Carpe Diem #1643 beach combing (shiohigari)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Before I start this new episode I have an announcement to make. As you all know I love creating our wonderful Haiku Kai, but as you all know too, it takes a lot of my time. I don't have a problem with that, but my family has. Every day I am busy with creating CDHK through research, conceptual posts and so on. So my wife and kids sometimes tell me to put away my laptop and give time to them. Ofcourse I am willing to do that. So earlier today I decided to take a week of this month. This means, one week there will not be a new episode every day. The only thing I do in that week is creating the "Heeding Haiku With Chèvrefeuille" episode at Mindlovemisery's Menagerie. I will take a week off every season from now on. My first week off is this month April 19th until April 27th. I will publish our weekend meditation before that week off on Friday 19th and at the end of that week I will "restart" on Friday 26th with our weekend meditation. I hope this will give me some time to relax and giving more time to my family. I hope you all don't have a problem with that.

beachcombing (image © Marge Lachmuth)

Maybe you think "beachcombing? that sounds modern", but that isn't true, it's a classical kigo for spring taken from the Shiki Saijiki. Beachcombing is a wonderful acitivity, it's a kind of treasurehunt along the beach at low tide. Let me give you the Japanese description of beachcombing (shiohigari):

The Shiohigari is a popular Japanese tradition during spring and summer. In the literal sense of the word, it means "tide hung-out-to-dry hunt". It is an outdoor leisure activity of clam digging that is usually enjoyed by families and group of friends. It is in the months of March to June that it is normally done, but it is best to do it in May and June due to air temperature and water condition. It is also during the golden week that the beaches are the most crowded.  Annually, thousands of Japanese drive down to the beaches to hunt down Asari or Japanese littleneck clams. Then, the clams will be enjoyed later in a sumptuous meal.

Beachcombing (image found on Pinterest)

Here is an example haiku with this kigo by Chiyo-Ni:

On the low-tide beach,
Everything we pick up
Moves.

Or this one created by Basho:

A green willow,
Dripping down into the mud,
At low tide.

And to conclude this episode about "beachcombing" a haiku by a not so renown haiku poet, Rofu:

Ebb-tide;
The crab is suspicious
Of the footprint.

Well ... I think you all understand the meaning of this kigo and how to use it. So have fun!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 15th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1642 wild rose (yamabuki)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a busy weekend I have had. I had to work and our oldest son and his kids were visiting us including sleep over. And today it was a real warm spring day here in The Netherlands, almost 22 degrees Celcius, so also this day could have been a summer day, but ... well it's spring.

This month we will explore the kigo for spring, modern so well as classical and today I have chosen a classical kigo from the so called "Shiki Saijiki" in which you can find 500 classical kigo. Our kigo for today is Wild Rose (Yamabuki).

rippling water
as frogs jump into -
yellow roses bloom 

© Chèvrefeuille

The yellow rose in the above haiku is named "Yamabuki", so this classical kigo means not only "wild rose", but also "yellow rose".

Yamabuki (Yellow Roses, Kerria Japonica)

What a wonderful flower this is. There is an old story about Basho's "old pond" that he first thought of "yamabuki" as third line instead of "the sound of water". In the above haiku you can easily find that world famous haiku by the master, Matsuo Basho.

a wild rose
red delicacy in nature -
my sweet love

red roses
all that remains
after the storm
between the walls
and my heart

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... enough to work with I think. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 14th ay noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #79 Poetry Archive (4) rain

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday April 7th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new weekend meditation here at CDHK. This weekend I love to challenge you again to dive into your Poetry Archive. Choose a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetryform themed "rain" from your archive and share it with us all.
Maybe that poem has a special meaning for you and I love to hear that too ofcourse. After sharing your poem from your archive create a new poem inspired on your choice poem.

Ofcourse I also took a dive into my archives and I ran into a few rain haiku:

the moon hides
behind clouds while witches dance
begging for rain

ah! that coolness
raindrops on my naked body
hot Summer day

© Chèvrefeuille

The above haiku I composed several years ago. We had a heatwave here in The Netherlands and we celebrated our holiday in our mobile home somewhere in our country. It was really hot and I was reading a novel by Paulo Coelho titled Brida. Brida is about a girl who is searching for a mistress or master to teach her about witchcraft. I created that first haiku inspired on Brida.
The second haiku created at the end of the heatwave ... finally it started to rain, but it was still warm, so I decided to go outside totally naked to feel the rain on my skin. It felt wonderful, but ofcourse after a while the coolness of the rain faded ... but that hot Summer Day I can still remember.

Dancing In The Rain (Leonid Afremov)

Well ... I have to create an all new haiku ... so here is my new haiku themed "rain":

dancing around the fire
after a hot summer day -
expecting rain 

© Chèvrefeuille

Not as strong as I had hoped, but I like the painted scene in this one.

Now it is up to you. Take your time, you have the whole weekend to meditate and contemplate on the theme before you submit your poetry.

This episode is open for your submissions next Sunday April 7th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until April 14th at noon (CEST). Have a wonderful weekend.

