Carpe Diem #1792 New Beginnings ... New Year's Day

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First ... HAPPY NEW YEAR ... to you all. Let us make this a wonderful year full of love, beauty and inspiration. This month is themed "New Beginnings" and that's what this year will bring us all I hope.

As I told you several days ago my mother has been institutionalized in a nursing home for the elderly people. She has peace with it, but ofcourse it's not easy to cope with this new beginning for her and for me. Time will bring us healing for this ...

The theme for this month is New Beginnings and today we start with ... New Year's Day ... Our classical haiku masters wrote a lot of haiku about New Year's Day ... here are a few examples:

New Year’s Day
dawns clear, and sparrows
tell their tales

© Ransetsu

Japanese Crane

it’s play for the cranes
flying up to the clouds
the year’s first sunrise …

© Chiyo-ni

the first dream of the year —
I keep it a secret
and smile to myself

© Sho-u

New Year’s Day–
everything is in blossom!
I feel about average.

© Issa

Year after year
on the monkey’s face
a monkey’s face

© Basho

Japanese Calendar (Wikipedia)

The old calendar
fills me with gratitude
like a song

© Buson

New Year comes,
and I become poorer
than before

© Shiki (never published and recovered in August 2018)

All wonderful haiku on New Year's Day. In Haiku philosophy we count five seasons and the first season is New Year, it's roughly the period of December 15th and January 15th. So I challenge you to create a classical haiku themed New Year, to celebrate the new year.

Here is mine:

New Year's eve --
through the bare branches
the wind as always

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 12th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #603, Mount Fuji

!! I publish this episode earlier than I normally do, but I am in the nightshift !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all did like the GW-post about Richard Wright (1908-1960) and that it inspired you to write all new haiku. Today our prompt will be Mount Fuji the Holy Mountain of Japan. There are a lot of haiku written about Mt. Fuji, so I have made a nice overview of these haiku. I hope you all will like the read.

katatsuburi soro-soro nobore fuji no yama

little snail

inch by inch, climb
Mount Fuji!

© Issa

mugi kari fuji mi-dokoro no enoki kana

a Mt. Fuji viewing spot
for barley harvesters -
nettle tree

© Issa

Credits: Mount Fuji

hatsu-gatsuo tsuide nagara mo fuji (no) yama

right after
summer's first bonito -
Mount Fuji

© Issa

mannaka ni fuji sobietari kuni no haru

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

© Sho-u

fuji hitotsu uzumi nokoshite wakaba kana

only Mount Fuji
is not covered with them -
fresh new leaves

© Buson 

Credits: Mount Fuji (2)

fujiomite tooru hikari toshino ichi

gazing at Mount Fuji
a person passes through -
a year-end fair

© Buson

haari tobu ya fuji no susono no koie yori

winged ants fly into the air
out of a small house
at the foot of Mount Fuji

© Buson

blest be your journey!
men will even go on purpose
to see the snow of Fuji

© Chigetsu-Ni

fuji no kaze ya ogi ni nosete edo miyage

wind from Mount Fuji -
carrying it in my fan,
a souvenir for those in Edo

© Basho

Credits: Mount Fuji Woodblock print by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)

kirishigure fuji o minu hi zo omoshiroki

misty rain
a day with Mount Fuji unseen:
so enchanting

© Basho

hito one wa shigururu kumo ka fuji no yuki

is one ridge
clouded with winter showers?
Fuji in snow

© Basho

me ni kakaru toki ya kotosara satsuki fuji

especially when
it comes into view -
Fuji in Fifth Month

© Basho

Credits: Through Cherry Blossoms

And to close this classical series of haiku on Mt. Fuji I have found a nice haiku written by Yozakura, the unknown haiku-poet:

fujisan no yuki no hi no owari ni ha sakura

through cherry blossoms
at the end of the day -
snow on Mount Fuji

© Yozakura

Aren't it all wonderful tributes to Mount Fuji, the sacred Japanese mountain? Must be a joy to live in the neighborhood of such a well known mountain ...
I have tried to write a haiku about Mount Fuji myself, but ... I had not enough inspiration I think and as I re-read all those wonderful haiku in this post ... I wouldn't dare to write a haiku about Mount Fuji myself ...

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until November 15th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, Juggler, later on. For now ... just have fun!