Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #53 Renga With Basho #10 "summer's night"

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

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first edition of our anniversary month's weekend meditations. This month I love to challenge you every weekend meditation to create a renga with one of the four greatest haiku poets ever: Basho, Issa, Buson and Shiki. This first weekend meditation I have a Renga With Basho episode with a twist, so this is a Renga With Basho Hineri episode.

I have chosen six (6) haiku written by Basho and you have to use one of them as the "hokku". As you have read this weekend meditation is titled "summer's night". "Summer's Night" is the first line of one of the six given haiku, that haiku you have to use as "hokku". The other five you can give your own line-up.
The goal is to add the two-lined stanza of approximately 14 syllables and make the renga complete. Your closing verse, the "ageku", has to close the chain through association on the "hokku".

Here are the six (6) haiku to work with and create your "renga (hineri)" together with Basho:

a bamboo shoot
when I was a child it was
fun to sketch (*)

day after day
barley ripens
a singing skylark

Rice Paddy Sparrows (found on 123RF)

rice paddy sparrows
shelter in the tea plants
when chased away

summer's night
the tree spirit follows in
the sound of wooden shoes (**)

clapping my hands
the echo as it dawns
of a summer moon

Shuukaidoo (Begonia Grandis)

begonia flowers
blooming in the colors
of a watermelon

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold, taken from "Basho, the complete haiku")

(*) Basho was also a haiga artist
(**) This haiku is your starting verse or "hokku"

A nice selection of haiku by Basho to work with I think. This is the opportunity to create a renga with one of the greatest haiku poets ... so have fun!

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday October 7th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until October 14th at noon (CEST). Enjoy your weekend.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #46 Renga With Basho Hineri "autumn coolness"

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday August 19th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's almost weekend and that means time again for our special feature Carpe Diem's Weekend Meditation and this weekend I love to challenge you with a new version of our "Renga With Basho". As you al know (maybe) Basho was a famous renga-master and he attended several renga parties as a guest, a participant or as judge.
Today I was re-readin Jane Reihhold's "Basho, The Complete Haiku" and ran into a beautiful "hokku" he wrote for one of the renga parties he attended. That gave me a nice idea. I love to challenge you this weekend to create (again) a Renga With Basho, but this weekend I have "re-named" this special feature to "Renga With Basho Hineri". "Hineri" means "with a twist" and than you all can know that this is a little bit different than our regular special feature "Renga With Basho".

I will give you six haiku written by Basho in a translation by Jane Reichhold, but one of those haiku is a real "hokku" used by Basho at a renga-party he attended. You have to start your Renga With Basho with that real "hokku".

Here are the six haiku (including the real "hokku") to work with. The goal is to write the 2-lined stanza between the haiku and to close the "chain" with a "ageku" that connects the last verse with the first one. Except the hokku you can choose your own line-up for this Renga With Basho Hineri.

blossoms at their peak
the mountain the same as always
at daybreak

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

swinging bridge
lives are intertwined
in Ivy vines

Melons and Eggplant (Japanese woodblock print)

autumn coolness
each peeling with our hands
melons and eggplant

a clear night
cooling myself under cherry trees
waves of flowers

to get wet passing by
a man is interesting
bush clover in rain

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

The original "hokku", the first verse of this renga is the one in fat-green print. That "hokku" you have to use as the starting verse of your Renga With Basho Hineri. You can choose your line-up from the five other haiku (in dark blue).

Create your Renga With Basho Hineri by writing the two-lined stanza with approximately 14 syllables. It's up to you now ...

This weekend meditation is open for submissions next Sunday August 19th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until August 26th at noon (CEST). I hope to publish our new regular episode around the same time. For now ... have fun and enjoy your weekend.