Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #116 Renga With ... waiting for the full moon

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday February 16th at 7:00 PM (CET) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new Weekend Meditation episode. This weekend I love to challenge you to create a Renga With ... That beautiful feature in which you have the opportunity to create haiku with known and unknown haiku masters.

This weekend I love to challenge you to create a renga with the so called "big five" (Basho, Issa, Buson, Chiyo-Ni and Shiki). And, how immodest, one of my own haiku.

Here are the six haiku to work with:

the autumn wind:
thickets and fields also,
Fuha Barrier

© Basho

a dandelion

now and then interrupting

the butterfly's dream

© Chiyo-Ni

the thunderstorm having cleared up

the evening sun shines on a tree

where a cicada is chirping 

© Shiki

simply trust:

do not also the petals flutter down,

just like that?

© Issa

in nooks and corners

cold remains:

flowers of the plum

© Buson

ancient warriors ghosts

mists over the foreign highlands -

waiting for the full moon

© Chèvrefeuille

Six nice haiku I think. Now it's up to you to create a renga with them by adding your two-lined stanza of approx. 7-7 syllables. You can choose your own "line-up". Enjoy this Renga challenge and have a wonderful weekend.

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday, February 16th at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 23rd at noon (CET). Enjoy!

Carpe Diem #1792 New Beginnings ... New Year's Day

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First ... HAPPY NEW YEAR ... to you all. Let us make this a wonderful year full of love, beauty and inspiration. This month is themed "New Beginnings" and that's what this year will bring us all I hope.

As I told you several days ago my mother has been institutionalized in a nursing home for the elderly people. She has peace with it, but ofcourse it's not easy to cope with this new beginning for her and for me. Time will bring us healing for this ...

The theme for this month is New Beginnings and today we start with ... New Year's Day ... Our classical haiku masters wrote a lot of haiku about New Year's Day ... here are a few examples:

New Year’s Day
dawns clear, and sparrows
tell their tales

© Ransetsu

Japanese Crane

it’s play for the cranes
flying up to the clouds
the year’s first sunrise …

© Chiyo-ni

the first dream of the year —
I keep it a secret
and smile to myself

© Sho-u

New Year’s Day–
everything is in blossom!
I feel about average.

© Issa

Year after year
on the monkey’s face
a monkey’s face

© Basho

Japanese Calendar (Wikipedia)

The old calendar
fills me with gratitude
like a song

© Buson

New Year comes,
and I become poorer
than before

© Shiki (never published and recovered in August 2018)

All wonderful haiku on New Year's Day. In Haiku philosophy we count five seasons and the first season is New Year, it's roughly the period of December 15th and January 15th. So I challenge you to create a classical haiku themed New Year, to celebrate the new year.

Here is mine:

New Year's eve --
through the bare branches
the wind as always

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 12th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1789 The Winter Trees (Crossroads)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the penultimate episode of November. In this month our theme was / is "Never Change A Winning Team" and that means that it all was about haiku, my first love. For this episode I have chosen a nice set of haiku.

Yosa Buson (source: wiki-art)

The task is to create a "fusion-ku" from the two given haiku and create a Troiku with it, so this episode is a "Crossroads" episode. Here are the two haiku to work with:

cutting into with the ax,
I was surprised at the scent.
the winter trees.

unfolding at the
hand of the glass polisher:
a camellia!

© Yosa Buson

Two wonderful haiku by one of the "big five" haiku poets.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until December 6th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our weekend meditation later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1771 Firefly ... Troiku-challenge

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new (somewhat delayed) episode of our wonderful Kai were we are celebrating our 7th birth day. Seven years ago I started CDHK just to give an opportunity to create Japanese poetry on a daily basis. As I started I hadn't one clou how long it would go on ... and look were we are now ... seven years later CDHK is still alive and kicking.

While we are celebrating our 7th birthday we honor the "small creatures" of Mother Nature and so today I have another "little creature" for you to work with. Today I have chosen for the "firefly", that small creature that is renown for its glowing behind.

