Carpe Diem #1780 The Old Pond by Basho

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First I have to apologize for being late with publishing our episode of today. I had a very busy Wednesday, so I hadn't time to publish it yesterday. But today ... well I think I have a nice challenge for you all.

Today I love to challenge you to "Revise That Haiku". I will give you a haiku and the story behind it and your task is to "revise" it.

I have chosen that renown haiku by Matsuo Basho. I think a lot of people all around the globe will know this so famous haiku by the Master ... yes it's "The Old Pond". Let me give you the haiku and the background of it.

furu ike ya / kawazu tobi komu / mizu no oto

old pond
a frog jumps into
the sound of water

This verse, now so famous, was first published in a selection of haiku 'Haru no Hi' (Spring Day). What, at first made his haiku interesting was the fact that in poetry up until this time, frogs were mentioned for their croaking but never for their leaping. However, with the passage of time, countless translations and copies, this haiku has only grown more special.

The background of this haiku is not so well known, so let me tell you something about that ...
Basho was living in a hermitage in Edo (nowadays Tokyo) where there was a pond. There were some Japanese yellow roses (yamabuki) growing around it. On one quiet early spring day, around the end of March, Basho was with Kikaku and heard a frog jump into the pond. It was a moment when he understood the idea of tranquility. One of Badho's disciples, Shiko wrote about the process in his haiku essay, "Kuzu no Matsubara" published in 1692.

[...] First Baso thought of the 7-5 sound units, "kawazu tobi komu mizu no oto", conveying the idea that "a frog jumped in with the sound of water". Then he tried to think of a good 5 units for the first line. Kikaku proposed 'yamabuki ya' (Japanese yellow rose). Basho said that yamabuki would be elegant, but to showy. He said 'furu ike ya' should be used because it is simple and truthful' [...]

Kikaku's idea was easly understood and the combination of a frog and yamabuki was common at that time, but Basho's was a novel idea. The word ''old pond'' was from traditional Chinese literature and was associated with the hermit life. Many haiku poets were so impressed with this modest simplicity that several stories related to Zen Buddhism were fabricated about the haiku.
Isn't it a wonderful story? It's a joy to read how even Basho sometimes had trouble with the composing of his haiku. Haiku is a way of collaborating poetry as we have seen above.

Maybe you think "Can I really "revise" this renown haiku written by one of the best haiku poets?" Yes you can I think, don't be shy ... I think Basho would be happy to see how you are "revising" his haiku, because haiku is collaborating poetry.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 20th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on today.

Carpe Diem #1776 arranging the plum-flowers (Taigi)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

If you are a long time participant here, you will remember that special feature "Revise That Haiku", in which I challenged you to "revise" a given haiku by one of the classical haiku poets. Today I love to bring a "reprise" of one of the episodes of "Revise That Haiku".

For this episode I have chosen a haiku written by Taigi (1709-1771 ?), a contemporary and friend of Buson. I will first give the haiku (including the Japanese Romaji) and then I will give the description of the moment which led to the haiku.

Plum Blossom (Chinese painting)

umi ikete tsuki to mo wabin tomoshikage

arranging the plum-flowers,
I would enjoy them in the light of the lamp,
as if in the moonlight

© Taigi (1709-1771 ?)

The brevity of haiku is not something differnt from, but a part of the peotical life; it is not only a form of expression but a mode of living more immediately, more closely to life as may be illustrated in the above haiku by Taigi.

The original of the above haiku is even more difficult, literally: "arranging the plum, as if the moon, I would savour, lamp-light" (Wabiru translated 'enjoy', 'means' to live a life of poetry in poverty). The poet has arranged the flowers in a vase, and wishes to see them in the light of the moon, but there being no moon, he lights the lamp instead, and adds its light to the poetry and the beauty of the flowers.
The whole of the poet's life is shown in this action and the essence of the verse in wabin. This poverty, this asceticism of life and form in haiku, this absence of luxury and decoration finds its philosophical and transcendental expression in Emanuel Swedenborg's (a Swedish philosopher who lived from 1688 until 1772) "Heaven and Hell" (paragraph 178); after he has described the garments of the angels, some of which glow with flame, some of which shine with light, he adds:

"But the angels of the inmost heaven are not clothed".

Well ... with the desciption of the moment I think you can revise that haiku ... so ... "break a leg", have fun, be inspired and share your revised Taigi-haiku with us at Caroe Diem Haiku Kai.

