Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Challenge #3 "the rainy season"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy to read all of your completions of the Tan Renga last week. I have really read awesome second stanzas and I hope this new episode of our Tan Renga Challenge will bring that joy again.
For this episode I have chosen a haiku by Buson, one of the four greatest haiku masters next to Basho, Issa and Shiki.

Haiga by Buson

shishoku shite roka toru ya satsukiame

the rainy season
a paper lantern in hand
I walk along the verandah

In his 3rd Volume of Haiku, Blyth says abthis haiku by Buson, the following:

It is deep night, and the rain sounds louder now than in the day-time. The dripping does not cease. Along the dark verandah walks the poet, with slow and silent steps, holding a paper lantern in one cold hand. There is in this verse something of what Keats expressed with more effort and wordiness in "The Eve of St. Agnes":

[...] and the long carpets rose along the gusty floor [...]

But Keats is almost entirely objective, whereas in Buson, who is among the most objective of haiku poets, there is something subjective. Even when the poet has passed through it, the corridor remains palpitating dark, alive in its length; the wind and rain are still heard though there is no one to hear them.

Credits: Rainy Season

A wonderful haiku by Buson I think and now it is up to you to write the second stanza (7-7). Copy and paste the first stanza (5-7-5) as given here into your post and include your second stanza to complete the Tan Renga. Have fun !!!

I will give the first stanza of this Tan Renga here again and I include my second stanza.

the rainy season
a paper lantern in hand
I walk along the verandah             (Buson)

a gust of wind blows in my face
scatters the light I hold                 (Chèvrefeuille)

This Tan Renga Challenge will stay on 'til June 29th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post the new Tan Renga Challenge after the closing time of this one. (!! The linking Widget for this episode of our Tan Renga Challenge will open at 4.00 PM (CET) !!)

PS.: I have published our prompt-list for July. In this month the Special episodes are all haiku written by Jane Reichhold. So this new month of Carpe Diem will be a joy.


Namaste

Carpe Diem's Kasen Renga Session #1

Credits: Kasen Renga Session

Good day dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I love to introduce a new feature here on Carpe Diem. With the Tan Renga episodes I already started a nice way to write haiku together. And today I will introduce our next step in our Renga playing. It's an experiment and I hope it will work out.

Today our first Kasen Renga Session starts. I love to try a Kasen renga with you all. A Kasen Renga is a Renga of 36 linked verses following the next path 5-7-5, 7-7, 5-7-5, 7-7 .... and so on. Just like the Tan Renga you have to write a stanza through associating on the verse before your turn.
Our beloved haiku originated from this Renga, a chain of verses following the above mentioned structure. The Renga started with the so called Hokku (openings verse) written by a haiku poet. The next poet wrote the next stanza and so on. The poet who writes the last stanza called Ageku has to associate on the hokku (and the verse before him/her) so the Kasen Renga is closed properly as a chain or circle.

The Kasen Renga follows a structure in which there are themes which you have to use in the stanzas. I will give you the structure later on in this post. First I like to tell you how this is going to work.

I start the Kasen Renga with a Hokku and the next poet writes the following stanza in the comments field. There will be no linking widget and you have to be alert on which stanza you have to write. So e.g. poet A writes the first verse 5-7-5, poet B writes the 7-7 stanza, then poet C writes the following stanza of 5-7-5 ... the importants thing in this is that you have to read the comment before you, so you know which stanza you have to write. (!!!! DON'T FORGET THE NUMBER OF THE STANZA IN YOUR COMMENT !!!!).

Let us try this .... we will see how it's gonna work out. I will give now the structure of our first Kasen Renga:

1. Hokku 5-7-5 (Summer)
2. 7-7 (Summer)
3. 5-7-5 (Love)
4. 7-7 (Freedom)
5. 5-7-5 (Moon/ Autumn)
6. 7-7 (Autumn)
7. 5-7-5 (Autumn)
8. 7-7 (Love)
9. 5-7-5 (Love/ Flowers)
10. 7-7 (Love/ Free verse, no theme)
11. 5-7-5 (Water)
12. 7-7 (Rocks/ Mountains)
13. 5-7-5 (Moon/ Winter)
14. 7-7 (Winter)
15. 5-7-5 (Love/ Flowers)
16. 7-7 (Bamboo)
17. 5-7-5 (Flower/ Spring)
18. 7-7 (Spring)
19. 5-7-5 (Spring)
20. 7-7 (Moon/ Autumn)
21. 5-7-5 (Pigeons)
22. 7-7 (Love)
23. 5-7-5 (Summer)
24. 7-7 (Summer)
25. 5-7-5 (Pebble)
26. 7-7 (Love)
27. 5-7-5 (Flower)
28. 7-7 (Water)
29. 5-7-5 (Moon/ Spring)
30. 7-7 (Summer)
31. 5-7-5 (Autumn)
32. 7-7 (Winter)
33. 5-7-5 (free verse, no theme)
34. 7-7 (Flower/ Spring)
35. 5-7-5 (Rocks/ Mountains)
36. Ageku 7-7 (Spring)

This structure, not exact the classic structure, is called a 'Summer Renga'. So the Hokku must be a Summer haiku. (Behind the syllables per stanza you can read the theme for that stanza). The title of this first Carpe Diem's Kasen Renga Session is taken form the Hokku, "no lonely night".