I have found a wonderful haiku to work with. The goal this time is to create a Troiku with that haiku. More on Troiku you can find above in the menu. Troiku is a nice creative way of haiku-ing I invented back in 2012.

Firefly

I have chosen a haiku by Buson to create your Troiku from:

longing for the grass
at the bottom of the pool
those fireflies.

© Buson

A beauty I would say. It's not a well known haiku by Buson, but in this one you can almost sense the hand of Buson is moved by Basho. That's an important thing, because at first Buson was not a "fan" of Basho's way of haiku writing, but later he started to write his haiku more and more modelled according to Basho's way of haiku writing.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 4th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new Tan Renga Wednesday episode later on. For now ... have fun! I am looking forward to all of your wonderful Troiku.

Carpe Diem #1762 Mosquitoes ...

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend full of inspiration ... in a relaxed mode. I had a wonderful weekend, the last of my vacation. Monday October 14th I have to work again, I am glad, because four weeks vacation is awesome, but caring for my mother took a lot of my free time, but well ... I love my mom and she and I are the only living two of our family (my brother and my dad have passed away) so we have to be there for eachother.

We are celebrating our 7th birthday this month through honoring the small creaters of nature. Today I have chosen for those small creatures that can be such a pain in the ass ... mosquitos, but there are several wonderful haiku about them. So let me give you a few examples:

summer melting
mosquitoes' sound
in a harmonica

© Jane Reichhold

in and out of raindrops
falling from the eaves they swarm...
mosquitoes

© Issa

The Mosquito Hums

A mosquito buzzes
Every time flowers
of honeysuckle fall

© Buson

Searching storehouse eaves, 
rapt in plum blossom smells, 
the mosquito hums 

© Basho

Four beautiful haiku on mosquitoes. The beauty of these haiku makes the mosquito no longer a pain in the ass.

I was triggered by the haiku by Buson, so here is my attempt to create a haiku themed "mosquitoes":

honeysuckle flowers fall
one by one, awakening mosquitoes,
covering the Earth

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until October 20th at noon (CEST). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #105 Turn Back Time ... a special feature for our 7th brithday

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday October 6th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first weekend meditation of our anniversary month October 2019. This month we are celebrating our 7th anniversary ... and especially for this month I have created a new feature for our weekend meditation. I have titled it "Carpe Diem's Turn Back Time". I think you all will understand that this special feature will bring us back in time ... In this special feature I will challenge you with a few features we have had here at our wonderful Haiku Kai during our existence. For this special feature I have created a new logo also:

credits

In this first weekend meditation I love to take you back in time to one of the first special features I created, Carpe Diem Special. That feature I created to bring the so called "big five haiku masters" to your attention and for your inspiration. The "big five" are: Basho, Buson, Chiyo-Ni, Issa and Shiki ... they all have been the theme for that first special feature "Carpe Diem Special" and I love to Turn Back Time to December 29th 2012 to an episode titled "Ancient Road". This title was taken from a haiku by Yosa Buson (1716-1784):

furumichito kikeba yukashiki yukino shita

"An ancient road," they say
How charming
Though beneath this snow.

© Yosa Buson

The Samurai's Mountain Road

Maybe Buson walked on this Samurai Moutain Road in the middle of winter. The road beneath a blanket of snow isn't seen very well.

Let me tell you a little bit about the "Samourai's Mountain Road": In the days of the samurai, two ancient roads linked Japan’s great cities of Kyoto (the home of the sacred emperor) and Edo (the seat of the shogun and the place we now call Tokyo). One road followed the sea coast; the other wound its way through the forested hills of central Japan and was simply called the Nakasendo – the road within the mountains. Both bore regularly the tramp of marching feet as armies of samurai, dressed in their finest, accompanied their lords on their way to pay his annual respects to the shogun. Should two marching columns meet the social inferior was required to dismount and his men pull respectfully back to one side to allow the nobler lord to pass by.

Nowadays these roads are frequented by a lot of feet, but not of Samurai anymore, but of tourists and hikers.

