Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
We have just to go a few days on the trail with Basho and than we will close this wonderful CDHK-month. I have enjoyed this month a lot and I hope you all did enjoy it too. Today our haiku by Basho is titled from all directions and that brought a few things in mind.
First our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Family has members from all directions and that makes me happy. Second this haiku title brought another idea in mind. A more sad idea. From all directions, everywere on Earth there are issues to resolve not at least peace. Peace right now is further away than we ever could imagine, but what makes me sad the most is the following. Once humankind was proud on its history, but nowadays our history is under attack .... not so long ago Nimrud and Hattra were destroyed and now maybe Palmyra is the next piece of history to be destroyed.
Of course this has nothing to do with our Haiku Kai, but sometimes I just have to share this kind of things ... and I hope you don't mind ....
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| Credits: Palmyra, and ancient Roman city in Syria |
Back to our haiku for today from all directions. This haiku was a greeting verse for Hamada Chinseki, a physician, at his home, Sharaku Do, which had majestic views of Lake Biwa and its surroundings. There is a wordplay on nio, which can mean "a grebe" (Podiceps ruficollis) or "a plentiful water bird on the lake". It is also an abbreviation for the lake.
shiho yori hana fuki rete nio no nami
from all directions
blossoms blow into
waves of Lake Lute
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)
Lake Biwa is a very well known fresh water lake in the Northeastern region of Honshu (the Southern Island of Japan) and Basho has written a lot of haiku with Lake Biwa as theme. Here are a few examples:
open the lock
let the moon shine in -
Floating Temple
© Basho (Tr. David Landis Barnhill)
The "Floating Temple" (or Ukimi Temple) is located on Lake Biwa by Katada, and is reached by boat or bridge.
Mii Temple,
I'd love to knock on it's gate:
tonight's moon
© Basho (Tr. David Landis Barnhill)
Basho held a moon-viewing party at Gichuji Temple, a few miles from Mii Temple on the souther shore of Lake Biwa. Basho draws on lines from a Chinese verse by Jia Dao: "Birds sleep in trees by the pond. Under the moon, a monk knocks on the gate".
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| Credits: Shinto Shrine on Lake Biwa |
full moon
reflecting her beauty in the water
of Lake Biwa
© Chèvrefeuille
Another one a baransu styled haiku:
moonlight reflects
spring breeze scatters her beauty
I bow and pray
© Chèvrefeuille
Well .... I hope you did like this episode notwithstanding my shared thoughts about destroying history. It just had to be said ...
This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until May 30th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our next episode, a river breeze, later on. For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us all.