Credits: Firefly

Title:

"No Lonely Night", a Summer Renga

Startdate: June 21th
Closingdate: July 22th


Hokku (5-7-5) by Chèvrefeuille (your host):

firefly party
their fragile light caresses me -
no lonely night

(c) Chèvrefeuille (pseudonym of Kristjaan Panneman)


have fun, feel free to post your stanza to our first Kasen Renga Session. Good Luck!!!

Chèvrefeuille, your host

Carpe Diem Special #43, "the cool of the wind" by Kikusha-Ni

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy it is to prepare all the posts for Carpe Diem and I like how you all are participating in this daily haiku meme You all share such wonderful haiku with us here on Carpe Diem.
Today another nice haiku written by Kikusha-Ni. She is one of the most wellknown classical female haiku poets I know, but she hasn't written a lot of haiku. As I was preparing this episode I sought on the Internet for haiku written by her and I could only find 20-30 haiku written by Kikusha-Ni. So I haven't a brought range of haiku to choose from, but I succeeded I think with this haiku written by her:

there is nothing
like the cool of the wind in this place
blowing down from Mt. Fuyi

Credits: Mt. Fuyi

Mount Fuyi, the Holy Mountain of Japan, in a lot of haiku written by classical and modern haiku poets Fuyi plays the lead. So I was inspired by Mt. Fuyi and I hope my haiku is in the same sense, tone and Spirit as the one by Kikusha-Ni

framed in silence 

cherry blossom embraces Mt Fuyi
even more quiet

Awesome! I like this haiku. Is it in the same sense and tone as the one by Kikusha-Ni? I think so.

This Special will stay on 'til June 23th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, Aota (Green paddy), later on today around 9.00 PM (CET). !! The Linking Widget for this Special will open at 8.00 PM (CET) !! 

Carpe Diem #227, Yuunagi (Evening Lull)

Dear haijin, visitors and travelers,

I had some trouble with todays kigo Evening Lull, but after some web-surfing I ran into the translation of Lull. It turned out that it means pause, silence, repose, peace, stillness and tranquility. So Yuunagi means Evening peace, silent evening or so.
Today I hadn't enough inspiration to write a long episode, so this episode will be a short one. Forgive me please.

Credits: Yuunagi (Evening Lull)

I think this picture is full of Yuunagi (smiles), just one bird on the beach, maybe it sings, the rippling waves ... a nice evening silence.

deep silence
listening to the song of cicadas -
sultry summer night

evening lull
the sweet scent of Honeysuckle
arouses the senses

on the beach
around the campfire -
rippling waves

entwined bodies
in love on the beach -
evening lull

I hope you all liked this short episode of Carpe Diem. This prompt will stay on 'til June 22th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, another nice haiku by Kikusha-Ni, later on today around 9.00 PM (CET). I will give that new haiku by Kikusha-Ni hereafter.
!! The Linking Widget for Yuunagi will open at 9.00 PM (CET) !!

PS.: I am preparing a new feature for Carpe Diem. I will start an experiment with you all ... I will try to write a Kasen-Renga with you all. I am busy preparing this new feature and I hope to publish it soon.


Kikusha-Ni's haiku for our next Special on June 22th:

there is nothing
like the cool of the wind in this place
blowing down from Mt. Fuyi

Carpe Diem #226, Hototogisu (Little or English Cuckoo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today we have a wonderful kigo to work with. Today it's Hototogisu (Little or English Cuckoo) and it is (and was) a wonderful kigo to all haiku poets, modern as well as classic. It's a very populair kigo and I have found several wonderful haiku written on Hototogisu. E.g. this one by Basho:

hototogisu otake yabu wo more tsukiyo

moonlight slants through
the vast bamboo grove
a hototogisu cries

R.H.Blyth comments, in his four Volume series Haiku Vol.3, on this verse saying:

It is said that even now there are great bamboo groves around the place where once Kyorai's villa stood at Saga. Basho spent two weeks here in April, in the fourth year of Genroku (1692). The Hototogisu corresponds more or less to the Little or English cuckoo. The breast of the male is blackish, with white blotches. The breast of the female is white, the inside of the mouth red; it has a crest of hair on the head. The legs are greenish. It doesn't make a nest of its own, but borrows that of the uguisu (The Japanese Bush Warbler (Uguisu), Cettia diphone, is a passerine bird more often heard than seen. Its distinctive breeding call can be heard throughout much of Japan from the start of spring. Some other Japanese names given to the bird are haru-dori ("spring bird"), haru-tsuge-dori ("spring-announcing bird") and hanami-dori ("spring-flower-viewing bird"). Its place in Japanese poetry has also given it the names uta-yomi-dori ("poem-reading bird") and kyo-yomi-dori ("sutra-reading bird"), the latter because its call is traditionally transcribed in Japanese as "Hō-hoke-kyo", the abbreviated Japanese title of the lotus sutra).