Plum Blossom

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 13th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #106 Turn Back Time (2) Revise That Haiku by Taigi

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday October 13th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new weekend meditation here at our wonderful Haiku Kai were we are celebrating our 7th birthday. Last weekend I introduced a special feature for this festive month "Turn Back Time". In this special feature I will take you back in time ... or in other words "I will turn back time" into our amazing CDHK history.

This week I love to "turn back time" to another wonderful special feature we have had here at our wonderful Haiku Kai. In October 2013 I started our special feature "Revise That Haiku" with a haiku by Taigi (1709-1771). Taigi was a contemporary and friend of Buson. I will first give the haiku (including the Japanese Romaji) and then I will give the description of the moment which led to the haiku.

umi ikete tsuki to mo wabin tomoshikage

arranging the plum-flowers,
I would enjoy them in the light of the lamp,
as if in the moonlight

© Taigi (1709-1771)

The brevity of haiku is not something differnt from, but a part of the poetical life; it is not only a form of expression but a mode of living more immediately, more closely to life as may be illustrated in the above haiku by Taigi.

Flourishing Plum Blossoms in the Moonlight

The original of the above haiku is even more difficult, literally: "arranging the plum, as if the moon, I would savour, lamp-light" (Wabiru translated 'enjoy', 'means' to live a life of poetry in poverty). The poet has arranged the flowers in a vase, and wishes to see them in the light of the moon, but there being no moon, he lights the lamp instead, and adds its light to the poetry and the beauty of the flowers.

The whole of the poet's life is shown in this action and the essence of the verse in wabin. This poverty, this asceticism of life and form in haiku, this absence of luxury and decoration finds its philosophical and transcendental expression in Emanuel Swedenborg's (a Swedish philosopher who lived from 1688 until 1772) "Heaven and Hell" (paragraph 178); after he has described the garments of the angels, some of which glow with flame, some of which shine with light, he adds:

"But the angels of the inmost heaven are not clothed".

Well ... with the desciption of the moment I think you can revise that haiku ... so ... "break a leg", have fun, be inspired and share your revised Taigi-haiku with us at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

Ofcourse I than gave it a try, so here is the "revised" haiku by Taigi created by me, your host:

shadow on the wall

flourishing plum blossom

in the moon light

© Chèvrefeuille (October 2013)

Enjoy your weekend. This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday October 13th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until October 20th at noon (CEST). Have fun!

Carpe Diem #1536 Autumn ... the season

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first episode of our new month here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. This month, November 2018, all our prompts will have something to do with autumn and that means classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) and haiku, to inspire you, by the five greatest haiku poets, Basho, Chiyo-Ni, Issa, Buson and Shiki. This will be another wonderful month here at CDHK.

The fall of the year is not merely the fall of the leaves but the fall of the vital powers in all natural things including man. We feel it in ourselves and are thus and thus only able to see it in things outside.
The Milky Way is most clearly seen and deeply felt in this month, but it is the moon that is the soul of autumn. The sun we take for granted, but the moon, in the remote nearness, its silent-smiling light, deepens the mystery of our own life. The wind of autumn also has a different voice from that of any other season; we can hear perhaps the rustle of death in it.
It seems difficult not to write well on scarecrows; these are a peculiarly Japanese subject. The crying of insects in autumn was always a cause of poetical feeling, in Chinese and Japanese poetry.
The beauty of leaves and flowers, and the powerful, esoteric scent of the Chrysanthemums make them the chief flower of the season. (Source: Haiku Volume 3, R.H. Blyth)

Scarecrow in the mist

Well ... that was the introduction to our new month at CDHK ... so let's go on and make this month one of the most beautiful of 2018. I love to start with a haiku by Shiki, who was not only a great haiku poet, but also an awesome haiga painter. I love to challenge you to create your own version of this beauty by Shiki:

entering autumn,
the painting of flowering plants
a daily task

© Shiki

And here is my own version of this beauty by Shiki:

last day of summer
the leaves are already coloring
in the moonlight

© Chèvrefeuille

And now it is up to you.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 8th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new weekend-meditation later on. For now ... have fun!

PS. I have had my first interview for a new job and I am happy to tell you that I had a very good feeling about this interview. I have already my contract, but haven't signed it yet, because I have another interview next Tuesday in an university hospital. So there is light after the darkness of being unemployed.

