Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday #17

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at CDHK's Tan Renga Wednesday. First I have to apologize for not publishing. It's still busy with Covid here at work and with the "cleaning out" of my Mom's home, so I hadn't time to publish ... ofcourse that makes me sad, but ... well I can't help it.

I promised back in July that I would publish our Tan Renga Wednesday as an extra feature, so today I have a wonderful haiku for you to work with. The goal is to add the 2nd stanza of the Tan Renga that has two lines of approx. 7-7 syllabes. 

At the moment we have a heat wave here in The Netherlands with temperatures rising to 35 degrees Celsius and a very moist air, so it's really hot here. So for this Tan Renga Wedensday I have chosen a haiku themed "heat wave". Here is the haiku to work with:

such a hot day
my shadow needs to cool down
under the willow

© Kyoshi Takahama (1874-1958)

A wonderful haiku to work with I think. Have fun!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until August 17th at 10:00 PM (CEST). You can add your submission through the linking widget below (our CDHK logo).

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday #16 Basho's "karumi"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our special feature Tan Renga Wednesday. Today I have a nice "karumi" haiku by Basho. As you maybe know ... it was Basho's lifetime long goal to share his idea of "karumi". More about "karumi" you can find HERE.

What is karumi?

Bashô developed this concept during his final travels in 1693. Karumi is perhaps one of the most important and least understood principles of haiku poetry. Karumi can best be described as “lightness,” or a sensation of spontaneity. In many ways, karumi is a principle rooted in the “spirit” of haiku, rather than a specific technique. Bashô taught his students to think of karumi as “looking at the bottom of a shallow stream”. When karumi is incorporated into haiku, there is often a sense of light humor or child-like wonderment at the cycles of the natural world. Many haiku using karumi are not fixed on external rules, but rather an unhindered expression of the poet’s thoughts or emotions. This does not mean that the poet forgets good structure; just that the rules of structure are used in a natural manner. In my opinion, karumi is “beyond” technique and comes when a poet has learned to internalize and use the principles of the art interchangeably.

Here is the "karumi" haiku to work with:

White chrysanthemum
I look holding it straight
no dust at all

© Basho

Now it is up to you to make a Tan Renga with this haiku by adding your two-lined stanza of approx. 7-7 syllables.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until March 11th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday #14 Wisteria Beans

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our special feature Tan Renga Wednesday, that wonderful feature in which I challenge you to complete a Tan Renga by adding your two-lined stanza to a given haiku.

During lack of time I will give you only the haiku to work with. This week I have chosen a haiku by Basho:

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

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

Well ... a nice one I think to work with.

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

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday #13 Winter Chrysanthemum

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our Tan Renga Wednesday, that nice special feature about Tan Renga. Your goal is to create a Tan Renga with a given haiku by adding your two-lined stanza through association.

Here is the haiku to work with:

Winter chrysanthemum,
Wearing nothing
but its own light

© Mizuhara Shūōshi (1892-1981)

Winter Chrysanthemum (Japanese Woodblock print by Kono Bairei)

This episode of our Tan Renga Wednesday is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 18th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday #12 a last leaf

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

My excuses for being this late with publishing our new Tan Renga Wednesday episode. This special feature is to challenge you to create a Tan Renga from a given haiku by adding the two-lined stanza.

For this Tan Renga Wednesday I have ran trhough the archives of CDHK and found a haiku I created for the Autumn Retreat 2017, Departure, I think it's a nice haiku and I think it can become a marvelous Tan Renga.

A Last Leaf

a last leaf
swirls on the wind towards the east -
first snow falls gently

© Chèvrefeuille

This Tan Renga Wednesday is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 11th at noon (CET). Enjoy the challenge.

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Wednesday #11 family tombstone

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's Wednesday again ... time for a new Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday, that special feature in which I challenge you to complete a Tan Renga with a given haiku by a classical or non-classical haiku poet.

Your task is to add your two lined stanza (approx. 7-7 syllables) through association on the scenes and images in the given haiku. This week I have chosen a haiku by a modern haiku poet, Nicholas Virgilio.

Tombstones

Here is the haiku to work with:

adding father’s name
to the family tombstone
with room for my own

© Nicholas Virgilio

And now it's up to you to create a Tan Renga with this haiku by adding your two-lined stanza. Enjoy the challenge.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 4th at noon (CET).

