5/03/2008
my life
- 身に上 - mi no ue -
... my life ...
a sparrow balances
on a thin branch
わが命 小枝にとまる雀かな
waga inochi kozue ni tomaru suzume kana
Tr. by. Esho Shimazu, facebook friend
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My Life, my fate (mi no ue) and haiku
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[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
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4/03/2008
my eyes
sudden pain - the chirping of birds behind closed eyes sudden pain - the fragrance of daphne behind closed eyes |
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I have been doing a lot of computer-related work lately ...
and still another week or more to go
until the deadline is met !
I sit on the porch and hope for a speedy recovery.
. . . Chirping of birds, saezuri ... KIGO
. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008
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4/02/2008
houses getting old
getting older - the sad reality of rural Japan spring sunshine - remembering a friend by the roadside |
His funeral was in January.
The family graves are right there in the background
of the second photo, behind the breakdown house.
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My colorful friends by the roadside today
ALBUM
take a walk ... from here to Nr. 34 !
. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008
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3/25/2008
getting older
getting old -
another broken dish
in the sink
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Senior Citizen's Day.
Respect for the Aged Day (keiroo no hi)
Including: Old people, elders, elderly and so on as haiku topics
. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008
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3/21/2008
Graduation Day
Today was Graduation Day of our local grammar school, where we teach the kids about International affairs.
30 students were lined up ... and their parents in rows just beside us.
graduation day -
his hankerchief moves
up and down
The few fathers (it was a normal working day) seemed even more moved than the mothers, especially when the final "Good Bye" song was performed.
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2/26/2008
graves in silence
morning prayers - the graves of the ancestors in deep silence |
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My Haiku Friend Allison wrote
The only thing that caught my eye and took it away from the graves is the slightly yellow 'thing' to the left of the main tree, by the driveway. I don't know what it is, but if you cloned it out, it wouldn't be there to distract me. I know it's a 'little thing', but I really want to focus on the headstones . . . and the rest of your photo (with the gorgeous lighting) pulls my focus right where it belongs.
So she made this lovely haiga for me !
|
Dear Allison,
thanks for your great effort.
It looks terrific and it made me think ...
I try to write haiku about WHAT IS without judgement and my photos show WHAT IS without interference and retouching (is that the right word?)
Japanese landscape is full of wires and electricity poles and all that, just this morning (speak of coincidence) was an article in the Japan times about
UGLY JAPAN (see below)
When I take our landscape photos, I try to avoid these wires and poles, but sometimes it just can not be done ... so I guess it my modern haiku reality to live with them.
If I write normal poetry and paint a landscape, I am free to transform it as I please, but with my haiku, there is a difference.
I hang on to external and internal shasei, sketching from nature and the inspiration of moment.
Thanks for bringing this home once again.
And thanks for showing the "joys and dangers" of interferring with a photo.
What is reality? quite a question now for me !
morning prayers ..
the fence poles and the graves
in deep silence
GABI
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© Japan Times, KEVIN RAFFERTY, Feb.28, 2008
Why's Japan grown so ugly?
By KEVIN RAFFERTY
YUNOMINE, Wakayama Pref. —
My brother wanted to create a new room in the loft of his house in an English provincial city, actually Kingston upon Hull (population 250,000), a place of passing interest to Japanese because two centuries ago it was one of the world's biggest whaling ports. Today, the whales are still present, singing their haunting songs in a museum to the city's maritime history.
The local council refused him permission because the room would have required the insertion of a new window, and that would have ruined the uniform roofline of the avenue where he lives.
I was thinking of this when traveling recently from Osaka to the onsen town of Yunomine, an exhilarating journey along through the mountains of the Kii Peninsula. This is Japan's historic heartland, where the gods had their origins, and these routes have been a place of pilgrimage for a thousand years, through which people have sought self-discovery, purification and healing.
Winter had laid its icy fingers across the land, and the green hillsides were liberally dusted with snow. From time to time we diced with the ice on the narrow old Kumano road and we made several detours on foot along the ancient Kumano way, which meanders up and down the uneven contours of the hills.
But the journey was spoiled by the dreadful depredations that human beings have visited on a beautiful land. Even on the ancient footpath, it is hard to get away from the despoliation of modern life, with the natural shades of green sliced up by silver wires held together by the ugly modern gods of electricity pylons.
