Carpe Diem Special Japanese Poetry In The Lowlands #2 Jurgen Diepstraten

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the second CD-Special of Japanese Poetry In The Lowlands. In this month I love to introduce a few of my fellow Dutchmen who also are haiku poet. The Netherlands have a long history with Japan. This goes even back to the time of Matsuo Basho and Yozakura.

In this episode I love to introduce to you Jurgen Diepstraten. I met Jurgen through a Dutch Facebook page about haiku. And I was caught by the first haiku I read written by him. It was a wonderful haiku and I hope that my translation will do that haiku justice.

hoor de tijd verstild
zelfs hier zie je de stilte
weerspiegelt water

stilled time
here one can see tranquility
reflecting in water

© Jurgen Diepstraten (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)

It wasn't an easy task to translate this haiku, but I think I did the Dutch version justice.

I don't know if Jurgen started haiku writing just recently, but in my opinion his haiku are wonderful, maybe sometimes more like senryu, but that doesn't matter, because according to Jane Reichhold is there almost no difference between haiku and senryu.

So here I have an other haiku by Jurgen Diepstraten to inspire you:

ruik de appeltaart
aarzelend omhoog dan maar
mijn oogappel plukt

faint-heartedly
my darling climbs up in the tree
the smell of apple pie

© Jurgen Diepstraten (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)

As you can see in the Dutch versions Jurgen writes his haiku in the classical way following the sequence of 5-7-5 syllables. That makes it more difficult to translate them.

Jurgen Diepstraten is a gifted haiku poet and I look forward to what he will write more.

I have tried to create a haiku inspired on the haiku about the apple pie and I came up with the following haiku:

first frost -
a treasure for the birds
fallen apples

© Chèvrefeuille

Applesauce

And I found a few nice haiku in my archives:

harvesting apples -
sweeter than sweet a real treat,
grandma's applesauce

drizzling summerday
longing for the autumn weather -
harvesting apples

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until November 14th at noon (CET).

 

Carpe Diem Tanka Splendor #8 dragonfly

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joyful month this is. I have already read wonderful Tanka and I love it. I am not such a great tanka-poet, but I am starting to become addicted to this form. Yesterday we had the third Tanka Writing Technique by Teika "Elegant Beauty" and today I think I have a nice prompt to create Tanka with.

Today our prompt is dragonfly and I have found a few nice tanka with this prompt in it. I love to share them here with you all:

Dragonfly

two trees meet as one
two dragonflies dart past them
through an empty branch
over water and oars drip
as they transcended darkness  

© M. Asim Nehal

a dragonfly
above the reeds
motionless
but for the wild blues
it vibrates in the sun

© Michael McClintock

Two beautiful tanka based on the prompt dragonfly. I found them online.

In the history of CDHK we have had "dragonfly" several times and I remember that we have had it a few times in a Tan Renga challenge. So I ran through our archives and found a few nicely created Tan Renga which I have "re-built" to the Tanka form.

shamanic journey
a red dragonfly comes
to guide the canoe
ancient wisdom unfolds
becoming one with the dragonfly

© Jane Reichhold & Chèvrefeuille

Dragonfly (2)

glittering blue
above empty riverbed
wings of dragonfly
through the mist, the croaking of frogs;
soon the riverbed will be full again

© Ese & Chèvrefeuille

Isn't it wonderful to "re-do" Tan Renga into Tanka? Of course I had to try to create an all new tanka for this episode ...

The dragonfly symbolizes change. Change in the perspective of self realization. The kind of change that has its source in mental and emotional maturity and the understanding of the deeper meaning of life.

I just had to include the deeper meaning of the dragonfly, because I think that makes it easier (at least for me) to create a tanka with dragonfly, trying to use ofcourse the techniques by Teika.

dragonfly dances
above the old pond of Basho -
the sound of water
wings reflecting sunlight
on young green leaves

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until November 12th at noon (CET). I will try to post our next episode, a new Universal Jane, later on.

Carpe Diem Tanka Splendor #7 Teika's third Tanka Writing Technique "Elegant beauty"

Dear Haijin, visitor and travelers,

This month we are exploring the beauty of Tanka, that wonderful 5-lined poem, through the "Ten Tanka Writing Techniques" by Teika. Today I love to share his third Tanka Writing Technique, Elegant Beauty.