Somewhere Along the Samourai's Mountain Road

What a joy to Turn Back Time ... this brings sweet memories back to me. I wasn't sure if I would continue with Carpe Diem Haiku Kai back in December 2012, because of the time I had to spend to it. An every day post wasn't always possible back than, but (as you all know) that's a problem sometimes too in our recent time.
The goal of this special feature is to create a Japanese poem, like haiku or tanka, inspired on the haiku by Buson (or the one by Basho).

If you would like to read the mentioned CD Special than you can find it HERE.

To conclude this first weekend meditation I have a nice haiku by Basho for you that in a way has to do with the Samurai's Mountain Road:

waving long grass
all that remains of ancient warriors
trace of dreams

© Basho (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)

(This is a translation of the original by myself: the original haiku in romaji is: natsukusa ya / tsuwamono domo ga / yume no ato)

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday October 6th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until October 13th at noon (CEST). Have a wonderful weekend!

Carpe Diem #1757 Dragonfly ...

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode in our celebration month. This month we celebrate our 7th brithday. I started with CDHK back in October 2012, just for fun and giving people the opportunity to create haiku (or other Japanese poetry form) on a daily base.
There were times in our 7 years that I thought of closing the website. For example there was a discussion about using the published poetry in our exclusive CDHK E-book line. That discussion wasn't a nice one and we lost several of our CDHK family-members. As you all know here at CDHK we have now a publishing policy which you can find at the bottom of our Kai.

Today I have another beautiful "small creature" for you. I think we have seen that "small creature" earlier here on CDHK ... today our prompt, our "small creature" is Dragonfly.

dragonfly dances
above the old pond of Basho -
the sound of water
wings reflecting sunlight
on young green leaves

© Chèvrefeuille

This above tanka is one of the first I wrote, because tanka is not my cup of tea, as you all know. And this one I found (back) in my archives.
As you know we read a lot of haiku by classical and non-classical masters. Here are a few haiku themed "dragonfly" written by classical masters:

I found a nice haiku written by Buson about a dragonfly:

Its tail un-dyed
How charming--
A red dragonfly

And a nice one by Kobayashi Issa:

the dragonfly
settles to sleep...
on the scarecrow

Really wonderful haiku about dragonflies and to enclose this introduction to our new prompt I love to share a haiku by "my master", Matsuo Basho:

Crimson pepper pod
add two pairs of wings, and look
darting dragonfly

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 10th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend meditation later on.

Carpe Diem #1660 Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019 (7) Wisteria

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019. Today I have chosen to challenge you with a haiku by Yosa Buson (1716-1784), one of the "Big Five" haiku poets. As Buson started creating haiku he used his own way of writing, because he wasn't a "fan" of Matsuo Basho (whom is seen as the "father of haiku"), but in his later life Buson went back to the way of Basho. He even illustrated the first published edition of Basho's "Narrow Road Into The Deep North" with his beautiful haiga-qualities.

Bird and Wisteria (Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 - 1858).

The above Japanese woodblock print shows you a nice composition of a bird and wisteria crafted by Utagawa Hiroshige. This woodblock print points you already the way to the haiku to use for your Tan Renga Challenge.

Here is the haiku by Buson to work with:

In the moonlight,
The color and scent of the wisteria
Seems far away.

© Yosa Buson

A fragile scene I can imagine it before my eyes. The soft light of the moon shines upon the wisteria. The wisteria's colors faint a little towards white and grey and with losing its color it also loses its scent... and the last line makes that scene very strong.

To create a Tan Renga with this haiku will not be an easy task, but I have given it a try:

In the moonlight,
The color and scent of the wisteria
Seems far away.                                                       © Buson

the sound of the thundering waves
makes the silence stronger                                      © Chèvrefeuille

Not a strong second stanza in my opinion, but I like how with this 2nd stanza there is another sense present ... hearing and the realisation that through sound the silence can become deeper. It makes the scene even stronger ...

