Carpe Diem #1450 Moonflower (yuugao)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend. My weekend was very busy, because I was on the nightshift. Our weekend meditation is now open for your submissions and I am looking forward to all of your wonderful responses.

For today's prompt I have another beautiful classical summer kigo for you, this time it's taken from the sub-division "plants". I remember that I have done this prompt earlier here at CDHK, so maybe you can find your inspiration back in our history. Today's classical summer kigo is "moonflower (yuugao)".

Here are a few haiku written by Basho, the first one he wrote at the age of 21:

yuugao ni mitoruru ya mi mo ukari hyon

by moonflowers
a fascinating body
floats absent-mindedly

© Matsuo Basho age 21 penname then 'Sobo'.

Maybe you are familiar with the idea of "moon love" it was very common several decades ago, that homosexual man could only show their affection and love at night "when the moon was shining". If you are familiar with that idea, than maybe this haiku by Basho (than writing under the penname "Sobo") says more about the hidden layer.

Moonflower (yuugao)

And this one he wrote in 1681 at the age of 37:

yuugao no shiroku yoru no kooka ni shisoku torite

the moonflowers are white
in the night by the outhouse
candle in my hand

© Basho (age 37)

In this haiku you can also find a hidden layer about Basho's preference for man. Is he looking for his male lover in the outhouse? Or is he admiring the beauty of the moonflowers? Well ... we will never know. The only thing we know is that this scene appeared in summer as we can see in the use of the classical kigo "yuugao".

And here is a tanka from my archives:

fragile beauty
climbing against the fence
moonflower straightens
with her snow white blossom
to the Summer moon

© Chèvrefeuille

Enough inspiration I think. For our friends on the Southern Hemisphere I have also a classical kigo to work with, only this time it's chosen from the winter division's sub-division "plants": winter grove (fuyu kodachi).

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until June 17th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, young maple-leaves (waka kaeda), later on. For now .... have fun!