Carpe Diem #1708 midsummer rain

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First I have to apologize for being late I had a busy day so I hadn't time earlier to create our new episode in this Summer Love month at CDHK. This will not be a long episode I only will give you the prompt to work with and your task for today.

Today I have another classical kigo for you to work with and create your haiku or tanka with. Today our prompt is "midsummer rain". Let me give you a small explanation of this classical kigo:

Midsummer Rain (classical kigo)

Midsummer rain (samidare). The Japanese says 'Fifth Month rain', based on the lunar calendar. Rather than translate 'Fifth Month' as May, since the Gregorian month is really June, we use the traditional English word for the period, which is near the summer solstice.

And now it's up to you to create a haiku or tanka with this classical kigo.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 29th at noon (CEST. I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1707 cooling on the porch (hashi-i), classical haiku

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new "regular" episode in our wonderful Summer Love month here at our Haiku Kai. Today I love to challenge you to create a (or more) haiku following the classical rules as you can read in our CDHK Lecture 1 (above in the menu). For this challenge I have chosen a classical kigo, extracted from the Shiki Saijiki, "cooling on the porch (hashi-i)", it's part of the section "summer", subsection "humanity".

Cooling On The Porch (Hashi-i)

Today's classical kigo to work with is very clear I think. Isn't it a joy to cool down on the porch with a nice beer or glass of wine after a warm summer day? I for sure would enjoy that, but I don't have a porch to cool down. After a warm (or hot) summer day I enjoy the coolness of my backyard. Sometimes completely naked, but not always of course. Our backyard gives us a lot of privacy, so resting there in the nude isn't a problem.

in the mansion's backyard
the breeze cherishes my naked body
ah! that sweet coolness ...

© Chèvrefeuille

Looks somewhat artificial, because I had some trouble to create this haiku in the classical way, as is the goal for today's challenge. Well ... you all know that I am not a big fan of the classical way of writing haiku. So to me this is a real "ordeal", but if I asked it of you I have to do it myself too.

If I would "redo" this one into my way of writing haiku than it would be:

in the backyard
the evening breeze
coolness

© Chèvrefeuille (experimental haiku)

Well ... I hope you all have enjoyed your weekend ... This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 28th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1463 old bush warbler (oiuguisu)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Good evening fellow Carpe Diem poets. Time again for a new episode in a month full of classical kigo for summer and winter. And today's classical kigo for summer is a nice (and easy) one I think. Today I challenge you to create a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form with old bush warbler (oiuguisu). And there are several haiku and tanka known with this kigo for example, this tanka:

If not for the call
of the bush warbler coming
out of the valley,
who then would be aware of
the arrival of springtime?

© Ôe no Chisato

Original by Ôe no Chisato, nephew of Ariwara no Narihira and another poet who flourished from the 890s to around 920 but whose birth and death dates are unknown.

Or what do you think of this beautiful haiku by my master Basho:

uguisu ya mochi ni fun suru en no saki

this damned warbler !
it left his droppings on the ricecakes
on the veranda

© Basho (Tr. Gabi Greve)

(old) Bush Warbler (oiuguisu)

Another one also by Basho, however I cannot say with 100% certainty:

uguisu ya yanagi no ushiro yabu no mae

this bush warbler !
behind the willows
in front of the thicket

© Basho (?) (Tr. Gabi Greve)

I also found a more recently written haiku with this kigo. This haiku is from 2013 and is written by Naotaka Uematsu:

guide the old bushwarbler
with your hands, please,
young cuckoos

© Naotaka Uematsu (2013)

To conclude this episode, I have also a haiku by Yosa Buson:

uguisu ya ume fumikobosu nori darai

this bush warbler -
it scatters plum petals
around the glue tub

© Yosa Buson

The (old) bush warbler is a kind of nightingale, so you can also use nightingale in your haiku or tanka.

Okay ... a last one, this time by Issa with an explanation by Chris Drake:

uguisu ya kaki funde mite mo hito koe

a bush warbler
steps carefully on the fence
and sings again

© Kobayashi Issa (Tr. Chris Drake, incl. the explanation)

This hokku is from the third month (April) of 1818, when Issa was in and around his hometown. A bush warbler (Horornis diphone) has been singing in a strong, clear voice. It apparently fell silent when it reached a fence, perhaps made of bamboo or brushwood, but after it cautiously walks along the top of the fence and finds it a safe place, and one strong enough to hold its weight, it sings once more. Perhaps it still isn't used to the strange barriers humans erect in arbitrary places. Issa seems to be praising the energy and powerful voice of the rather shy and wary warbler, which doesn't give up when it meets an obstacle but examines it carefully and finally deals with it.

All beautiful verses inspired on our classical summer kigo for today. I have tried to create one myself with this kigo and this is what I came up with:

hot summer night
only the breeze brings coolness
a nightingale's song

© Chèvrefeuille

I hope I have inspired you with this episode and I am looking forward to all of your beautiful responses.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 4th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our last regular episode of June later on.