Elegant beauty, characterised by harmony, balance, and beauty of cadence

Examples of this style are the poem by Toshyori on Mano Cove, which we saw in our first episode of this month,  and this one from the great poet of the late 7th century - Kakinomoto no Hitomaro from the Kokinshū, #9:409:

Kakinomoto no Hitomaro

honobono to / akashi no ura no / asagiri ni / shimagakureyuku / fune o shi zo omou

dimly dimly
on the shores of Akashi Bay
morning mist
vanishing by distant islands
longing follows the ship

© Hitomaro

In this tanka you can see the elegant beauty in the smoothness of the scene and the fragile morning mist. And that elegant beauty we can also see / find in the following Japanese Woodblock Print by Hasui Kawase (1883-1957).

Akashi Bay (Japan)

As I prepared this episode of our Tanka Splendor month I thought immediately on a tanka which I wrote a while ago. I think in that tanka this elegant beauty is very well described / used:

Lilies of the valley
their sweet perfume makes me drowsy
hot summer night
between silken sheets her warmth
honeysuckle coolness

© Chèvrefeuille

As I told you in our first Tanka Splendor episode I have chosen a prompt also for every episode about one of Teika's Tanka Writing Techniques ... for today that prompt is "departing geese", but you don't need to use it, you can also choose to use "departing" or "departure" as the theme for your tanka.

Try to create a tanka on "departing" for example and use the Tanka Writing Technique of this episode. As you all know I am not a great Tanka poet, but I love to explore this poetry form further and maybe improve my tanka writing skills.

Willow in autumn

I couldn't come up with a new tanka (yet), so I ran through my archives and found the following tanka in which I think that I caught elegant beauty.

autumn departs
in deep silence willow leaves fall -
tears on this grave
as the willow is green again
another year has gone

© Chèvrefeuille

After a while I thought ... "I cannot conclude this episode without creating a new Tanka". So I have given it a try ...

deep dark forest
seeking for nature’s mysteries –
a new day rises
after a hot and steamy night
she departs … without a kiss

© Chèvrefeuille

Is this elegant beauty? I don't really know, but I think it is. Maybe it's the scene which makes the elegant beauty. I think this one is in balance, but is there also beauty in cadence?

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until November 11th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, dragonfly, later on.

 

Carpe Diem "Make The Haiku Complete" (100) encore, just for fun. "dancing in the moonlight"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As you all know I have several special features here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai and sometimes I just have the urge to share such a feature to "trigger" your imagination and so I thought ... "let's do a surprise episode of Carpe Diem's Make The Haiku Complete.

The goal of this feature is to make the haiku complete which I am giving you. This time I made it a little bit more difficult, because I will give you only the 2nd line of the haiku and than you have to create the first and the third line.

---------------------
dancing in the moonlight
---------------------

On the ---- you have to create the first and the third line.

Dancing

This "encore" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 11th 10.00 PM (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Tanka Splendor #6 chestnuts

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First I have to apologize for being a little bit late with this episode. I am on the nightshift so I hadn't time to publish on time.

Tanka was formerly known as waka and to bring some "history" into this episode of our Tanka Splendor month I thought maybe I can tell you a little bit more about waka. In ancient Japanese times it was a custom between two poets (writers) to exchange waka instead of letter in prose. In particular, it was a common use between lovers, mostly in secret affairs. The lovers exchanged waka in the morning when they met each other at the woman's home. These waka were called Kiniginu, because it was thought the man wanted to stay with his lover and when the sun rose he had almost no time to put on his clothes on which he had lain instead of a mattress.
A well known work of this period is the Tale of Genji in which Murasaki Shikibu (the author) uses a lot of waka (795).

Well ... it's always great to tell you a little bit about the background of our wonderful poetry forms. And now back to our prompt for today.
Today our "Tanka Splendor"- prompt is chestnuts. Chestnuts are very common all over the globe and chestnuts have a kind of deeper meaning that fits the idea of tanka being a love poem, because the chestnut's meaning is fertility and desire and it is said that through a kind of ritual with chestnuts you can find the love of your life.
Another meaning tells us that the prickly burrs are the male part of the chestnut, and the fruit inside are the female part. Well ... maybe that's true, the burrs defend the fruits, and that's what man do ... defending women.

