Carpe Diem #1824 Yasaka-ji (temple 47)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First I have to apologize (again). At the moment my life is a bit upside down, because of circumstances in private and at work, so my mind isn't really at our wonderful Kai. So before I give you our Thursday episode I have to tell you all that this month I will not always publish an episode every day. I just can't find the peace to create them for you in the quality you all deserve. I hope you all will accept this choice.

This month we are on a pilgrimage at Shikoku Island, a kind of reprise of our earlier pilgrimage there back in 2014. Today we have a nice episode about Yasaka-ji, the 47th temple of the Shikoku Pilgrimage.

Yasaka-ji (temple 47)

Yasaka-ji temple is dedicated to Amida Nyorai. Let me tell you a little bit more about Amida Nyorai.
Amitābha, also known as Amida or Amitāyus, is a celestial buddha according to the scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism. Amitābha is the principal buddha in Pure Land Buddhism, a branch of East Asian Buddhism. In Vajrayana Buddhism, Amitābha is known for his longevity attribute, magnetising red fire element, the aggregate of discernment, pure perception and the deep awareness of emptiness of phenomena. According to these scriptures, Amitābha possesses infinite merit resulting from good deeds over countless past lives as a bodhisattva named Dharmakāra. Amitābha means "Infinite Light", and Amitāyus means "Infinite Life" so Amitābha is also called "The Buddha of Immeasurable Light and Life".

Kobayashi Issa, one of the big-five haiku poets, was a buddhist in the tradition of the Pure Land Buddhism and he wrote several haiku with that theme, here are a few examples:

"Praise the unshackled
heavenly gods!"
plum blossoms

if you're praying
pray to Amida Buddha!
summer cicadas

one paulownia leaf
good choice!
it falls westward

© Kobayashi Issa

That 2nd and 3rd haiku are very specific themed Pure Land. According to Pure Land Buddhism is paradise situated in the west.

at dusk
the colored clouds show the Way
Pure Land calls
reaches out to humankind
Eternity awaits

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until March 18th at noon (CET). Have fun!

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 #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 #1759 Grasshopper (a haiku by Issa)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are celebrating our 7th birthday and I am happy that we can celebrate it ... As I started with CDHK back in 2012 I wasn't aware of what I started ... but I love it. I am so glad to be your host and I am happy that I can inspire you through all the wonderful prompts we have seen here and will see in the future.

Today another wonderful prompt, another wonderful but sometimes dangerous small creature ... the Grasshopper.

Here is a haiku written by Issa inspired on this small creature:

giddy grasshopper
take care...do not leap and crush
these pearls of dewdrop

© Issa

When the grasshopper spirit animal comes leaping into your life, it signifies your need to make a tremendous leap of faith.
Just like the cricket symbolism, the grasshopper symbolism wants you to know that if you aim high and go where others are scared to go, you will accomplish amazing feats and achieve incredible results!

Grasshopper

The grasshopper spirit animal chooses those who want to move ahead in life with their innovative thinking and progressive approach.
When you are inspired by the grasshopper totem, jump forward and get past whatever is trying to keep you or hold you back.

What a tragic thing:
'Neath a mighty warrior's helm
Grasshoppers chirruping! 

© Basho (Tr. Dorothy Britton)

(note: In the most translations of this haiku by Basho, the Grasshopper is mentioned  Cricket)

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 14th at noon (CEST). As you all know during my vacation, this is my last week, I don't publish a new episode on Wednesday.

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 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 #1577 snowflakes (kazahana)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

This month we are exploring the kigo (seasonwords) of winter. Kigo are part of haiku since the birth of haiku, back into the 17th century. In that century several of the renown haiku poets lived their life. For example the greatest of them all Matsuo Basho, but there were several other haiku poets that created their haiku in that century.
One of the basic rules of a classical haiku is the use of kigo. A kigo is a word that points towards the season in which the haiku scene was created. This month that classical rule we are exploring through modern and classical kigo and today I have a nice classical kigo, snowflakes (kazahana). Snowflakes we know all. Those wonderful creations, so fragile and in very different kinds. The Japanese translation "kazahana" means literaly "wind flowers" and I think that's the right translation for snowflakes, because as we look at snowflakes they look like flowers.

Snowflake (kazahana)

Look at the fragile structure and beauty of the above snowflake ... gorgeous isn't it? Nature is full of this beauty, but when did we (humans) stop appreciating the beauty of nature? I don't know, because I love nature in all its wonders. As a haiku poet I am admiring nature ... it's so beautiful and we have to cherish it.

I found two beautiful haiku by Kobayashi Issa:

little straw mat--
the cat comes with a coat
of snowflakes

snowflakes flitting down--
a winter solstice
celebration

© Kobayashi Issa

Fragile beauty (kazahana - snowflakes)

And here are a few haiku from my archive:

snowflakes
cover the red roses
on a new grave

falling gently
snowflakes
fragile beauty

© Chèvrefeuille

Look at that beauty ... isn't it a wonderful piece of nature? Snowflakes ... are awesome!