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Wednesday #10 such a cold night

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's Wednesday again and that means ... time for a new episode of our special feature Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Wednesday. The challenge of this special feature is to create a Tan Renga with a given haiku by adding your second stanza of two lines (approx. 7-7 syllables). This week I have chosen a not so well known haiku by, my master, Matsuo Basho (1644-1694).

kazuki fusu futon ya samuki yo ya sugoki

lying down
with quilts over the head
such a cold night

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

Japanese Quilt

As you can see, in this haiku Basho uses rhyme, a not so very well known haiku writing technique, because, as you maybe know, in (translated) haiku the use of rhyme isn't common (according to Western studies).

Rhyme is a major component of Western poetry. In Japan most of the sound units (onji) are built on only five vowels, and rhyming occurs naturally. Yet, haiku translated into rhymed lines often need so much padding to make the rhyme work that the simplicity of the poem gets lost. However, if the reader takes the time to read the romaji version of the above haiku by Basho. one can see how often the old master employed the linkage of sound in his work. The rhyme, in the above haiku, occurs in "kazuki", "samuki" and "sugoki"..

So that brings us a new challenge ... try to let your 2nd stanza, of two lines, rhyme too.

This Tan Renga Wednesday episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until January 28th at noon (CET).

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Wednesday (9) I ate a persimmon

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new Tan Renga Wednesday, that special feature in which I challenge you to complete a Tan Renga by adding your second stanza of two lines with approx. 7-7 syllables.

This week I have a nice haiku by Shiki to create a Tan Renga with, but let me first tell you a little about Shiki.

Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) put effort into poetry activities to bring about innovation in the haiku from the Edo period. In the seven years of his later years, he kept making haiku while suffering from tuberculosis.

In 1867, Masaoka Shiki was born in Iyo Province (today’s Ehime Prefecture). He was a son of the lower-class samurai who died 40 years old in 1872. With the support of his mother, he entered the Iyo clan school Jobankai. He began to learn haiku when he was 18. But Shiki got the illness which he suffered from ever since. Tuberculosis was fatal disease at that time and 21 years young haiku poet vomited blood for the first time. Shiki (子規, hototogisu) means little cuckoo in Japanese. He named own pen name after the bird because a little cuckoo was described as a bird sing so much that it vomit blood.

He entered Tokyo Imperial University (today’s Tokyo University) in 1900 and gave the lessons of haiku for Kawahigashi Hekigoto (1873-1937) and Takahama Kyoshi (1874-1959). Shiki gave up to graduate from Tokyo Imperial University and started to work at Nippon Shinbun Newspaper. While working as a journalist, he continued to publish haiku poems. During the Sino‐Japanese War (1894‐95) he went to the front. But that made worse of tuberculosis and Shiki went home. He had been in ill bed and suffered in his later years but he composed the jolly and creative haiku poems.

Horyuji Temple Nara (woodblock print)

When I ate a persimmon
The bell rung
The Horyuji temple

© Shiki

Can you create a Tan Renga with this beauty by Shiki?

This Tan Renga Wednesday is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 21st at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Wednesday (8) New Year's Morning

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our special feature "Tan Renga Wednesday" with a new logo for 2020. As you all know this special feature challenges you to create a Tan Renga from a given haiku. You have to add the two lined stanza (approx 7-7 syllables).

For this first Tan Renga Wednesday I have chosen a beautiful haiku by our so missed Jane Reichhold. It is taken from her online "Dictionarry of Haiku" from the season New Year.

Here is the haiku to work with:

New Year's morning
the first day begins
in the same dream

© Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

This Tan Renga Wednesday is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until January 14th at noon (CEST). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday (7) Old Pond

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First I have to apologize ... I have a very busy week, so I hadn't time to publish on time. Last Wednesday I totally forgot that we have a weekly feature on Tan Renga every Wednesday, so here is the Tan Renga Wednesday episode of this week.
Your task is to complete a given haiku by adding a two-lined stanza and create a Tan Renga in that way.

For this week's Tan Renga Wednesday I have chosen that world famous haiku by Basho:

old pond
a frog jumps in
sound of water

© Basho (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)

This Tan Renga Wednesday is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until December 5th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday (6) at dawn (hineri)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It is Wednesday again ... so time for new episode of our special feature "Tan Renga Wednesday". This week I love to challenge you to create the "hokku" (the three lined stanza) instead of the "ageku" (two-lined stanza).

I will give you the two lined stanza and than it is up to you to create the "hokku" to make the Tan Renga complete.

Here is the two-lined 2nd stanza:

at dawn birds start to sing
praising their Creator ... as always

© Chèvrefeuille

A nice 2nd stanza I dare to say, so it's now up to you to create the first part, three lined stanza, of this Tan Renga.

At Dawn

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 ... be creative.

