12/31/2007

First Snow Roses

  
  



初雪や



07 seconds of sunshine




first snow !
the silence of my roses
deepens




09 detail






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Roses and Clouds, December 26 !!!



Read my Haiku Archives 2007

rose snow
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First Snow

  
  




first snow !
the silence
deepens






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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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12/27/2007

roses and clouds

  
  




03 roses in foreground



sea of clouds -
my roses breathe
so carefully



CLICK for enlartement !





06 roses and clouds







frost melting
on my roses -
the beauty of NOW




07 frost melting






winter roses -
each petal has
its own spark



09 just one rose







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The Art of Meditation in Taoism

Contemplative Taoists will be happily to sit with yogis and Zennists for as long as is reasonable and comfortable, but when nature tells us that we are 'pushing the river' we will get up and do something else, or even go to sleep...

... or even write a haiku ...

Basically, Taoist meditation is more like a sort of wisdom achieved by close observation of the things and phenomena in the world surrounding us. Such wisdom should help us go alongside with things and not against them, and is surely related to the wu-wei (nondoing) concept.
 © www.taopage.org


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rose roses rose
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12/26/2007

Long Moment

  
  



winter morning -
the long moment
from dark to light




  
  



  
  




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Version TWO


  
  



winter morning -
this long moment




  
  

from dark


  
  

to light




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Version THREE


  
  



winter morning -
this long moment




  
  

from birth


  
  

to death




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woke up too early today, enjoying the warmth in bed while staring at the window ...



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12/25/2007

dishevelled

  
  




11 dry leaves




winter morning -
the dishevelled hair
of my neighbour







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She is about 65 and I meet her often on my morning walk up the hill to get the newspaper. Me in my checkered pajamas and her ... well, you see above a gentler version of it.




Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Tradition - Kumari

  
  








coping with tradition -
Kumari chews
a bubble gum





CLICK for original LINK




© PHOTO Kumari: Reuters Limited 2007

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Kumari, or Kumari Devi
is a living goddess in Nepal. Kumari literally means virgin in Nepali and was the name of the goddess Durga as a child. A Kumari is a prepubescent girl selected from the Shakya caste of the Nepalese Newari community. The Kumari is revered and worshipped by some of the country's Hindus as well as the Nepali Buddhists, though not the Tibetan Buddhists.

While there are several Kumaris throughout Nepal, with some cities having several, the best known is the Royal Kumari of Kathmandu, and she lives in the Kumari Ghar, a palace in the center of the city. The selection process for her is especially rigorous. The current Royal Kumari, Preeti Shakya, was installed on July 10, 2001 at the age of four.

A Kumari is believed to be the bodily incarnation of the goddess Taleju until she menstruates, after which it is believed that the goddess vacates her body. Serious illness or a major loss of blood from an injury are also causes for her to revert to common status.

© KUMARI / Wikipedia

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Today, December 24 in Japan, I read in the Japan Times about the child that likes bubble gum ...


KATMANDU, Nepal -
The living goddess likes bubble gum.


On a cold autumn evening, during a festival giving thanks for the monsoon rains, dozens of chanting worshippers pulled her enormous wooden chariot through the narrow streets of Katmandu’s old city. Thousands of cheering people pressed forward, hoping for a blessing. Drunken young men danced around her, pounding drums and shouting.

But the goddess — a child wrapped in red silk, a third eye painted on her forehead as a sign of enlightenment — took little notice of the joyous riot. Instead, she stared ahead intently, her jaw pumping furiously.
Then, finally, she blew a yellow bubble about the size of a plum.

Priti Shakya is 10 years old, the daughter of a family of poor goldsmiths. At the age of 4, a panel of judges examined her in a series of ancient ceremonies — checking her horoscope, searching for physical imperfections and, as a final test, seeing if she would be frightened after a night spent in a room filled with 108 freshly decapitated animal heads. She was not.

So Priti became a goddess, worshipped as the incarnation of the powerful Hindu deity Taleju, and going into near-complete isolation in an ancient Katmandu palace.

She will return home only at the onset of menstruation, when a new goddess will be named. Then Priti will be left to adjust to a life that — suddenly and absolutely — is supposed to be completely normal.

That is how it has been for nearly four centuries, in a tradition that held out against modernity even as Nepal, ever so slowly, began to change.

But modernity is coming, even to the goddess.

“We know there needs to be change,” said Manju Shree Ratna Bajracharya, the eighth generation of priest from his family to oversee the temple of the royal kumari — or virgin — as the goddess is commonly called.

“But this criticism of the tradition,
this is pure ignorance.”

Read the full article HERE
© mamimagazine.com


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If you choose to write Japanese haiku, it is your decision to do so.
If you choose to wear a Japanese kimono, it is your decision to do so.

But it is part of a tradition and culture which might not be your own and you may not know too much about the real background of this tradition and culture you are trying to copy and use. You might not even be able to read Japanese and have to rely on translations and secondhand information when trying to understand what JAPANESE HAIKU is.