Carpe Diem #1511 Basho's Blossoms (Revise That Haiku)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As you all know I see Basho (1644-1694) as my sensei (master) and my master has written a lot of haiku inspired on the beauty of the diversity of blossoms. So for today's episode I have chosen to challenge you to revise a "blossom"-haiku written by Basho, but let me first give you a few examples of haiku on blossom by Basho:

haru tachite mada kokonoka no noyama kana

passed the first day of spring,
it’s only nine days
on the hills and fields.

shoshun mazu sake ni ume uru nioi kana

firstly, at the beginning of spring,
they sell sake and plum blossoms
and I smell them.

konohodo wo hana ni rei iu wakare kana

“thanks for all”
expressing my gratitude to blossoms
at the parting.

(C) Matsuo Basho

!! If you not specify the name of the blossom than in haiku blossom always means the blossoms of the cherry tree !!

For example: In the 2nd haiku in the Japanese line you can find "ume", "ume" means plum blossom.

Mount Fuji "surrounded" by Cherry Blossoms

For today's challenge revising the haiku I have chosen two haiku by Basho. I will give both of the "stories" behind the haiku maybe it can help you to revise the haiku. You may choose one or two haiku to revise. Not the above three by the way, but the two following now:

Haiku 1:

hana no kumo  kane wa ueno ka  asakusa ka

a cloud of cherry blossoms;

the temple bell,－

is it Ueno, is it Asakusa?

© Basho (1644-1694, taken from R.H. Blyth’s "Haiku, Volume 2)

R. H. Blyth translated Basho’s haiku into English and noted:

It is early afternoon.  The air is warm and hazy.  As Basho sits in his hut at Fukagawa, he can see, when he wishes, the cloud-like masses of cherry-blossoms in the direction of Ueno and Asakusa.  The boom of a great temple bell comes sounding across the fields; it must be from one of these two places.

Sakura

Haiku 2:

samazama no koto omoidasu sakura kana

how many, many things

they call to mind

these cherry-blossoms!

© Basho

R. H. Blyth also translated Basho’s haiku into English and noted:

Basho renounced the world on the death of Sengin, that is,Todo Yoshitada, son of Todo Shinshiro, who was in charge of Ueno Castle.  Twenty years later, in 1687, he was invited by his former master Todo Shinshiro, and the above verse was the result.  Looking at the same flowers in the same garden when he had spent his youth with his friend, Basho felt what Wordsworth says in the mouth of the Wanderer:

I see around me here

Things which you cannot see; we die, my Friend,

Nor we alone, but that which each man loved

And prized in his peculiar nook of earth

Dies with him, or is changed.

© Wordsworth

Two amazing haiku by Basho to revise. Don't be shy to revise his haiku, because of his great name, because Basho also revised his haiku several times. For example: He revised his "Narrow Road Into The Deep North" several times to make it the perfect haibun. So no shame to revise ...

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until October 8th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our next episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Revisit the first episode ever of our special feature Revise That Haiku (October 12th 2013)

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #34 Revise That Haiku ... Kikaku's Dragonfly

!!! Open for your submissions next Sunday May 27th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the last weekend-meditation of this month. The weekend-meditation is a feature that gives you (and me) time to meditate and contemplate before submitting to our Kai. Every weekend I choose another feature (from our rich history or newly created) for you to work with.

This weekend I love to challenge you to revise a haiku by a classical haiku poet. Try to make the haiku better without loosing the scene the haiku is about. For this "revise that haiku" I have chosen a haiku by Kikaku (1661-1707), one of Basho's disciples.

Takarai Kikaku also known as Enomoto Kikaku, was a Japanese haikai poet and among the most accomplished disciples of Matsuo Bashō. His father was an Edo doctor, but Kikaku chose to become a professional haikai poet rather than follow in his footsteps.

Red Dragonfly (photo © Michael Hawk)

Kikaku is best known for his haiku, such as the one in this anecdote about him and his master:
One day, Kikaku composed a haiku,

Red dragonfly / break off its wings / Sour cherry

which Bashō changed to,

Sour cherry / add wings to it / Red dragonfly;

thus saying that poetry should add life to life, not take life away from life. His master is known to have denigrated Kikaku's 'flippant efforts'. Kikaku wrote of coarser subjects than Bashō, and in this respect his poetry was closer to earlier haikai. Kikaku set the tone for haikai from Bashō's death until the time of Yosa Buson in the late 18th century.

Kikaku left an important historical document, describing Bashō's final days, and the immediate aftermath of his death, which has been translated into English.

(By the way the above photo is made by Michael Hawk, he has a wonderful website about Nature. For sure worth a visit. website: https://www.naturesarchive.com )

Red Dragonfly haiga

Here is the haiku to revise, can you re-create this haiku as for example Basho did?:

red dragonfly
break off its wings
sour cherry

© Kikaku

A lot to meditate and contemplate about ... well you have a whole weekend to think this over and create your revised haiku ...