On the old road, carefully engineered to follow the twists and turns of the contours of the natural environment, the encroachment of what is termed civilization comes threateningly closer. In places it is hard to hear the birds and insects, let alone the gurgling of mountain streams or the sounds of the wind talking to the grass and trees, above the roar of traffic on the modern road.
That road — and more so the toll roads that go directly through from Osaka to Kumano — shows the contempt that modern Japanese bureaucrats, and their political and corporate construction allies, have for the natural environment. They have bulldozed remorselessly across the countryside and gouged deep wounds through the hills. Where nature has hit back with the threat of landslides, the construction companies have tried to suffocate it by plastering hillsides with concrete.
Alex Kerr in "Dogs and Demons" (2001) documented the grip of the deadly concrete disease on Japan, with 97 percent of rivers dammed and 60 percent of the coastline covered in concrete, not to speak of 43 percent of native forests replanted with allergy-bearing and wildlife-free cedar plantations.
Where is the traditional Japanese love of nature, beauty, gentleness, nuance? All damned and dammed with concrete.
But it gets worse as you venture into remote rural areas, which in other countries offer a refuge from the pressures of hectic modern life. Kerr complained of Japan's "Hello-Kitty-fied" culture. Hello Kitty has a cuteness, but Japan's rural life is plain plug ugly. In every small town, ugliness is rampant: bright signs with mindless slogans; garish advertisements for pachinko parlors; giant banners for used cars; loud screaming posters for every tin-pot business; and of course wires everywhere, as if the spiders are taking over.
Try to take a photograph of what should be a picturesque place. You find wires everywhere, of course: at high and low level, from afar or close to, every view is spoiled. Tasteful traditional wooden houses sit next to tasteless modern monstrosities; exposed metal and plastic pipes scar the scene, some of them leaking; everyone and anyone can put up a banner; concrete is ubiquitous, some of it masquerading as wood; and ugly robotic machines parade the main street dispensing cigarettes or soft drinks. Shops sell over-wrapped over-priced tacky souvenirs (but no bath salts that I could see).
Anyone who has been to Kyoto or Nara or on the road between them is assaulted by the horrors of Japanese town planning.
What is worse is how ugliness has penetrated Japan's historic heartland, and no one seems to care.
Mikako Hayashi, associate professor of restorative dentistry and endodontology at Osaka University, remembers her return to Japan after 16 months doing research at England's Manchester University and exploring the historic spots there. She says: "As the aircraft banked on its final approach, I looked out of the window to see the countryside of my homeland — and it looked as if some demon giant had tipped a huge garbage can over the landscape."
This is surely an appalling thing to say about a country whose people have traditionally taken great pride in being in harmony with nature. But Hayashi believes that there is no point merely in lamenting modern ugliness; she suggests that it is time to do something about it.
In England there is a keenly fought annual competition for the Best Kept Village. It is time for Japan to do something similar, Hayashi suggests: "Japan should be more ambitious: choose the prettiest or most picturesque village and town. Give points for a pleasant skyline, for special features, for good taste or neatness according to a scale: deduct points, say five points off for offensive advertising, 20 points off for a pachinko parlor on main street, 30 or more for ugly buildings that do not blend."
She is being too ambitious. If such a competition were held today on such a basis, the winner would probably be a place with a score of minus several hundred.
You do not have to go all the way of Britain, where one department of a London council insisted that a diseased cherry tree must be chopped down, but another said if it were cut the owner would be fined for altering the skyline.
Hayashi's idea would help develop tourism, both domestic and foreign, and — in a small but important way — teach Japanese to value their precious land and environment. Newly attractive towns and villages may be able to attract back people and jobs. Smothering the land in concrete wastes money and kills ideas, ideals and beauty. Eventually, maybe, the vital message can filter through from the ordinary people of Japan back to the ishiatama bureaucrats and politicians.
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More of my SNOW HAIKU
SNOW in Paradise
Internal shasei ...
Environment and emotion: keijo (keijoo 景情 けいじょう)
. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008
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2/14/2008
long winter
冬長く夏の厚さをなつかしく
this long winter -
fond memories of the heat
of summer
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. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008
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2/11/2008
Goa Beach
heavy snowfall - the Beach of Goa in my dream |
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Join the FUN !
. . . Countdown WHF India 2008
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2/08/2008
risk management
At the moment I am working at a rather difficult scientific translation from Japanese to German, about Bioethics, Science Communication and Risk Management in Medicine and Environment.