Carpe Diem #1641 a modern kigo ...

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, the daily meme about Japanese poetry forms like haiku, tanka or for example sedoka. This month we are exploring one of the classical rules of Japanese poetry, the use of a kigo (seasonword).

We have already seen several classical and modern kigo and today I have another wonderful modern kigo extracted from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku". As a child I had a kite, ofcourse made by myself, and I enjoyed playing with it. Now I am a granddad and now I can make kites with my grandchildren. You all will understand what our theme, our kigo for today is ... yes ... kite.

I have only wonderful memories about kites ... so I hope to read your memories with kites also.

watercolor class
the painted blue sky
becomes a kite

flying a kite
gulls above the beach stare
at the old couple

© Jane Reichhold (Extracted from "A Dictionary of Haiku")

Here is one taken from my archives:

'look there grandpa'
my grandson points to the sky -
yellow dragon kite

against the blue sky
climbs an ancient dragon-kite
towards the sun

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... it's up to you now. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 11th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend-meditation later on. For now have fun!

Carpe Diem #1640 Light (modern kigo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a wonderful month this already is, but it can become even better. Today I have a nice modern kigo for you taken from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku", a modern saijiki. Today I have chosen the modern kigo "light", maybe not special for spring, but in my opinion is the light of spring the most beautiful light I know.

In her "A Dictionary of Haiku" Jane gives several examples for this kigo. That brings me to the challenge for today. I have chosen six haiku by Jane from her saijiki, spring section, subsection celestial. The challenge is to create a Renga With Jane by adding your two-lined stanza. Ofcourse you can choose your own "line-up" as is usually for this feature.

Here are the six haiku to work with:

a range of light
morning colors flow
out of the high Sierras

morning light
the sound of waves
on your sleeping face

without lights
the brightness of a blue sky
full of stars

Blue Sky (image© rmosesbvb)

dawn's faint hour
squeezes in heart-run veins
light in every limb

light touching
where only rain goes
trespassing

tides
light comes and goes
as ocean

© Jane Reichhold (extracted from "A Dictionary of Haiku")

Isn't it wonderful to create a renga together with Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)?

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 10th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1639 blossom haze (hanagumori)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Spring ... my favorite season (next to autumn). I love spring and I am always glad to see the first signals od spring. For example: first cherry blossom and snowdrops. Yes spring ... nature leaves its hibernation state and comes alive again.

This month we are exploring the classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) for spring and today I have a wonderful classical kigo for you to work with. Today our classical kigo is blossom haze (hanagumori). I will try to explain the meaning of this kigo.

A clouded sky during the Cherry blossom season, blossom haze, is "hanagumori", only in this season used as a kigo for late spring and never used for other flowers in haze or clouds. (Source: Gabi Greve's World Kigo Database)

An example by Shiki:

hanagumori miyako so sumi no Asukayama

blossom haze -
in a corner of the capital
is Asukayama 

© Masaoka Shiki

And another one, more of modern times, by Ayabe Jinki (1929-2015)

tenpura ni kagiru sakana ya hanagumori

this fish is best
as Tempura . . .
cherry blossom haze 

© Ayabe Jinki

blossom haze (hanagumori)

Of course I have given it a try to create a haiku with this classical kigo about blossom haze:

against dark clouds
more fragile than they aready are
cherry blossoms

© Chèvrefeuille

And I found a few other haiku on blossom haze in my archive:

blossom haze -
walking in the middle
of falling petals

Ah! those cherries
have to let go their blossoms -
blossom haze

© Chèvrefeuille (2013)

All beautiful haiku on blossom haze. I hope I inspired you with this new episode on blossom haze, a classical kigo for spring.

This episode is NOW OPEN and will remain open until April 9th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1638 (delayed post) tranquil (nodoka)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a delayed episode of our Spring kigo month, April 2019. I had a busy evening shift so I hadn't time to create a new episode on time. So my excuses for that.

This month we are exploring modern and classical kigo for spring and today I have a classical kigo for you, tranquil (nodoka). Spring has started and I enjoy this season with an intensity I cannot describe. I like seeing how nature comes alive again, but what I love the most is the tranquility of an early spring morning. The sun is slowly rising, birds praising their Creaor and slowly but certain the tranquility fades away. The world comes alive again after a tranquil night.

tranquility
the first torii (*) in the middle
of the barley field

© Shiki

(*) A Torii is the sacred archway of a Shinto shrine. Every Shinto shrine had three of these Torii, which weren't direct in front of the shrine, but quite in a distant. This Torii in Shiki's haiku was the first and stood in the middle of a barley field. It's a wonderful imagery of the tranquility of Spring.

tranquility -
finally I have found peace,
blossoms have fallen

© Koyu-Ni (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)

[...] Koyu-Ni died in 1782, her family name was Matsumato. She is one of the more prominent woman poets of the Edo period. She learned haiku from Songi the First. [...]

Well ... I hope I have inspired you.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will reamin open until April 8th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!