And now it is up to you. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 15th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #76 Renga With ... the Big Five

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday March 17th at 7:00 PM (CET) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Time flies when you have fun they say, but time flies really fast. It's again time for a new weekend meditation and after that first Light Retreat, started today, I have another challenge for you. As you all know in my opinion there were five great haiku poets, or as I call them "The Big Five". Maybe you know which haiku poets I mean with the big five?

Yes ... I knew you all would know it. The "big five" are Basho, Issa, Buson, Shiki and Chiyo-Ni. This weekend I love to challenge you with a new episode of "Renga With ..." This weekend that will be a Renga With ... The Big Five.

I have chosen a two haiku by Basho and of the other four I have chosen one haiku. It's up to you to create a renga with those haiku. You can choose your own "line-up" and I hope you will try to "close" the chain by a ageku (closing verse) that refers back to the hokku (starting verse).

Here are the haiku to work with:

wisteria beans
let's make that a theme for haikai
a flower fruit 

how glorious
young green leaves
flash in the sun

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

garden butterfly
as the baby crawls, it flies―
crawls close, flutters on

© Issa

Plum Blossom

in nooks and corners
cold remains:
flowers of the plum

© Yosa Buson (tr. RH Blyth)

the wild geese take flight
low along the railroad tracks
in the moonlit night

© Masaoka Shiki

the flowering branch of the plum
gives its scent
to him who broke it off

© Chiyo-Ni

A wonderful range of haiku by these five haiku poets and you, my dear haijin, can enjoy the opportunity to create a renga with these five great haiku poets by adding your two-lined stanza.

I hope you all will have a wonderful weekend with a lot of inspiration. I am looking forward to your renga with the big five.

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday March 17th at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 24th at noon (CET). Have a wonderful weekend.

Carpe Diem #1591 quilt (futon)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's really winter ... snow and frost are "king" in the Lowlands and temperatures are around 0 degrees Celsius. A moment ago I came into the house after walking the dog and now ... recovering from the winter cold I lay down on the bench cuddling up under a warm quilt. What a joy ... cuddling up under the quitl grandma made me a long time ago. Sweet memories are overwhelming me ...

We are exploring classical and modern kigo for winter and today I have a nice kigo for you ... quilt (or futon). I think this one doesn't need explanation. A quilt is a kind of blanket made of several patches of cotton and stuffed with fuzz or wool. I have sought for a few haiku on this prompt and found these:

Written by Buson:

waga hone no futon ni sawaru shimoyo kana

right to my bones
through the quilt pierces
the frost tonight

Or this one also by Buson:

teshokushite yoki futon dasu yosamu kana

with lantern in hand
taking out a heavy quilt -
a cold night!

And what do you think of this one written by Issa?

korogi no kanshuku to suru fusuma kana

the cricket's
winter residence ...
my quilt

Japanese Quilt (Futon)

There are a lot of other examples I think, but I have to compose my own haiku on 'Quilt (futon)', so here I go:

quilt up to my head
laying beneath the open window
this icy cold night

her old hands
sewing another quilt for me
my grandmother

this cold winter night
laying naked under my quilt
feels like summer

© Chèvrefeuille

What a joyful kigo this is ... it can bring you all wonderful inspiration I think. Stay warm ...

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until January 30th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1589 mandarin ducks (oshidori)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I had a busy day today so I have a reprise episode for you this time. Maybe you can remember that we have had "mandarin ducks" as a prompt several times here at CDHK. "Mandarin Ducks" is a classical kigo for winter and there are nice haiku with this kigo for example:

furu ike no oshidori ni yuki furu yuube kana

at the old pond
snow falls on Mandarin ducks
in twilight

© Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

Or what do you think of this one by Yosa Buson:

oshidoriya ikeni otonaki kashino ame

mandarin duck -
rain falls silently
from an oak

© Yosa Buson (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)

Mandarin Ducks

The adult male (sometimes called 'drake' for his colorful feathers) is a striking and unmistakable bird. It has a red bill, large white crescent above the eye and reddish face and "whiskers". The breast is purple with two vertical white bars, and the flanks ruddy, with two orange "sails" at the back. The female is similar to female Wood Duck, with a white eye-ring and stripe running back from the eye, but is paler below, has a small white flank stripe, and a pale tip to its bill.
The Mandarin ducklings are almost identical in look to Wood ducklings, and appear very similar to Mallard ducklings. The ducklings can be distinguished from Mallard ducklings because the eye-stripe of Mandarin ducklings (and Wood ducklings) stops at the eye, while in Mallard ducklings it reaches all the way to the bill.