While wearing this unfamiliar Japanese kimono in the subway of your own culture, you might feel it uncomfortabel and want to make it suit YOUR needs. So you cut off the long sleeves and then throw away the many belts, using just a leather bucklebelt maybe ... and the long skirts have to go, make this into a pair of short pants, after all, yours is a hot country ...

When you walk the streets like the emperor with "YOUR NEW KIMONO", well, it might be adjusted to the needs of your living sourroundings, but what is it now ...

well, maybe just another bubble of the worldwide Haiku Gum...

to be chewed with a grain of smiling salt !


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On second thought, you might try
a light cotton robe, yukata 浴衣 (ゆかた) !
The yukata is frequently worn after bathing at traditional Japanese inns. Though their use is not limited to after-bath wear, yukata literally means "bath clothes".



The Emperor's New Clothes


. Kanjak Ashtami Puja - India .


CHECK HERE
My Haiku Theory Archives


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12/24/2007

Die Blaue Blume

  
  


01 little enzian




this blue shine
by the roadside -
winter walk



03 detail








friendly smiles
for the weary traveler -
Shikoku road




05 violett face







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The Blue Flower (German: Blaue Blume) is a central symbol of Romanticism

 wikipedia has more



Shikoku Pilgrims Road




Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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12/21/2007

sunny morning

  
  



winter morning <>
I share a sunny moment
just with myself







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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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nashi

  
  




03 pear head




like the big head
of a small baby ...
what is this ? ??







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12/20/2007

cabbage smiling

  
  





02 smiling cabbage head




Mary Christmas ..
the cabbage smiles
at me





06 Christmas Krippe






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We got this charming little cabbage, a stand for toothpicks, from our local post office.





Read my Haiku Archives
DECEMBER 2007



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12/19/2007

red berries

  
  










red berries
to brighten my mind -
winter walk






16 red berries





and here the nandine











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***** Nandina Berries, Nandin Berries,
nanten no mi, mi nanten 
南天の実、実南天 
Nandina Berries: kigo for all winter


. . . . .


CLICK for more photos

***** aoki no mi 青木の実 (あおきのみ)
berries of the Aoki laurel

Aucuba japonica, kind of Japanese laurel
. . . CLICK here for Photos !
Aoki-Frucht

kigo for all winter

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aoki no hana 青木の花 (あおきのはな)
blossoms of the Aoki laurel


kigo for late spring

They are light brown and very small. The tree grows wild in many mountain regions of Japan and prefers a shadowy place.

. . . CLICK here for Photos !



. WKD : Oleander (Nerium oleander) . kyoochikutoo 夾竹桃 .
Laurel rosa


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Haiku from my friends:



a gift from Gabi
a haiku to brighten
my imagination



Bill Kenney


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clumsy grey jay--
in the alpine snow field
red berries


wade german (ookigoshi)

(the grey jay, a.k.a. the whiskey jack, or canada jay)


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December -
all colors faded but for
nandina's red berries.


Zhanna P. Rader


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p.s. do you know just how amazing your "red berries" poem truly is?! absolutely beautiful...


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. PLANTS in all seasons - SAIJIKI


Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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12/18/2007

words of wisdom

  
  








learn from the pine -

the twisted meaning

of words of wisdom









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my teaching is here
Learn from the Pine !


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12/17/2007

drying seaweed

  
  



ja30#002



drying seaweed -
these dancing shadows
on the sand






ja30#003





CLICK for enlargement








CLICK for Enlargement !



drying seaweed -
how many fingers
have been whacked off ?








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Kamakura Beach 1992



Seaweeds in various kigo



Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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12/16/2007

Haiku Seeds Haiku Flowers

  
  




haiku flowers -
Japanese seeds
for the whole world




For Taisen Deshimaru
who brought Zen seeds to France




CLICK for links to Deshimaru !







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Taisen Deshimaru (birth name: Yasuo Deshimaru) (1914-1982) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher. Born in the Saga Prefecture of Kyushu, Deshimaru was raised by his grandfather, a former Samurai before the Meiji Revolution, and by his mother, a devout follower of the Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism.

He received dharma transmission from Master Yamada Reirin.

In 1967, Deshimaru came to Europe and settled in Paris in order to fulfill his master's wish and spread the teachings of Zen. In the 1970's, his mission grew and he received dharma transmission from Master Yamada Reirin and became kaikyosokan (head of Japanese Soto Zen for a particular country or continent) in Europe.

He trained many disciples, and was the catalyst for the creation of a multitude of practice centers. His teachings and multitude of books helped spread the influence of Zen in Europe and America, particularly of the Soto sect. He founded the AZI in 1970 and La Gendronnière in 1979. He died in 1982, after having solidly established Zen practice in the West.

  © Wikipedia has more



I learned this again from Deshimaru Sensei


haiku seeds are from Japan
but haiku flowers blossom
in the whole wide world




  
  










the flowers of haiku
in the whole world
Japanese seeds









Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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daikon radish

  
  




06 drying radish



大根を干す古農家ここにあり
daikon o hosu furu nooka koko ni ari





07 radish END



drying radishes
at the old farmhouse -
thus is my valley




ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo



Our Valley in a sudden sunbeam


03 sunbeams






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Less and less folk bother to dry the radishes themselves, since it is so much easier to buy them at the local store ...



