Carpe Diem #1651 dropwart (seri), Japanese parsley

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a wonderful spring day we have had here in The Netherlands. Whole day sunshine a really nice temperature ... it felt almost like a early summer day. Yes it was a gorgeous day. And I hope you all have had such a wonderful day too.

This month it's all about classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) for spring and today I have another nice classical kigo taken from the Shiki saijiki, dropwart (seri) or Japanese parsley.

Dropwart (Seri) (Japanese Parsley)

Dropwart is part a broad range of herbs, there are a lot of species of this parsley family. It's a spring kigo that is (was) used all spring, because it grows and blooms in all spring.

I have found a nice example for this classical kigo, a haiku by Yosa Buson (one of the "big five" haiku poets):

furudera ya houroku suteru seri no naka

By an old temple
a broken clay kitchen pot
in a field of water parsley

© Yosa Buson

And here is another "parsley"-haiku:

This is all there is;
the path comes to an end
among the parsley.

© Alan Watts

Two wonderful haiku I think as an example for this classical kigo for spring.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 25th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend meditation later on.

Carpe Diem #1649 shining wind (kaze hikaru)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like to create haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form, and share them with the world. This month we are exploring classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) for spring, And today I have another nice classical kigo for spring taken from the Shiki Saijiki, "shining wind (kaze hikaru).

It's a not so renown kigo and it needs a little bit of explanation. Shining wind (kaze hikaru) refers to  the sparkling of spring sunshine and a gentle wind on a sunny spring day.

Here is an example of the use of this kigo in a haiku:

kaze hikaru makoto no nata ni hanagoro mo

Wind shines
around truth's flag
and the symphony of flowers as well

© Taeko Watanabe. (*1960 -)

Katsushika Hokusai- Plum Blossom and the Moon

fragile green leaf
whispers in the shining wind
in early sunlight

© Chèvrefeuille

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

Carpe Diem #1648 skylark (hibari)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a wonderful spring day we had here in The Netherlands. It felt almost like early summer, I even could stay a while outside in the garden enjoying the warmth of the sun on my face. Yes ... it was an awesome spring day.

This month we are exploring classical and non-classical kigo for spring and today I have another wonderful classical kigo extracted from the Shiki saijiki for you all to work with. Our classical kigo for today is Hibari (Skylark).

Skylark (woodblock-print by Bijutsu Sekai (1803-1896)

And here are a few haiku from my archive:

mezzo-soprano sings
a love song by Chopin -
cry of a Skylark   

in touch with the gods
pine trees reaching for heaven -
skylarks sing their song

© Chèvrefeuille

And here is another example with this classical kigo created by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), my sensei:

hibari naku naka no hyoshi ya kiji no koe

through the skylark's singing
comes the beat
of pheasants' cries

© Basho

Ofcourse I had to create a new one and that wasn't an easy task, but I think I succeeded with the following haiku:

high in the sky
the faint shadow of a skylark
hear! he praises the Creator

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 22nd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1643 beach combing (shiohigari)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Before I start this new episode I have an announcement to make. As you all know I love creating our wonderful Haiku Kai, but as you all know too, it takes a lot of my time. I don't have a problem with that, but my family has. Every day I am busy with creating CDHK through research, conceptual posts and so on. So my wife and kids sometimes tell me to put away my laptop and give time to them. Ofcourse I am willing to do that. So earlier today I decided to take a week of this month. This means, one week there will not be a new episode every day. The only thing I do in that week is creating the "Heeding Haiku With Chèvrefeuille" episode at Mindlovemisery's Menagerie. I will take a week off every season from now on. My first week off is this month April 19th until April 27th. I will publish our weekend meditation before that week off on Friday 19th and at the end of that week I will "restart" on Friday 26th with our weekend meditation. I hope this will give me some time to relax and giving more time to my family. I hope you all don't have a problem with that.

beachcombing (image © Marge Lachmuth)

Maybe you think "beachcombing? that sounds modern", but that isn't true, it's a classical kigo for spring taken from the Shiki Saijiki. Beachcombing is a wonderful acitivity, it's a kind of treasurehunt along the beach at low tide. Let me give you the Japanese description of beachcombing (shiohigari):

The Shiohigari is a popular Japanese tradition during spring and summer. In the literal sense of the word, it means "tide hung-out-to-dry hunt". It is an outdoor leisure activity of clam digging that is usually enjoyed by families and group of friends. It is in the months of March to June that it is normally done, but it is best to do it in May and June due to air temperature and water condition. It is also during the golden week that the beaches are the most crowded.  Annually, thousands of Japanese drive down to the beaches to hunt down Asari or Japanese littleneck clams. Then, the clams will be enjoyed later in a sumptuous meal.

Beachcombing (image found on Pinterest)

Here is an example haiku with this kigo by Chiyo-Ni:

On the low-tide beach,
Everything we pick up
Moves.

Or this one created by Basho:

A green willow,
Dripping down into the mud,
At low tide.

And to conclude this episode about "beachcombing" a haiku by a not so renown haiku poet, Rofu:

Ebb-tide;
The crab is suspicious
Of the footprint.

Well ... I think you all understand the meaning of this kigo and how to use it. So have fun!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 15th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1595 hawk (taka)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the penultimate episode of January 2019. This month we were exploring seasonwords for winter. Seasonwords (or kigo) are words that can be used to place a time-frame into your haiku (or tanka). Seasonwords, as the name already says are words that point to a specific season. In classical Japan there were five seasons, New Year, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. That classical tradition is still in use nowadays, but as you all know New Year season is only something of Japan and few other countries in that same region.

As we talk about classical haiku than the use of a kigo (seasonword) is one of the classical rules next to the 5-7-5 syllables-structure, a cuttingword (kireji), a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water, a deeper meaning (mostly spiritual or Buddhistic) and the interchangeable first and third line. Back in our rich CDHK history we saw several other classical rules, but the ones I mentioned are the most known and common in use.

Today I have a classical kigo for you to work with. It's taken from the section Winter subsection Animals of the Shiki classical saijiki. So today you have to create haiku with "hawk (taka)".

Hawk (Taka)

What a majestic bird this is and what a wonderful spiritual meaning this Hawk has. The hawk symbolizes the ability to use intuition and higher vision in order to complete tasks or make important decisions. ... Hawks represent the messengers of the spirit world, so seeing them definitely means the universe wants you to learn powerful lessons or expand your knowledge and wisdom.

Here is an example of a haiku by Masaoka Shiki with this kigo and a few more other haiku:

toward those short trees

we saw a hawk descending

on a day in spring.

© Masaoka Shiki

by a singular stroke

of luck, I saw a solitary hawk circling

above the promontory of Irago.

© Matsuo Basho

between bare branches

high above the white world

hawks looking for prey

messenger of heaven

circling high above my head -

re-thinking my life

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I think Hawk can give you a lot of inspiration and I am looking forward to all your responses. By the way that brings me to the following. As you have noticed I am not commenting a lot, my excuses for that, because I am far behind with commenting and I hope, I really hope to catch up a.s.a.p.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 6th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our last episode of this month later on. For now ... have fun!