Tan Renga - July 26, 2014

Today's tan renga begins with this hokku (haiku) given to us at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.


Chèvrefeuille tells us:

"A new Tan Renga Challenge is on ... to challenge your senses and insights in the association on themes. As I have done this month with the Tan Renga Challenges I have another classical haiku-poet for you to write Tan Renga. This week I have chosen a haiku by Sho-u. As far as I know he wrote only two haiku and there is nothing else to tell about him ... I couldn't find anything about Sho-u ... The goal of the Tan Renga Challenge is to write a second stanza of two lines (7-7 syllables or less) towards the given haiku by association on the first stanza in this case the haiku by Sho-u.

Mount Fuji

mannaka ni  fuji sobietari  kuni no haru

in the centre,
mount Fuji towers up:
spring in our country

© Sho-u

Here is Chevrefeuille’s offering:

in the centre
Mount Fuji towers up:
spring in our country  © Sho-u

a gathering of families
celebrates the cherry blossoms © Chèvrefeuille

Could living under mount Fuji be something I can relate to?  Here living in Trentino I can understand the feeling of the majesty of the mountains ... and I know that mount Fuji is particularly dear and sacred to the Japanese.

in the centre
Mount Fuji towers up:
spring in our country  © Sho-u

pink blossoms perfume the air
tempting the first butterflies
© G.s.k. '14  

Inspired by Buddah - July 14, 2014

 Another episode of our Special feature "Use That Quote" is here ... The goal of this feature is to write a haiku, senryu, tanka, kyoka or haibun inspired on a given quote of a famous human.
For this episode I have chosen a quote by Buddha.

Today's quote is from the Buddha (Siddhartha Gauthama) from Carpe Diem Haiku Kai  and is:

 […] "Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared" […]

§§§§§

the blackbird's song
joyous warbles of spring
lifts men's heart
inviting  happy smiles
 warming sunshine

the cawing crows
in the cold autumn mists
announce summer's death

your smiling face
laughing sparkling eyes
a blackbird's song

Writing with Basho (3) "Winds of Autumn" July 13, 2014

Today for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, we again visit Basho and seek inspiration from his unique way of writing.

Chèvrefeulle relates that Basho like many other artists of his day was homosexual. In Japan, one's sexual preference has always been a private matter and unlike many places in the world, then and now, one's preference is considered perfectly normal.

Now we can understand the haiku better following this background information given to us by Chèvrefeuille:

While Basho was staying at the Yamanaka Hot Springs, the 16 year old son of the innkeeper, Izumiya Matabel, attracted Basho's attention. He gave the young man the nom the plume Toyo (to = momo = peach) and (yo = the young beauty of). This name has a connection with Basho's earlier nom the plume "Tosei" (green peach) which forms a literary connection between the two, according to Oseka-san. However, other implications arise. Basho didn't choose to include the verse in his official travel journal but it was published in 1698, by Fukaku, a doctor in Kyoto, who made a book of 522 hokku classified into the season.

momo no ki no   sons ha chirasu na   aki no kaze

a peach tree
its leaves aren't scattered
winds of autumn

© Basho

vibrant blossoms
reaching for bright sunshine
autumn just a thought

© G.s.k. '14

Writing with Shiki - A Flash of Lightening

Today for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, we visit with Shiki once again.

One of the important aspects to Shiki was to remove the religious aspects from haiku writing in favor of every nature and the everyday aspects of life.  Here is the poem today that we'll use as inspiration:

inazuma ya mori no sukima ni mizu mo mitari

a flash of lightning;
between the trees of the forest,
water appears

© Masaoka Shiki

And here is my haiku:

sudden piercing flash
illuminating grey skies
mountains tremble

© G.s.k. '14

Shadow for Shadow CDHK! (Haiku) - July 10, 2014

Today I'm going to write for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai's new WordPress Shadow post!

Here are the basic haiku rules we can all follow:

1. A haiku is a poem which shows you a moment as short as the sound of water when you throwing a stone into it;
2. A haiku has three lines respectively with 5-7-5 syllables;
3. It’s about nature and humans as part of it;
4. Haiku has so called kigo or seasonwords to place it in the right time;
5. Mostly a haiku has a deeper spiritual meaning;
6. Haiku also uses kireiji or cuttungwords, in our language that means interpunctie;
7. The first and third line can be interchangeble.
These rules have to be followed or in other words …. Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Shadow is about the classical way of writing haiku.
Well …. I hope that this new feature is gonna work and I am looking forward to your responses. You can link your haiku to this post by the Linking Widget.
Here is the first Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Shadow prompt:
SHADOW

soft shoji shadows
summer sun's entegami
whispering leaves sigh

© G.s.k. '14