Carpe Diem Sparkling Stars # 21, Buson's "I came to the cherry blossoms"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy ... my Sakura has started to bloom, a little bit later then last year, but still it's a beauty. As I told you earlier I was a bit anxious that the fragile cherry blossoms would be scattered through the first tough spring storm here in The Netherlands. And as you all know I am very proud on my Sakura ... so I have chosen a Sparkling Star about cherry blossoms composed by Buson. Buson, one of the four greatest haiku poets, was also a haiga artist as you have seen in one of the earlier post this week. However ... Basho ... stays my master, but I also learn a lot of Buson lately. He (Buson) has an eye for beauty in nature and I think that in this haiku which I have chosen ... he paints with words.

hana ni kite hana ni ineburu itoma kana

I came to the cherry blossoms;
I slept beneath them;
this was my leisure

© Yosa Buson

When we see that cherry blossoms are something to sleep under, or dance under, we have attained a state beyond that of the average artist or poet. Beauty and significance are to be imbided without strain or affectation. A life of art, like that of goodness, is to be lived as the normal, the ordinary thing, without letting the right hand know or care about what the left hand does. All aesthetic and ethical pleasure must be spontaneous, without meaning or gain, just like the fish in the water and the bird in the air.

Sakura in bloom © Chèvrefeuille

The above photo I made early this morning, the sun started to become a bit stronger, but was still hidden behind a thin veil of clouds, but the color of the leaves and those fragile cherry blossoms made me very happy. My Sakura has bloomed ...

I love to get back to the haiku by Buson, because there are a few things which are rather strange ... First Buson IS part of the haiku, and that's not according to the classical haiku rules, because one of the major rules is that haiku is free of persona, but Buson places himself in his haiku. Why? I think he felt really part of the scene he gives an impression of in his haiku. Then there is the past tense, he places his haiku in the past and that also is a violation of the classical haiku rules, but on the other hand ... Buson remembered the scene as being wonderful ... I think this haiku is not the original haiku but a re-done haiku far after the time happening. Makes that his haiku a "bad" haiku? I think not ... I even think ... bringing himself in the haiku and placing the haiku in the past makes this haiku even stronger ... a wonderful memory ... and I am very certain that Buson has turned this haiku into a wonderful haiga ... after all .... he was a haiga master.

The task for you, my dear Haijin, visitors and travelers, is to compose another haiku with cherry blossom as theme (my favorite theme) following the classical rules as there are:

1. 5-7-5 syllables
2. a kigo (in this particular haiku) cherry blossom (a spring kigo)
3. a kireji (a cutting word, in Western languages mostly interpunction)
4. interchangeable first and third line
5. if possible, a deeper spiritual meaning

More about these classical rules you can find in Carpe Diem's Haiku Writing Techniques e-book (chapter 10), which you can find in the menu above.

As you all know ... I am not such a fan of the classical way of writing/composing haiku, but I had to try and this is what I accomplished:

finally dreams become true

just one peaceful spring night -
blossoms of cherry bloom

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode of our Sparkling Stars is open for your submissions today at noon (CET) and it will remain open until next Saturday April 11th at noon (CET).

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge #9, free like a bird

Good day dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Another week has gone by and it's time for a new episode of Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Challenge. For this week's Tan Renga Challenge I have chosen a haiku written by myself in October 2012 for the first stanza of the Tan Renga. The goal of this Tan Renga Challenge is to write a second stanza (7-7) to complete the Tan Renga which I started. Tan Renga is very similar with Tanka, but Tan Renga is written by two poets. It's a short form of the Kasen Renga or the Renga (chained verse).

Credits: Eagle

Well ... here we go the first stanza (5-7-5) written by Chèvrefeuille:

First stanza (5-7-5):

fly like an eagle

as free as a bird in the sky

be a dreamcatcher 

Second stanza (7-7): 

???????????
???????????

Copy and paste the first stanza into your post and include your second stanza. By the way ... 'forget the rules' as Basho once said.

Well ... have fun ... be inspired and share your Tan Renga with us all. Take up the Challenge and make the Tan Renga complete. This Tan Renga Challenge will stay on 'till August 13th 11.59 AM (CET) and is now open for your submissions.

Carpe Diem #56, Full Beaver Moon

Today it's full moon. The full moon of November is called 'Full Beaver Moon', and today that's the prompt. Why is it called Full Beaver Moon?

A Beaver moon is, according to North American weather folklore, the first full moon which occurs in November. This full moon occurs in fall in the Northern Hemisphere. The moon may also be called the Frost moon or the Frosty moon.

Two reasons are given for the coupling of the November moon with the flat-tailed aquatic animal: (a) November is a month when many hunters used to set leg hold traps for beaver, and (b) November is a month when many beaver families are especially active in rebuilding their beaver lodges and dams. Much of the mammals' building and repair work takes place by moonlight, because the beaver is primarily nocturnal. Both explanations implicate November's position as the last full month before the coming of winter, as beaver (which do not hibernate) need to have ready access to food during the cold months, and need to grow an especially lush pelt of fur so as to be prepared. By the traditional valuation standards of the fur trade, a late-fall beaver pelt was worth more than a pelt harvested during other seasons of the year. (Source: Full Beaver Moon )

Credits: Full Beaver Moon

And does this creature has a spiritual meaning? Yes it has ...Beavers are ingenious builders, orchestrating megalith dams that can change the flowing course of entire rivers. This impressive aspect along with its association with water makes the beaver an analogy for building our up dreams.
In essence, the beaver tells us to believe in our dreams as if they were real. Build on them as if the dream is your reality. Change the course of your life flow by structuring your life with a goal to coax your dreams into your physical reality. (Source: Spiritual meaning of the Beaver )

Well ... isn't it a wonderful creature? 

Credits: Beaver

OK ... back to our goal ... writing haiku ... for your inspiration I have written the next haiku:

chasing your dreams
like a beaver building it's dam -
make your reality

make your reality
keep on dreaming like the beaver -
full beaver moon


In the Classical Japanese Seasonwords November 28th is also Bashooki or Basho's Memorial Day. Today they have a festival in honor of Basho's Memorial. So I love to share a few haiku written by Basho in this post.

Credits: Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

how wild the sea is,
and over Sado Island,
the River of Heaven

on Buddha's birthday
a spotted fawn is born -
just like that

Credits: Spotted Fawn

on Buddha's deathday,
wrinkled tough old hands pray -
the prayer beads sound

where's the moon?
as the temple bell is -
sunk in the sea

Credits: Prayer Beads

This prompt will stay on 'till November 29th 11.59 AM (CET). I will post our last Carpe Diem Special later on around 10.00 PM (CET). Another haiku by Issa for your inspiration. I will reproduce this (last) haiku by Issa hereafter:

catching its breath
on the pine tree's root...
plum blossom

I have granted Bjorn Brudberg our Carpe Diem Award for November for his continuing post every day in that wonderful cascading form. Thank you Bjorn for sharing your creativity with us here on Carpe Diem. Congratulations!!

Our Award winner for this Carpe Diem month is
Bjorn Brudberg