Sparkling Stars - Tranquility - September 29, 2014

This edition of Sparkling Stars at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is rich!  I'd advise all the readers to drop by and enjoy the collection of great waka and haiku to be found there!





 For now though, I'll just look at the two haiku that Chèvrefeuille put up by the poet Koyu-Ni, she was (she was known as Chiyo-Ni) a Buddhist Nun (as can be seen at her name "ni" stands for "female monk".)

hana chirite shizuka ni narinu hito-gokoro

the blossoms have fallen:
our minds are now
tranquil

© Koyu-Ni (Tr. R.H. Blyth)

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

Here is Chèvrefeuille's tranlation of this haiku:

tranquility -
finally I have found peace,
blossoms have fallen

© Koyu-Ni (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)

"The goal of this Sparkling Stars episode is to write a classical haiku, following the classical rules of haiku, about the circle of life of the fragile Cherry blossoms (or any other fragile blossom)."

Here I was inspired by Chiyo-Ni's haiku.

§

the wild flowers bloom

though autumn leaves are falling

tranquil is the bee

§§

sweet serenity

continuation of life

bees and wild flowers

 §§§

passing autumn morn

among the late flowers - look

bees calmly work 

  ©  G.s.k. '14

Writing with Chiyo-Ni (5) - "waterweed" - July 26, 2014

Today's is the last July post dedicated to the famous woman haiku poet Chiyo-Ni at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.  Let's have a look at hr poem:

waterweed
floating away, despite
the butterfly’s weight on it

© Chiyo-Ni

This haiku brought to my mind the image of the flow of life, which continues to flow despite the ups and downs of emotional "interference" ... whether they be joyous, sad, frightening or enraged ... emotions flair, but pass and like floating weeds life continues.

the river flows
under the bridge endlessly
though mosquitoes bite

the branch floats by
playing ducks squawk and dive
on river Sarca

(C) G.s.k. '14

Writing with Chiyo-Ni (4) - "That's all there is" - July 21, 2014

Today we visit with the world renowned poetess Chiyo-Ni.  Carpe Diem Haiku Kai dedicates this post to the people who died when their airplane of Malaysia Airlines was shot down recently over the Ukraine killing 298 people of which 192 were Dutch. The Netherlands and the world  mourns them.

Chèvrefeuille has chosen this haiku to express that mourning:

cool clear water
and fireflies that vanish
that is all there is...

© Chiyo-Ni

 
Credits: Dew Drops

This is Chèvrefeuilles haiku:

lost lives
leaving just tears -
morning dew

© Chèvrefeuille 

And now I will attempt this difficult task:

silver moon
high in the sky
then tears drops

© G.s.k. '14

Writing with Chiyo-Ni (3) - "Morning Glories" July 14, 2014

Into the third week of July we meet up again with Chiyo-Ni one of the 5 haiku master's we're visiting with Carpe Diem Haiku Kai!

One of Chiyo-Ni's favorite subjects was morning glories:

asano eikou yoku baketto entanguru watashiha mizuwo motomeru

morning glory!
the well bucket-entangled,
I ask for water

© Chiyo-Ni

morning glories --
awakened
in the middle of a dream

morning glory -
the truth is
the flower hates people

© Chiyo-Ni

When I was young, my mother planted morning glories near the front doo, and I was fascinated by the way they'd be closed until the first rays of the morning's sun ...

morning glories seek
their master's numinous rays
gently bowing

© G.s.k. '14

Chiyo-Ni - "In an unknown sky" - July 8, 2014

In Carpe Diem Haiku Kai we read:

Kaga no Chiyo, considered one of the foremost women haiku poets, began writing at the age of seven. She studied under two haiku masters who had themselves apprenticed with the great poet, Basho.... In 1755, Chiyo became a Buddhist nun -- not, she said, in order to renounce the world, but as a way 'to teach her heart to be like the clear water which flows night and day'. From that moment on she is known as Chiyo-Ni (Ni means nun).

Today's choice for the big 5 at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is Chiyo-Ni (1703-1775) and as we read above the Ni means nun ... from the Wikipedia we read that she was the daughter of a pcture framer and began writing haiku at the age of seven and by the age of 17 she was renowned throughout Japan.  The haiku chosen is a fairly tipical subject for a Buddhist haiku ...

Chiyo- Ni

meigetsu ya ittemo ittemo yoso no sora

autumn's bright moon,
however far I walked, still afar off
in an unknown sky

© Chiyo-Ni

I think of walking under the bright moon in an infinite sky, unknown and unknowable as I read this poem ... the wonder and awe before the majesty of life.

crytalline sky
walking awestruck, under the stars
infinite beauty

© G.s.k. '14