Have fun!

This weekend-meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday, May 27th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until Sunday June 3rd at noon (CEST).

Carpe Diem Weekend-Meditation #30 Revise That Haiku ... Soen Nakagawa's "mountain peak"

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

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new weekend-meditation. It's time again to meditate and contemplate about revising haiku. This weekend I have two nice haiku written by Soen Nakagawa (1907-1984), maybe you remember him, because in our history (April 2014) we had a month in which we explored the beauty of his haiku in the Carpe Diem Specials.

Soen Nakagawa

Sōen Nakagawa  (1907 – 1984) was a Taiwanese-born Japanese rōshi and Zen Buddhist master in the Rinzai tradition. An enigmatic figure, Nakagawa had a major impact on Zen as it was practiced in the 20th century, both in Japan and abroad.

Here are the two haiku to revise this weekend:

one note of the shakuhachi
resounds endlessly
piercing the winter clouds

disappearing
snow on mountain peak
unfurls a Rainbow

© Soen Nakagawa (1907-1984)

This Weekend Meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday April 29th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until May 6th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our last episode of this month, desert, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem Weekend-Meditation #28 Revise That Haiku ... Yosa Buson's "Frost On The Temple"

!!! Open for your submissions next Sunday April 15th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new weekend-meditation here at our Haiku Kai. This weekend I have another nice Revise That Haiku task. This special feature triggers you to look from all sides to one or two classical haiku and try to "revise" them. It's a nice way to improve your own haiku writing skills.

This weekend I love to give you a task to revise two haiku by Yosa Buson (1716-1784). Yosa Buson, or Yosa no Buson, was a Japanese poet and painter from the Edo period. Along with Matsuo Bashō and Kobayashi Issa, Buson is considered among the greatest poets of the Edo Period. Buson was born in the village of Kema in Settsu Province.

"Wild Horses" painting by Yosa Buson

Here are the two haiku by Buson to "revise":

the millstone has turned
thirty-three times in its course —
frost on the temple

© Yosa Buson

a branch snaps under snow
waking me from a dream of the cherries
flowering on Yoshino

© Yosa Buson

Two not so renown haiku I think, but maybe that makes it a little bit easier to "revise" them. Well ... have a wonderful weekend.

This episode is open for your submissions next Sunday April 15th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until April 22nd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, praying, next Sunday too. For now ... have a great weekend with a lot of joy, love and inspiration.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #26 Revise That Haiku

!!! Open for your submissions next Sunday April 1st 2018 at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy to make an all new CDHK Weekend-meditation for you all, our warmhearted family of haiku poets. Last weekend I asked you to use a quote for your inspiration and this weekend I hope to challenge you again with a new "Revise That Haiku" feature. In this feature the goal is to "revise" the haiku of renown haiku poets, both classical or non-classical. This time I have chosen for two haiku by classical haiku poets, that brought haiku into the 20th century, Santoka Taneda and Masaoka Shiki. First I will give you the haiku by Santoka Taneda which you have to revise. I also will give you a small description that belongs to this haiku.

Statue of Santoka Taneda (Hofu Prefecture Japan)

nonchalantly pissing
off the side of the road
soaking the young weeds

© Santoka Taneda (1882-1940)

In Zen Buddhism shying away from bodily functions means shying away from life and death. Shying away from the real truth. The above haiku falls under this category.This poem is important because to some extent the weeds are Santoka himself. One can still live even without pure water. Notice also the fate of these weeds--they are not on the path, the road to salvation, but are destined to be on the path's edge. Could this be how Santoka saw himself? I think so.

Masaoka Shiki

And here is the haiku by Shiki to "revise":

the summer moon
there are a lot of paper lanterns
on the street

© Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902)

In this haiku one can easily see the scene of a warm summer evening. After a warm day it's great to sit outside in the coolness of the summer night watching the paper lanterns. It feels serene and romantic. On the veranda of his home Shiki watches the summer moon and compares her with paper lanterns. Maybe he sat there with friends or with his loved ones ... it's a wonderful summer scene.

Nightview of Saruwako-cho (Japanese Woodblock-print)

Two wonderful haiku poets, both brought haiku into the 20th century. Shiki gave haiku its name by the way, before his time haiku was called "haikai or hokku". Both haiku are in my opinion beautiful masterpieces so it may feel like a sin to "revise" them, but don't worry it is not a sin, it's a way of improving your own haiku writing skills.

Enjoy your weekend.

This weekend-meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday April 1st at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until April 8th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, the first regular of April, later on. For now ... have fun!