Here are a few haiku from my archive themed "Mandarin Ducks":

in the moonlight 
Mandarin Ducks making love
happily together

brilliant colors
reflecting in the old pond
Mandarin drake

© Chèvrefeuille

And here is another one, also from my archive, but more inspired on the beautiful colors of the Mandarin Duck:

without sound

colored leaves dive into

the city park pond

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 28th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1548 orchids (ran) (classical kigo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai were we are celebrating the beauty of autumn as you can read in the logo "the leaves are falling". This month it's all about the beauty of autumn and today I have a nice classical kigo for autumn to work with. Our theme for today is "orchid or (ran)".

I have sought all the sources which I use for our classical haiku masters and especially the sources on Buson and I ran into a wonderful haiku on Ran written by him in 1777. I love to share that haiku with you all here:

yoruno ran kani kakureteya hanashiroshi

orchids in the night
in their fragrance hidden --
the flowers white.

© Buson

White Orchid

What a beauty don't you think? Look at those fragile flowers of the White Orchid ... gorgeous.
Unlike most flowers that have round-shaped petals, orchids have petals in geometrical shapes. No wonder, these beautiful flowers are used to convey special messages.
So, what all things do orchids represent? If you are an orchid lover, you'll be glad to learn that these exotic flowers are a symbol of love, beauty, and innocence in most cultures around the world. The word 'orchid' is derived from the Greek word orchids which means testicles, and the name originates from the shape of the root tubers of the plant. It is due to this reason that orchids have been associated with sexuality in many cultures. However, there's more to the meaning of orchids:

Perfection and Beauty

Because of their symmetry, and the straight lines on their petals, orchids represent beauty in symmetry, and are considered epitomes of rare beauty. In Victorian England, these lovely flowers were likened to a beautiful woman. Interestingly, even a woman's attire during the era had a striking resemblance to the flower. The people of ancient China considered these flowers as 'Lan Hua', or the epitome of human perfection.

Love

Orchids are considered symbols of love because of the fact that the plants grow easily, and bloom under most conditions. During the Victorian era, it was a custom to gift exotic and rare flowers to show love and affection. It was even believed that rarer the flower you chose as a gift, deeper was your love. In parts of Europe, orchids were used as a key ingredient in love potions.
A white orchid stands for innocence, beauty and elegance. A nice gift for one who’s dear to you. In ancient Japan as a warrior found an orchid it told him that he was brave.

Orchids (woodblock print by Rankafu)

Orchids have so much to tell us, but mostly we have them in our home because they are so beautiful and I only can “that’s so true”.

samourai warrior
enchanted by the beauty of orchids
bows his head in praise

in admiration
he gives his beloved girl
white orchids

© Chèvrefeuille (from my archive)

These haiku aren't my strongest ones, but I like the intention which they radiate through their words. So I am looking forward to your haiku on Ran (Orchids).

Well ... now it is up to you my dear haijin, visitors and travelers. Create your haiku, tanka or other kind of Japanese poetry themed orchids (ran).

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 26th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1547 Renga With ... the big five haiku poets

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all will have a wonderful weekend in which you could relax, meditate and contemplate. I had a nice weekend myself and the weather was great. I ran into a gorgeous tree in all its autumn beauty ... and I love toshare that image here with you:

Amber Tree (© Chèvrefeuille)

Look at that beauty ... it's a feast for my eyes and I had never seen it. All those different colors on the same tree wow!

