tried it myself to create a tanka, but before that I love to share a haiku by Matsuo Basho with the above mentioned deeper meaning hidden in it:

yoru hisokani   mushi wa gekka no   kuri wo ugatsu

a night secret
a worm under the moon
bores in a chestnut

© Matsuo Basho

I leave it up to you to "discover" the deeper, hidden, love layer in this haiku.

in the twilight
on an open place in the forest
witches dance
the sweet perfume of roasted chestnuts
and entangled bodies

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 11th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, elegant beauty, the third tanka writing technique by Teika, later on.