Tan Renga Wednesday (5) White Crane

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's Wednesday again, so time for a new episode of "Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Wednesday", that special feature in which I challenge you to complete a Tan Renga inspired on a given haiku.
This week I have chosen a haiku by Kikaku, a contemporary and disciple of Matsuo Basho. Kikaku was one of Basho's favorite 10 disciples (students) and he was a very gifted haiku poet too. He wrote wonderful haiku, all in the way as been taught by Basho.

The haiku I have chosen written by Kikaku is one of his most beautiful haiku in my opinion. He wrote it to comfort Basho in his last days of his life:

how I wish to call
a white crane from Fukei,
but for this cold rain.

© Kikaku

And now it is up to you to complete this Tan Renga by adding your two lined stanza (approx. 7-7 syllables) and share it with us all.

This Tan Renga Wednesday is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 19th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday (3) Crystal Brook (Yozakura)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's Wednesday again so it is time for a new episode of our weekly Tan Renga Wednesday, that beautiful feature in which I challenge you to create a Tan Renga (two stanza chained verse) with a given haiku.

Today I have a nice haiku written by the Unknown Haiku Poet, Yozakura, whom I introduced a while ago here at CDHK.

Here is the haiku to use:

crystal brook
reflects the willow trees
birds sing their song

© Yozakura

Edo lodging house (image found on Pinterest)

Your task ... create the two lined 2nd stanza through association on the scenes and images in the given haiku by Yozakura. 

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 5th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our last episode of this festive month later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday #2 October beach (Jane Reichhold)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our fresh feature "Tan Renga Wednesday" in which you have to complete a Tan Renga ... the goal? I will give you a haiku and you have to add the 2nd stanza of two lines with approx. 7-7 syllables.

I don't think I need to explain Tan Renga further. You can find more about Tan Renga in the menu above or scroll back to the 1st episode of Tan Renga Wednesday (October 16th). This week I have a beautiful haiku by Jane Reichhold (1937-2016) one of the most known modern haiku poets and once my co-host here at CDHK.

October beach

October beach
in all the footprints
the tread of shoes

© Jane Reichhold

A beautiful haiku I would say. I am not a beach guy, but I like wandering at the beach in autumn.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 29th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... enjoy this Tan Renga Wednesday.

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday #1 wedded rocks

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to bring back a weekly feature about Tan Renga. This new feature I have titled "Tan Renga Wednesday" and as the title already says, this feature will return every Wednesday, so a new weekly feature has been born.

As you all know Tan Renga is a short renga of two stanza, similar with the Tanka, but instead of been written by one poet, the Tan Renga is written by two poets. The first stanza has three lines (approx. 5-7-5 syllables) and the second stanza has two lines (approx. 7-7 syllables). The goal is to create the second stanza by associating on the scenes and images in the first stanza.

In this new weekly feature Tan Renga Wednesday, I will give you the starting verse, or "hokku", your task is to create the second stanza. Ofcourse sometimes I will create a "hineri" version, in that version I will give you the second stanza and than you have to create the first stanza, but for starters ... this time I will give you the first stanza.

Oku No Hosomichi (Narrow Road Into The Deep North)

In the logo of this new feature you see a Japanese Woodblock Print of the so called "Wedded Rocks", a Shinto religious place. The first haiku to work with in this new weekly feature is a haiku by my master, my sensei, Matsuo Basho:

hamaguri no   futami ni wakare   yuku aki zo

a clam
torn from its shell
departing autumn

This is the last verse in Basho's 'Oku no Hosomichi' 'The Narrow Road to the Far North'. Because there are several word plays at work here, the Japanese maintain that there is no way for the poem to be rendered into another language. So here goes: hama (beach); hamaguri (a clam) however 'guri' is also (a chestnut) or (a pebble). And that is only the first line! 'Futami' (place name of the port where the famous Wedded Rocks (two large rocks considered to 'married' which are considered to be sacred) are such an attraction) is made up of the words 'futa' (lid, cover, shell) and 'mu' (body, meat, fruit, nut, berry, seed, substance, contents). The word 'wakare' can be either (to part or to split) or (to leave). Added to the last line (departing autumn) 'wakare' can mean either that it is autumn which is leaving or a person who is departing. In Ogaki, Basho was met by many of his disciples, including Sora who rejoined him, for the end of the trip back to Tokyo. This verse, and the second one in 'Oku no Hosomichi' are considered the 'book-ends' of the work with partings of Spring and Autumn.

This haiku is in my opinion a masterpiece. Re-read all those different words and their different meanings again above and let them guide you to your second stanza.

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