Credits: Uguisu

From early summer, it (the hototogisu), sings day and night, and ceases in autumn. It is said to vomit blood and die after it has sung eight thousand and eight times.

Or what do you think of this one by Shiki:

tsuki no de no kusa ni kaze fuku hototogisu

the moon arising
there is wind in the grass
a hototogisu sings

Blyth says about this verse: Over the mountains the moon appears; a gust of wind moves the summer grasses, the sound already a little dry and melancholy. In the distance, a hototogisu suddenly breaks into song. The combination of sight and touch and sound is perfect, is complete, nothing more is required. In the succeeding stillness, the moon climbs higher and higher tinto the sky.

I have found a beautiful haiga by Buson in which he portrays a Hototogisu.

A little cuckoo across a hydrangea - Yosa Buson

The haiku in this haiga is:

Iwakura no kyoojo koi seyo hototogisu

cause the madwoman at Iwakura
to fall more deeply in love
o hototogisu

And I love to share another photo of the Hototogisu.

Credits: Hototogisu

Enough about this wonderful and populair bird as classical kigo for mid-summer. Let me try to write a haiku about the Hototogisu.

little cuckoo
sings the whole day and night
his bleeding throat

his bleeding throat
sign for upcoming dead
just one song left

just one song left
thousands times he gave his concert -
fallen to earth

fallen to earth
completing the cycle of life 

little cuckoo

I hope you did like this episode, unless the sad ending of it. Be inspired and share your haiku with us all here on Carpe Diem.

This prompt will stay on 'til June 21th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, Yuunagi (Evening lull), later on today around 10.00 PM (CET). !! The linking widget of Hototogisu will open at 9.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem #225, Kawasemi (Kingfisher)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Are you all in for a new nice Carpe Diem episode? Well I am (smiles). Today we share haiku on Kawasemi (Kingfisher).
In my opinion it's one the most colorful waterbirds. For sure here in The Netherlands. This little Kingfisher is a wonderful fisherman and fast as the wind. I think this wonderful bird can inspire you all to write nice haiku.

Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australasia. The group is treated either as a single family, Alcedinidae, or as a suborder Alcedines containing three families, Alcedinidae (river kingfishers), Halcyonidae (tree kingfishers), and Cerylidae (water kingfishers). There are roughly 90 species of kingfisher. All have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with little differences between the sexes. Most species are tropical in distribution, and a slight majority are found only in forests. They consume a wide range of prey as well as fish, usually caught by swooping down from a perch. Like other members of their order they nest in cavities, usually tunnels dug into the natural or artificial banks in the ground. A few species, principally insular forms, are threatened with extinction.

Credits: Kingfisher

Wow! What a wonderful bird, really a King.

colorful reflection
throws shadows on the brook -
Kingfisher attacks

Kingfisher attacks
silver comes to live in the brook -
circles in water

Nice set I think ... hope you like this post and I hope it inspires you all to write nice haiku. This prompt will stay on 'til June 20th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next classical kigo for Summer, Hototogisu (Little Cuckoo), later on today around 8:00 PM (CET). !! The Linking Widget for Kingfisher open at 8.00 PM (CET) !!

Namaste

Carpe Diem #224, Shoobu (Japanese Iris)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As I was preparing this episode I realized that this prompt for today is (again) on Japanese Iris, earlier we had Rabbit Ear Iris and today we have Shoobu (Japanese Iris) I hope you all do not mind that. It's a wonderful flower and I think there are enough possibilities to compose and share haiku on Japanese Iris.

The term "Japanese iris" (Iris ensata, including Iris kaempferi) encompasses three varieties of Irises cultivated in gardens or growing wild in Japan: (hana)shoobu, kakitsubata and ayame.
The (Hana) shoobu  grows in the wet land and is the most extensively cultivated variety in Japanese gardens. According to the place where it was cultivated, it is classified into the Edo (Tokyo), Higo (Kumamoto Prefecture), Ise (Mie Prefecture), American (U.S.A.) and other series. It is extensively grown in gardens throughout the temperate zones. Several cultivars have been selected, of which 'Rose Queen'  and 'Variegata' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Credits: Shoobu (Japanese Iris)

Well ... isn't it a beauty? Let me look if I can write a haiku on this Japanese Iris.

like a rainbow
as far as I can see
a sea of Irises

a sea ofl Irises
waving in the Summer breeze
a rainbow garden

Hm ... not as strong as I hoped, but ... I love them both. Have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us all on Carpe Diem.

This prompt will stay on 'til June 19th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, Kawasemi (Kingfisher), later on today around 10.00 PM (CET).
!! The Linking Widget for Shoobu (Japanese Iris) will open at 8:00 PM (CET) today!!