Okay back to today's episode. Today I love to challenge you (again) to create a renga together with the "big five", Basho, Chiyo-Ni, Issa, Buson and Shiki. Here are the haiku to use in a line-up of your own choice. You have to add your two lined stanza (approx. 7-7 syllables) to make the renga a story about autumn.

it is seen
in the papier-maché cat
the morning of autumn

© Basho

along this road
goes no one
this autumn eve

© Basho

when I go out of the gate
I also am a traveller
in the autumn evening

© Buson

autumn's bright moon
however far I walked, still afar off
in an unknown sky

© Chiyo-Ni

two houses!
two houses making rice-cakes:
autumn rain

© Issa

Small Wooden Drum (source unknown)

with the autumn tempest
the small drum
falls from its shelf

© Shiki

A nice series of haiku I would say. Enjoy this challenge and the opportunity to create a renga with the five renown haiku poets.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 25th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem #1540 chrysanthemums

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Autumn ... a season full of beauty in the broadest sense of the word. I love the colorful leaves, the bright full moon, but the most I love the Chrysanthemums with all the colors like a rainbow. There are a few haiku on Chrysanthemums I love to share here for your inspiration:

Drinking the morning green tea,
The monk is calm.
The flowers of chrysanthemum.

Bloom quickly.
The ninth day is very soon.
The chrysanthemum.

© Matsuo Basho

how terrifying
her rouged fingers
against the white chrysanthemums

© Chiyo-Ni

Chrysanthemums Rainbow (Image by Jan Tyler/E+/Getty Images)

Before the white chrysanthemum
the scissors hesitate
a moment.

© Yosa Buson

Let's scatter
all the funeral chrysanthemums we have,
in the coffin  

© Soseki

All wonderful haiku by classical masters on Chrysanthemums. I love that image by the way it's really a rainbow of Chrysanthemums. And I think you all will know other beauties, but today I love to challenge you to create your own Chrysanthemums beauty ... have fun!

in the backyard
gazing at the Milky Way -
white chrysanthemums

chrysanthemum tea
a whole new sensation
tickles my senses

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 14th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. Have fun!

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #57 Renga With ... six haiku poets

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday November 4th at 7:00 PM (CET) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new weekend-meditation our feature that gives you the opportunity to meditate and contemplate before you submit your work. Let me give you a small update first. As you all know the hospital where I am working has ran into bankruptcy so I am unemployed at the moment. Of course my colleagues and I are hoping that the hospital will be re-opened and it looks positive at the moment. There are a few investors who would like to take over, but right at the moment it's not clear which one will get "the bone". So I have a few appointments for a new job. One of those interviews I have had yesterday (Thursday November 1st) and I am glad that interview was succesful. I have already my contract for that new job, but I have still a few interviews to do, so I haven't yet signed it. Why didn't I sign? Well ... it's just for a few months. Of course that's better than nothing, but I am looking for a longtime commitment.

For this weekend meditation I have cjosen to challenge you to create a Renga With ... not with one other haiku poet, but with six different haiku poets. So this weekend you can make a renga with the following haiku poets: Basho, Issa, Chiyo-Ni, Buson, Shiki and Jane Reichhold. Of course you may choose your own line-up. Your task is to add the two-lined stanza between the haiku through association on the scene(s) in the haiku.

Here are the six haiku to work with:

all my years
floating in the river
a childish heart

© Jane Reichhold (taken from our tribute e-book "All My Years")

a flash of lightning:
the screech of a night-heron
flying in the darkness

© Basho

the coolness
of the sound of water at night,
falling back into the well

© Issa

autumn's bright moon,
however far I walked, still afar off
in an unknown sky

© Chiyo-Ni

autumn's bright moon

pressing sushi;
after a while,
a feeling of loneliness

© Buson

at the gate of a deserted house,
a cicada is crying in the rays
of the evening sun

© Shiki

What an awesome challenge this is ... creating a renga with all those wonderful and renown haiku poets. I hope you will enjoy this wonderful task. By the way ... try to create a "closed chain" with an ageku that connects with the hokku.