Waterfowl (mitzutori)

And for our friends on the Southern Hemisphere I have a nice classical winter kigo: waterfowl (mizutori).

Carpe Diem #1461 waterfall (taki)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today another nice classical summer kigo. Our kigo for today we have seen here very often, but I think that this kigo has so much hidden it that we can use it often here at our wonderful Kai.

I found a nice haiku by Basho with this kigo in it, I don't know who was the translator of this haiku, so my apologies for that.

overhanging pine…
adding its mite of needles
to the waterfall

© Basho (Tr. unknown)

Urami no taki; the waterfall seen from behind; woodblock print by Kobayashi Kiyochika, 1896

Our classical kigo you will find in the last line of this haiku. Today's classical kigo is waterfall (taki) and Basho has written several haiku with this kigo. In his Oku no Hosomichi (The Small Road Into the Deep North) he wrote about a waterfall that had a cave behind it's surface:

[...] "After climbing two hundred yards or so from the shrine, I came to a waterfall, which came pouring out of a hollow in the ridge and tumbled down into a dark green pool below in a huge leap of several hundred feet. The rocks of the waterfall were so carved out that we could see it from behind, though hidden ourselves in a craggy cave. Hence its nickname, See-from-behind (Urami-no-taki). [...]

for a while
secluded behind the waterfall
summer retreat begins

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold, 'Basho, the complete haiku')

I think you already have noticed that our classical kigo is waterfall (taki) and I think it's a wonderful kigo to create haiku or tanka with.

Here is one of my haiku from the archives:

the waterfall
ah! that sound ...
mesmerizing

© Chèvrefeuille

And of course I had to create a new one also:

in awe
the sound of falling water
nightingale's song

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until July 2nd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.
For our friends on the Southern Hemisphere I have a nice classical kigo for winter: fireplace (ro)

Carpe Diem #1458 short night (mijikayo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Summer, in this case the astrological summer, is almost starting. Tomorrow, around 7:00 PM (CEST), summer is starting and that means that we will have the longest day of the year and (of course) the shortest night of the year too. In Japan you all know that Shinto is the most important religion, but (as I discovered yesterday as I was writing my weekly post on MLMM, a wonderful website on WP) in Shinto religion which you can compare with NeoPaganism they don't celebrate the Summer Solstice. All other seasons equinoxes are celebrated, but not the Summer Solstice. In the classical Saijiki (a collection of seasonwords or kigo) you will not find Summer Solstice, but you will find our kigo for today: short night (mijikayo). And I will try to share a few haiku on this classical kigo for summer written by haiku poets of all ages.

For example these by Yosa Buson (1716-1784), by the way Buson wrote a lot of haiku about the short night (or the long day). Here is a selection:

mijika yo ya ashiato asaki Yuigahama / mijikayo ya ashiato asaki yui no hama

A short night of summer:
Faint footprints
On the shore of Yuigahama.

© Yosa Buson

Yuigahama (woodblock print) (image found on Pinterest)

mijikayo no yami ni kakurete nio no umi

hidden in the darkness

of this short night -

Lake Biwako 

© Buson (Tr. Gabi Greve)

mijikayo ya asai ni kaki no hana o kumu

this short night -

from a shallow well I scoop

a persimmon flower 

© Buson (Tr. Gabi Greve)

mijikayo ya namiuchigiwa no sutekagari 

this short night -

an abandoned fire

at the shoreline 

© Buson (Tr. Gabi Greve)

mijikayo ya asase ni nokoru tsuki hitohira

this short night -

in the shallows remains

one sliver of the moon 

© Buson (Tr. Gabi Greve)

In the Western world the Summer Solstice is celebrated on several places. One of the renown places is Stonehenge (UK) were they celebrate the Summer Solstice every year again.

Stonehenge (Getty images)

Here is a tanka I wrote several years ago inspired on "the short night" or the Summer Solstice:

the longest day

spirits are rejoicing nature

Summer Solstice

spiritual energy stronger than ever

the longest day

© Chèvrefeuille

Or this haiku also from my archives:

at the seashore

wind of summer through my hair

the shortest night

© Chèvrefeuille

To conclude I have another nice selection of haiku on "the short night":

By Issa (1763-1827):

in the short night

the dew works fast -

blades of grass

By Basho (1644-1694):

washing my feet

I fall asleep for the short night

with my clothes on

And two haiku created by myself in response on those haiku by the classic masters:

in an eye-blink

I lay down asleep

and awake

finally summer

this shortest night of all

I love the most

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... enjoy your summer solstice celebration ... celebrate nature even on the longest day and in the shortest night of the year.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until June 27th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our next episode, evening lull (yuunagi), later on. Have fun!

For our friends on the Southern Hemisphere I have another nice winter-kigo: short day (tanjitsu)