Look at my short windy walk ALBUM.




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12/15/2007

icecold morning

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icecold morning -
the wonderous warmth
of Mozart melodies



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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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12/14/2007

winter storm

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winter storm -
the shadow of my windwheel
turns faster




We are in the warm kitchen, with a spotlight outside to brighten our dinner table vista!
And tonight it was spectacular.
First the old badger waggled his way along his footpath on the hill.
Then gusts of wind worked their miracle on the shadows.



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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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12/13/2007

Numbers in Haiku

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.. ONE .. TWO .. THREE ..
a winter day spent
studying basics




Numbers used in Haiku



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12/11/2007

Treasures

  
  



落葉道 宝の宝庫 なりにけり



06 more leaves




fallen leaves

and among them

fallen treasures






11 empty







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Fallen leaves (ochiba) : KIGO




Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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12/09/2007

Winter Walk

  
  




Start from here : winter violett



winter walk -
I still see flowers
on my way






01  autumn fields walk





so bright and orange -
late persimmons
to share with the crows



15 autumn colors





09 branch mountains





one last second -
susuki grass and
my roof


CLICK to go to my album, last page




and then the clouds
cover it all -
winter shadows !






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 Take the SLIDE SHOW, 21 photos !



Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Fast Food

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I have this situation (seen on TV a few days ago about food wasted in fast food outlets of Japan ...)


cold winter eve -
a homeless heads
for KFC's backdoor




and just this morning we read in the Japan times about Mitsubishi taking over Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan:










Trading house Mitsubishi Corp. said Saturday that it successfully completed a friendly takeover of Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan Ltd., which owns more than 1,500 KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants around the country.

Mitsubishi said it plans to make the restaurant operator one of its subsidiaries.

Profit growth at KFC Japan has been sluggish because of intense competition in Japan's fast food market, rising material prices and hefty investments in systems operations.

© The Associated Press
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20071209a1.html



..... My inspirations is from HERE :
Haiku Information Board


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still air in winter--
Kentucky Fried Chicken smell
all the more pungent!


Larry Bole
Kigo Hotline, 2008


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colonel sanders -
haiku elvis
incognito


Susan Nelson Myers
source : my facebook friends


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O Kentucky cluck---
the bird with a snow white beard
makes dinner cozy


Patrick Duffey
source : my facebook friends


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. Homeless, fast food and Haiku  


. WASHOKU - Japanese Food Culture .


Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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12/07/2007

Refreshing rain

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refreshing rain -
I count my blessings
as it falls




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We have not had a decent drop of rain in quite a while!



Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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12/04/2007

sacred tree

  
  




30 famous gingko in full





sacred gingko tree -
a prayer falls
with every leaf





08 it rains gingko leaves






the huge trunk with the sacred rope


15 sacred tree




sacred gingko tree -
how many tears
have you witnessed ?








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As I was standing below this old, huge tree, camera poised upward, there was all of a sudden a strong sweep of wind and all these leaves kept dancing around me, rustling down with a thousand strange voices, each one saying its own prayer ...

a sacred moment and so unexpected



sacred gingko tree-
each leaf rustles a prayer
as it falls




this is maybe a bit too long ?

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Read about my visit to

Temple Tanjo-Ji, Okayama

The Sacred Gingko Tree of Saint Honin !
It is more than 800 years old.




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銀杏散る遠くに風の 音すれば
ichoo chiru tooku ni kaze no oto sureba

scattering gingko leaves
faint sound from the wind
far away


Tomiyasu Fusei (1885 - 1979)



Gingko biloba tree : KIGO Japan



TREES as topic for haiku !


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Aah, but a prayer always rises !
or
Leaves saying prayers?

Faith and prayer, expressed in haiku
.. Join the Discussion !




Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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12/01/2007

Temple Tanjo-Ji

  
  



photo number 52: graves and momiji. CLICK to go to the Album START !




autumn deepens -
the unfettered beauty
of this Amida temple





34 breathtaking RED






autumn deepens -
the beauty of prayer
in stone



CLICK for enlartement ! stone buddha only






DRAGON BRANCHES


25 more branches




Amida Buddha


58 Amida unclear








LOOK

Temple Tanjo-Ji, ALBUM November 2007

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Temple Tanjo-Ji in my neighbourhood
Temple Tanjo-Ji in Okayama
Saint Honen was born here !


Saint Honen, born at this temple ..
by Gabi Greve



Joodo Paradise where we meet again ..


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***** pickled radish, takuanzuke 沢庵漬
kigo for all winter

..... Takuan was a famous Zen Priest, who invented this dish. It is very popular. Zen monks are supposed to eat their slices of Takuan radish without making any noise. There are usually two slices on the plate, used to carefully clear out the bolws afer eating and then munching the Takuan in silence.
If you want to know the secret of eating Takuan in silence, contact me :o) !

The Unfettered Mind. by Takuan Soho



Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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