After doing some extra research I found another nice haiku about snowflakes by my sensei Basho:

polished again
the mirror is as clear as
flower-like snowflakes

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

There is a small anecdote on this one. I remember that I once wrote a haiku in the same way, with almost the same words before I ever had heard of Basho or had read all his work. At that moment I was just a starting haiku poet and I was ofcourse proud on this one, but than ... it turned out to be a haiku by Basho. Here is that haiku I once wrote:

polished again
on the clear mirror
flowers of snow

© Chèvrefeuille

Isn't that strange? 

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

Carpe Diiem #1551 Dew Of The World (Revise That Haiku ... Hineri)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Maybe you remember our special feature "revise that haiku" here at our wonderful Kai. It's a "tricky" feature, because I challenge you to "revise" haiku by renoen classical and nonclassical haiku poets. So ... it's possible that I ask you to "revise" haiku written by one of the "big-five" (Basho, Buson, Chiyo-Ni, Issa and Shiki) and that's exactly what I am going to do this episode.

I will give you two haiku, one by Chiyo-Ni and one by Issa, and the background to "revise", but that's not all what I am asking of you this time (it's a hineri, with a "twist", episode). I also ask you to create a "fusion"-haiku with your two revisions and to create a Troiku with that "fusion"-haiku. A tough challenge I think, but I am sure that you all can do it, because you are all very gifted and talented haiku poets. Are you ready?

Let me give the three parts of this "revise that haiku ... hineri" challenge:

1. Revise the both haiku;
2. Create a "fusion"-haiku with the revised versions;
3. Compose a Troiku with your "fusion"-haiku.

cup-shaped flower (Drymocallis Convallaria)

Here are the haiku including the background. (Taken from: Haiku Volume 3, Summer-Autumn, by R.H. Blyth):

koborete wa tada no mizunari beni no tsuyu

the dew of the rouge flower,
when it is spilled
is simply water

© Chiyo-Ni

The reddish-yellow flower is cup-shaped and hold rain or dew in the same way as the camellia. There is great "virtue" in the expression tada no. If we translate it "only" water, we get the feeling of disillusionment without the insight into the nature of things, into what Carlyle says "the great Fact of existence". The poet, like the great man,

fly as he will, he cannot get out of the awful presence of this Reality. Though all men should forget its truth, and walk in a vain show, he cannot. (Carlyle, Heroes and Hero Worship)

Lotus

hasu no ha ni kono yo no tsuyu wa magarikeri

on the lotus leaf,
the dew of this world
is distorted

© Issa

This expresses Issa's view of life, his world-view. The dew is of its nature perfect, but when it falls on the leaf of the lotus, it loses its spherical beauty and lies there twisted and deformed. This is the fundamental concept, or rather, intuition of Mahayana Buddhism, the original goodness of man, original, not in time, but in essence, in its nature.

Two wonderful haiku ... and I hope that your "revisions" will be as beautiful. I am looking forward to your responses on this tough challenge. If possible, please share not only your Troiku, but also your "fusion"- haiku and your revisions.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 29th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new weekend meditation later on. For now ... good luck! Enjoy this tough challenge!

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 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 #1464 wind in the verdure (aoarashi)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome to our last regular episode of June. This month it was all about the beauty of the classical kigo for summer that nice little word to point towards the season in which the scene took place. We have seen beautiful kigo and I applaud you all for creating the most wonderful verses with them.

Next month I will challenge you to create haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry inspired on images. So ... July will be a month to "imagine without limits". I have already gathered images to use. Images I took myself and images found on the Internet. I am looking forward to this upcoming month.

Green Waves

Okay ... back to our last episode of this month, the last regular episode to be precise. Today's classical summer kigo is: wind in the verdure (aoarashi). What does this kigo mean. It's about the wind through the green leaves, or the greeness of summer's nature. It wasn't easy to find a haiku in which this kigo is used, but I have found one:

the wind in the green
helps to soothe their shattered nerves
and old rivalries

© Elizabeth Barrette

After a stronger search I found a haiku by Issa in which this classical kigo for summer is used:

aoarashi waga ya mi ni deru asahi kana

wind on the greenery--

coming to see my house

the morning sun

© Kobayashi Issa

Or these two by Shiki:

kisha miru-miru yama wo noboru ya aoarashi

the steam train very quickly
climb the mountain
the wind blow through fresh verdura

shiroyama no ukami agaru ya aoarashi

castle hill

high above

breezy green

© Masaoka Shiki

wind in the verdure (aoarashi)

fragile beauty
the summer breeze
plays with the grass

© Chèvrefeuille

A wonderful kigo to conclude this wonderful summer kigo month with I think. I hope you all did like this month and I hope to see you all again in July as we are going to create our verses through imagination.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 5th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend-meditation later on. For now ... have fun!

And here is the last classical winter kigo for all of our friends on the Southern Hemisphere: snowflakes (kazahana). Lit. wind-flowers.

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 #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)