The chestnut, as we have seen above, is a great theme for tanka according to its meaning. So I tried it myself to create a tanka, but before that I love to share a haiku by Matsuo Basho with the above mentioned deeper meaning hidden in it:

yoru hisokani   mushi wa gekka no   kuri wo ugatsu

a night secret
a worm under the moon
bores in a chestnut

© Matsuo Basho

I leave it up to you to "discover" the deeper, hidden, love layer in this haiku.

in the twilight
on an open place in the forest
witches dance
the sweet perfume of roasted chestnuts
and entangled bodies

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 11th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, elegant beauty, the third tanka writing technique by Teika, later on.

Carpe Diem Kukai "autumn", last call for submissions

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

The "autumn" kukai is running towards its end, you can submit your three new and never published earlier haiku themed "autumn", until November 10th at 10.00 PM (CET). Send your submissions to our email-address: carpediemhaikukai@gmail.com please write "kukai autumn" in the subject-line.

tears fall
this autumn day
has gone by

© Chèvrefeuille, your host

Wandering Spirit - mai ejakkeishan iyaazu (education years)

Mai ejakkeishan iyaazu (education years)

After my dad showed me the beautiful garden he created for my mom he took me by the hand. "Come my son", he said. "We have work to do". I looked at him. He for sure saw the questions in my eyes. "I have been to Tokugawa Iemitsu, the shogun, and he has given you permission to go live with him to be educated", my dad answered. I looked up at him. "Are you sure dad?!" He nodded. "Yes, you may start today if you want?" As he saw the big bright smile on my face he knew immediately that he had given me the greatest gift of all.
I was honored that the shogun invited me to live with him, because you had to be at least seven years old, but I was only four years old. My first year at the home of the shogun was awesome. I learned about the wisdom of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. Through the wisdom of this wise man I also learned to write and read and I discovered the beauty of Chinese poetry.
I remember that the first poem I read was "Li Sao" by Qu Yuan, a Chinese poet. It was a kind of allegory, but wonderful to read or actually recited aloud or chanted, because it was written in the "Fu"-style with a strict onji rule. I really was excited to become educated in all that beauty.
As I became five the shogun made me Wakashu*. He shaved my head partially. Now I had a small shaved portion at the crown of my head and long forelocks at front and sides, but the most exited I became as the shogun bought me a new and beautiful kimono with open sleeves. I really was glad to wear this kimono.

One day my father visited me and as he saw that I wore a beautiful kimono he smiled. "You are such a good looking boy Yozakura. I am glad to see that the shogun has made you Wakashu", he said. He hugged me. "The shogun has given me permission to take you with me to visit your mother's grave. She would be so proud to see you! My son ... now a Wakashu." I saw tears on my father's face and that made me even more proud. "Dad ... don't cry", I said. "I know that you are proud. Mother would have been proud too". My father knelt before me. "I am proud my son. You are now accepted in the samourai world. Your lessons will change now. You will learn how to write and paint, but you also will learn the way of battle. And ..." I saw that my dad swallowed in a reflex. "And you will learn ... you will learn directly from the brother of the shogun, Hoshina Masayuki, who is great in martial arts, but also great in philosophy and poetry ... and ... " My father hesitated to go on with his sentence. Again I saw him swallow. "And he will love you dearly".

Hoshina Masayuki

A few years later I finally understood why my dad hesitated to tell me everything as I started my apprentice-ship in the house of Hoshina Masayuki and why he said "he will love you dearly". As I was almost three months an apprentice of Hoshina he asked me if I would be his lover ...

I have learned a lot of Hoshina, not only about battle, but also about poetry, painting, philosophy and politics. And I am still grateful for his teachings. After eight years, short after I turned 13 years, I went back to my father to help him in the grocery he started a few years earlier.

スペアルフローアー・ベリーズ ・テムプティﾝグ・ザ・スパローズ・ウィズ・ゼア・カラー・- ・グレイヴャッド・イﾝ・ザ・ミスト

supearufurooaa beriizu temuputingu za suparoozu wizu zea karaa - gureivyaddo in za misuto

spearflower berries
tempting the sparrows with their color -
graveyard in the mist

© Yozakura

to be continued ...

Note:* In the above episode of Wandering Spirit I mentioned Wakashu, this was a common way of same-sex culture in the ancient Samourai class. It was a common use for adult man to have a relationship with minors. Of course in nowadays Japan this isn't an accepted habit as far as I know.