Carpe Diem, Special Prompt #5

Special Prompt #5

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today our last Special Prompt is on. This Special is a haiku by Basho. This one is part of his haibun 'Oku no Hosomichi' 'Narrow Roads to the Far North'.

hitosu ya ni   yujo mo ne tari   hagi to tsuki

in one house
prostitutes lie down to sleep
bush clover and the moon

This verse, was published in 1694, with a long explanation about Basho meeting two nuns he overhears talking in the next room. The next day, one of them asks him if they might travel together (figuring they would be safer from bandits with two men who look like priests) but Basho refuses and tells them to trust in the gods of the Ise Shrine for their safety. Because Sora, Basho's companion, doesn't mention such an incident at all, in his more factual diary, it is suspected that Basho inserted this incident in the same way one would have a love-verse in a renga. However, Basho's reaction is the very same as when he was confronted by the abandoned child in his book, he refused his help.

Credits: Narrow Road to the Far North

Well ... let's go compose a haiku inspired on the one by Basho. This will not be easy, but ... you know me so I will write a new haiku here.

together
sleeping under the moon
in a bed of clover

in a bed of clover
laying down with my wife
Honeysuckle and Moon

Hm ... nice one ... really ... both are great. I loved doing this.

This prompt will stay on 'till October 31th 11.59 AM (CET). The new prompt and the last one of this first Carpe Diem month will be wedding bells another great prompt I think. I will publish it today around 10.00 PM (CET).

Have fun, be inspired and go with the flow ... write and share your haiku, classical or non-classical, with us. Please leave a comment after linking.

Carpe Diem, Special Prompt #4

Special #4

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Our fourth Special prompt is on today. Another nice haiku by Basho, a haiku master, for your inspiration. It's again (in my opinion) a wonderful, not so wellknown, haiku by him.

This one he wrote in Spring 1687 and it had a title. In that time a title for a haiku was a commonly used practice. The title of this haiku was: 'Mourning over the death of Priest Tando'.

chi ni taore   ne ni yori hana no   wakare kana

falling to the ground
a flower closer to the root
bidding farewell

As we look closer to this haiku we see how sad Basho was when he heard of the dead of this Priest. He falls to the ground and weeps. Shedding his tears as a farewell. He composes this haiku with that strong feeling of loss and sadness. It could easily be what they call a dead haiku. Every haiku poet wrote his last haiku around the moment that they died, that's why they call that a 'dead haiku'.

To write a new haiku inspired on this one ... not so easy I think, but I have to try it.

last farewell
a last leaf swirls to the ground
compost for new life

Hm ... not a strong one, but it's a haiku in the spirit of Chèvrefeuille, could it be in Basho's Spirit as well?

This Special prompt will stay on 'till October 25th 11.59 AM (CET). Our new prompt for October 25th I will post today around 10.00 PM (CET) and will be tears.

Enjoy the fun of writing a classical or a non-classical haiku, be inspired and share your composed verses with Carpe Diem. Please leave a comment after linking.

Carpe Diem Special #3

SPECIAL #3

Howdy my dear haijin, visitors and travelers,

A new Special today. The haiku by Basho he has written in the Summer of 1685. He was an well respected haiku master now and had several students. It's in this time (the last ten years of his life) that he travels a lot. His haibun 'Oku no Hosomichi' is one of his most known haibun. However the haiku for today isn't part of that haibun.
Basho's legacy of haiku are mostly haiku he used in Renga sessions. A Renga was a chain of poems and was written with more than two poets. Renga was a game that was played often at the Imperial Court. Basho was the haiku master that brought this game to the people and made it a joyful activity.

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

Well ... so far a little background on Basho. Let's look at today's haiku.

a butterfly flies
only in the field
of sunshine

It's a nice haiku and I can see the scene in front of my eyes. A meadow bathing in the sun, full of blooming flowers, the sound of a summer breeze and the dancing butterflies. A sereen scene ... almost meditative. How to write a haiku on this one ... with the same feeling?

sunlit meadow
butterflies dancing together
from flower to flower

Another one:

dancing butterflies
the scent of a sunlit meadow
ah! the summer breeze

Well ... I think I have caught the essence of Basho's haiku. It was really a joy to compose these two haiku with the one of Basho for an inspiration.

This Special will stay on 'till October 19th 11.59 AM (CET). Our new prompt for October 19th will be religion and will be published today around 10.00 PM (CET).

Enjoy writing haiku, be inspired ... see you tomorrow.

Carpe Diem, special prompt #2

Dear haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today the second Carpe Diem Special is on. Another haiku of Basho for your inspiration to write a new haiku (or a few haiku) classical or non-classical. Today the following haiku written by Basho:

white poppy
it must have bloomed
from a wintry shower

White Poppy

Basho wrote this haiku in the Summer of 1683. In that time he used the Kanshicho-style for writing his haiku. In that style the syllables-count isn't a strict rule. It's the style in which I write my haiku most times. In my opinion the Kanshicho-style is more close to the Western way of writing haiku.