This weekend-meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday November 4th at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until November 11th at noon (CET). Enjoy your weekend.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #56 Crossroads

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday October 28th at 7:00 PM (CET) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a week I have had, but I am so glad that the weekend is coming, because it gives me the possibility to find my peace again. Thank you all for your warmhearted words.

This weekend I love to challenge you to create a "fusion" haiku from two given haiku. So this weekend meditation it's a Crossroads episode. Maybe you know that at the FB-page "The Haiku Pond Academy" has a contest to create a "fusion" haiku and it's still open for submissions.

Okay ... back to our weekend meditation ... a Crossroads challenge. For this challenge I have chosen four haiku, so in a way this is a Crossroads "hineri" (with a twist). You can choose your two haiku to use or you may choose all the four haiku to use. I have chosen four haiku, one haiku by Basho, one by Issa, one by Buson and one by Shiki. Tough challenge I think to fuse haiku from two different haiku poets.

Here are the four haiku I have chosen:

a strange flower
for birds and butterflies
the autumn sky 

© Basho

the pheasant cries
as if it just noticed
the mountain

© Issa

Pheasant

the winter river;
down it come floating
flowers offered to Buddha 

© Buson

just outside the gate 
the road slopes downward 
winter trees 

© Shiki

A wonderful series of beauties I would say. This will be a real challenge, because of the fact that I have given you four haiku by four different haiku poets. But ... for sure I think you can do this.

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday October 28th at 7:00 PM (CET). Have fun ... and have an awesome weekend.

Carpe Diem #1518 Inkstone and pencil (free style)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Nowadays we have computers, tablets and smart-phones we can as we are writing our haiku, tanka and more. By the way I am a little bit old-fashioned, because I still use paper and pen before writing our episodes for CDHK. I love to write old-fashioned, because than I can strikethrough what I have written before I publish it.

In Basho's days they used inkstone and a pencil, like we do nowadays with Sumi-e. Basho, as a traveling poet used those materials very often. It was easy to take it with him and it made it easy to write immediately.

I remember that we had the same theme in our 4th anniversary month, I will give you the URL to that post at the end so you can revisit it. I searched the Internet for a few examples of haiku in which "inkstone and pencil" are used, this example you will know:

suzuri ka to hirou ya kuboki ishi no tsuyu

Saigyo's inkstone?
I pick it up -- dew
on the concave rock

© Matsuo Basho (Tr. Barnhill)

Inkstone

Jane Reichhold's translation of this haiku by Basho I like more:

"inkstone"
picking up a hollow stone
with dew

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

I also found a few examples of haiku on inkstone by Issa and Buson. Here are those haiku:

iiwake no tegata ni kooru suzuri kana

upon writing a note
of apology, ice
in my ink-stone

© Issa (Tr. David Lanoue)

kiku no tsuyu ukete suzuri no inochi kana

chrysanthemum dew
is the life blood 
of this ink stone

yamadera no suzuri ni hayashi hatsugoori 

the ink stone
of this mountain temple has it early -
the first ice 

© Buson (Tr. Gabi Greve)

young maple leaves (photo © Olga Volodina)

Another nice classical haiku by a not so renown haiku poet is the following:

waka-kaede kage sasu suzuri araikeri

young maple leaves 
cast a shadow 
I wash my inkstone 

© Mizuhara Shuoshi (Tr. Gabi Greve) (1892-1981)

(*) inkstone is translated in Japanese as "suzuri"

For closure I have a nice haiku from my archives on inkstone:

pen and inkstone
the only things needed on this
uninhabited Island

© Chèvrefeuille

A nice collection of haiku I think. I hope it will inspire you all to create your own Japanese poetry. As you can read in the title you can write in the free-style way. The haiku translation by Jane is an example of "free style", in the free style way you can let go of the rules for writing haiku.

This episode is open for youre submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until October 16th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now .... have fun!

Revisit: "pencil and inkstone" episode 1070 October 1st 2016

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).