Carpe Diem Special #199 Hamish's 5th a teaser

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First this: Yesterday I got an email by Georgia (a.k.a. Bastet). She told me that Jen (a.k.a. Paloma) is in the hospital. She couldn't tell me why, but Jen had said not to worry. So I wish to ask you all to pray for Jen's recovery. From my side "Get well soon Jen, I will send you my love and prayers".

Today we have the last CD-Special by Hamish Managua Gunn (a.k.a. Pirate) and for this CD-Special I have chosen a kikobun from his new CDHK e-book "Shinrin-Yoku (the Art of Forest Bathing)" which I hope to make available this weekend here at our Haiku Kai. You can see this kikobun from "Shinrin-Yoku" as a teaser.

Here is what Professor Peipei Qiu, The Author of Bashô and the Dao says about kikôbun:

[...] ‛The Japanese literary travel journal (kikôbun) has been closely related to poetry. It characteristically weaves poems and the introductory narratives in a sequential order. The travel journals that existed before Bashô were often written in a first-person voice, with the traveler's itinerary revolving around the classical poetic toponym (utamakura or meisho) and the narrative centering on poems composed about them. This fusion with poetry simultaneously enriched and limited the literary representation of the landscape of the kikôbun; when centering on classical poetic diction, the geographical imagination of the travel journal was often defined by conceptions and conventions that had been molded by classical poetry rather than by the physical qualities of landscape.’ [...]

Pine Tree

The aroma of pine, a kikobun

It is true that my own log cabin in the wilderness has no lock. No lock means a certain feeling of freedom. But freedom must be fed to flourish. It is not something you can give up, when your health suffers, or finances run low. You must build up your beliefs and values and experience them, and learn to learn them from others. That is the real reason get in touch with nature, for walking in a forest also means stepping away from civilization and its many pitfalls.

With my bag over my shoulder, I pause at my front door and carefully put a haiku in three lines on the wood for the departure, with small paintbrush and dark paint.

the aroma of pine
and the young morning’s fresh rain
reach my words

© Hamish Managua Gunn

A wonderful kikobun. Hamish is really a master in this Japanese genre of poetry. In his forest he finds his inspiration and that's why he has chosen "Shinrin-Yoku" as the title of his CDHK e-book.

I hope you will enjoy the read and of course ... Shinrin-Yoku can also be performed in your own neighborhood or a forest close by.

Shinrin-Yoku cover designed by Ese of Ese's Voice 

The goal of the CD-Specials is to write / compose a haiku, or maybe in this case, a kikobun in the same spirit as the featured poet.

This kikobun inspired me to write a "double tanka" (as Georgia calls it):

in touch with the gods
pine trees reaching for heaven -
skylarks sing their song
high against the bright blue sky
in honor of the gods

in honor of the gods
pine trees and skylarks together
reaching for heaven
sending up my prayers and become
in touch with the gods

© Chèvrefeuille

This CD-Special is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 29th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, Synesthesia, later on. For now, have fun!

Carpe Diem #744 a river breeze

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

After his "Narrow Road" Basho stayed on traveling through his world, ancient Japan. In the summer of 1690 he visited Kyoto (nowadays Tokyo) and he wrote our haiku for today, a river breeze" on the river bank at Shijo at Kyoto. It's assumed that there is a picture of Basho wearing a light persimmon robe. That persimmon robe is the theme of this haiku.

In some of Basho's haiku he refers to himself as part of the scene or looks to the scene from a distance. Not very common for haiku poets. It isn't done to be part of your own haiku as haiku poet, but rules are there to be once read and than to forget them immediately.
In the following haiku he does both. He is part of the scene, but is also watching it from a distance. I think it's a great way to write haiku (unless it wasn't common).
This "not being part of your own haiku" is still in our times one of the rules. Rules? Basho once said: "Know the rules of writing haiku and forget them immediately". Well ... that's my way to write haiku. So I 'forgot' the rules of the classical haiku and embraced the rules of the Kanshicho style in which Basho wrote his haiku between 1683 and 1685. In that style the syllable count is different and less important. But as Basho said: "Forget the rules immediately". Well I can say "forgetting the rules feels good and makes my mind free". With that thought I have written and write all my haiku.

kawa kaze ya   usu gaki ki taru   yu suzumi

a river breeze
the one wearing a light persimmon robe
enjoying the coolness

© Basho (Tr. jane Reichhold)

With this haiku came, as was common use in Basho's time, a preface to introduce the haiku moment. Such a preface however can pollute the scene for the reader, who has maybe another scene in his/her mind while reading the haiku. As I look at myself than I am not a proponent of such introductory prefaces because I love to "make my own visual" of the haiku. Both, the poet and the reader of the poem are the heart and soul of the poem, together they make the haiku, but that's just my opinion.

Credits: Formal long coat (modern times)

"From the beginning to the middle of June, a special platform is set up right on the river bank at Shijo at Kyoto, and people enjoy drinking and eating all night. Women tie their sashes properly, and men wear their formal long coats. I see even the apprentices of a cooper and the blacksmith. They seem to have too much leisure time, singing and making noise. This is probably a scene that can only be seen in the capital".

It's a wonderful haiku and there is enough inspiration hidden in it to write an all new haiku as is our goal ...

This is my attempt:

hot summer day
lying naked in the sun
no need for coolness

© Chèvrefeuille

hot summer day
forest bathing in the nude
enjoying the coolness

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until May 31st at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, moonrise, later on.