This is one of my haiku inspired on this one by Basho:

sleeping virgin
white as snow -
will once bloom

Be inspired and enjoy writing your haiku for today's Carpe Diem Special ... This Special will stay on 'till October 13 11.59 AM (CET).
Our next prompt is dolphin and will be posted on October 12 around 10.00 PM (CET)


(this is prompt 11 codex)

Carpe Diem, #11 samurai

Dear visitors, haijin and travelers,

Today another prompt samurai is on. What do I know about samurai? Not much, but of course we have the Internet. So I have search for some information on samurai. 

Samurai (侍^?) were the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany persons in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau. In both countries the terms were nominal zed to mean "those who serve in close attendance to the nobility," the pronunciation in Japanese changing to saburai. According to Wilson, an early reference to the word "samurai" appears in the Kokin Wakashū(905–914), the first imperial anthology of poems, completed in the first part of the 10th century.

Credits: Samurai Warrior

By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi (武士), and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class. The samurai followed a set of rules that came to be known as bushido. While they numbered less than 10% of Japan's population samurai teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in modern Japanese martial arts. (Source: wikipedia)

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

Matsuo Basho was the son of a low ranked samurai and for a long time he had the idea to follow in his 'fathers footprints'. He even became the page of a high ranked samurai's son, Yoshitada. He (Basho) and Yoshitada became good friends. (Some sources say that they had a relationship). Basho was very sad when his young master and friend died at the age of 22. It was than that Basho said farewell to his idea to become a samurai and started to write haiku to become a wellknown haiku master.

Maybe you can remember our first Carpe Diem special prompt in which I gave a haiku of Basho as an inspiration. That haiku was his first haiku he ever wrote.

Well ... that was the background for this new Carpe Diem prompt samurai let's do some haiku writing.

ancient warriors
between battle and peace
writing haiku 

Every samurai had an art next to his military business. That's a real Japanese way of a aesthetic life. A well balanced life ... a hard and a soft side of living and with satisfaction.

Another one:

samurai sword
exposed to the rough weather
washing away the battle 

That was the prompt for today. Hope you enjoyed the read and ... I hope it will inspire you to write a new haiku (classical or non-classical).

This prompt will stay on 'till October 12 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post the new Carpe Diem special prompt #2 today around 10.00 PM (CET).
 
Here is the new haiku for Carpe Diem special prompt #2

white poppy
it must have bloomed
from a wintry shower

(Basho wrote this haiku in Summer 1683).

Carpe Diem, #6 special prompt #1

SPECIAL #1

Good day my dear Haijin,

Well ... here it is the first CARPE DIEM SPECIAL as you can see I have used another logo especially for this special prompt. I will give you here the haiku which is your inspiration source for today's Carpe Diem Special (see for more on this special prompt here) it's a haiku written by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) a haiku master.
Basho is a well known haiku master and even non haiku writers can tell you that Basho is a haiku poet and they even can tell you about Basho's 'frog's jump in' haiku. You can read more on Basho and his haiku on my Basho Revisited Weblog
This haiku he wrote in the Autumn of 1677:

fragile twigs
breaking off the scarlet papers
autumn winds

Well enjoy the fun ... use this haiku as a source of inspiration and share your new haiku (classical or non-classical) inspired on the one by Basho here on Carpe Diem.

This special prompt will be open for your contributions 'till October 7th 11.59 AM (CET) and the new prompt for October 7th I will post tonight around 10:00 PM (CET) and will be fragile

See you tomorrow ... 'till than ... have fun and enjoy writing haiku.

Carpe Diem Preview #1 special prompt

Dear Haijin (haiku poets),

You will ask maybe "What's this?" This my dear Haijin is Carpe Diem Preview #1. In this preview I will tell you something about a special prompt/theme that I will use in this new daily haiku meme Carpe Diem. Every week of the month I will give a haiku of a classical haiku master for a prompt/theme. This classical haiku is inspiring to write a new haiku about. On my Basho Revisited weblog I have done that with several haiku written by the classical haiku master Matsuo Basho (1644-1694). In every episode of Basho Revisited I have written a new haiku inspired on the haiku by Basho. This link will bring you to that weblog so you can see for yourself. The link brings you to a set of haiku on the Wedded Rocks inspired on a haiku by Basho.

Another example:

My first English haiku was:

a lonely flower
my companion
for one night

This haiku can be an inspiration to write another one ... look for yourself ... I have written a new haiku with 'a lonely flower' as inspiration source.

blooming flowers
everywhere I look
finally Spring

This new haiku arose from 'flower' and in contrast to 'lonely'. This is what I mean with writing a new haiku inspired on a haiku of a classical haiku master. I think this isn't easy, but I also think that it is fun to do this. The first Carpe Diem special will be online on October 5th around 10:00 PM (CET).

This was the first Carpe Diem Preview ... I hope you will read more Carpe Diem Previews in time.

Namaste