This morning I had to smile ...
risk management -
shall I shovel snow
or wait for the sunshine ?
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For those who doubt this is a haiku, check the kigo
shoveling snow
.................................................. But here is a senryu
risk management -
shall I call this HAIKU
or SENRYU ? ??
My take on the discussion :
Haiku, Senryu, Zappai (俳句, 川柳, 雑俳)
. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008
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2/05/2008
wild boar hunter
heavy snowfall -
his funeral
in black and white
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He lived in the valley next to ours, tending to a whole valley of terraced rice fields. And in winter, he was out there with his dogs and hunter friends, to get some of the wild boars that destroy so much of the local crops here ...
I have written about him here
. . . Wild Boars
Wild Boars right next to my home, 2005
. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008
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12/09/2007
Fast Food
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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11/26/2007
in the distance
early winter morning
somewhere in the distance
my husband still snores ...
Translation from Sakuo Nakamura
初冬朝
どこか遠くで
背のいびき
shotoo asa
dokoka tooku de
se no ibiki
Explanation of SE as Husband
Japanese
Thank you, Sakuo san!
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Read my Haiku Archives 2007
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11/03/2007
deck chair
Sunshine the whole day, but the days are getting shorter. In the early evening a cold wind takes over. We have to be early for our daily valley watch. And sometimes we have this pleasant surprise at the bottom ... autumn evening - the lingering warmth of this old deck chair |
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CLICK for Sanyo Shinbun Newspaper Article.
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A friend has commented:
Nice one, Gabi.
Do you need the dash?
Good question, indeed I do.
Coming from a traditional Japanese haiku background, I am used to a kireji, a cut marker, which is visible in Japanese and a cherished ingredient in traditional haiku.
Right now, NHK is featuring a session of 24 lessons within two years about the CUT and the CUT MARKERS!
You might read more about it here
http://haikutopics.blogspot.com/2006/06/kireji.html
I try to keep the three requirements for a traditional Japanese haiku
5-7-5 (make this short long short in English)
one season word (kigo) and
one cut marker.
kire 切 means CUT
kireji 切字 means CUT MARKER
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Read my Haiku Archives 2007
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10/30/2007
Chianti GREVE
cheers ...
to the best name
I could wish for
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A spiritual journey through the Greve in Chianti community is aimed at gaining greater knowledge of the development of religious art in a land strongly marked with a human presence and attention to the different forms of devotion that intimately penetrate all the social strata; not only priceless works of architecture, sculpture and art that are found in the most important worship buildings, but also numerous evidences of a relatively minor art that is traceable everwhere, from the isolated chapel in the forest, to the remote crosses on the top of the knolls and hills, to the votive tabernacles scattered along the road network.
Following a route on a quest to discover these works is of extreme interest and the variety of settlements would entail a longer account; we confine ourselves to suggesting two main routes, one across the valley of Greve, and the other along the ridge that separate it from the Valdarno (on the east) and from the valley of Pesa (val di Pesa) (on the west).
VAL DI GREVE / Greve Valley in Italy Toscana, Tuscany
Read my Haiku Archives 2007
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10/27/2007
small life
in the jungle down at the bottom - small life ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo sheltering so much small life - graves of the ancestors |
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Here the photo of the spider lilies provides the KIGO for the composition.
Higanbana, the spider lilies for the ancestors
visiting graves, hakamairi, is another kigo for autumn, related to the O-Bon ceremonies.
Read my Haiku Archives 2007
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10/20/2007
My Road to India
road to India - hoping for sunshine at the other side |
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WORLD HAIKU FESTIVAL in INDIA 2008
. . . . INDIA SAIJIKI . . . .
Read my Haiku Archives 2007
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10/06/2007
sun rays
sunrays cutting through the morning mist - spiders over graves sunrays cutting through the morning mist - no place for JUX |
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JUX, or JUXT, an abbreviation often used for juxtaposition, an ingredient for haiku, especially loved by my American friends ...
For my German ear, JUX is something else .. or maybe not ? ??
Read my Haiku Archives 2007
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10/05/2007
Daishizen
Nature is great 大自然 daishizen
namu amida
sunshine is my friend
drought is my friend
nature is great
rain is my friend
typhoon is my friend
namu amida
life is my friend
death is my friend
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Read my Haiku Archives 2007
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9/27/2007
Early Morning
autumn morning -
a whiff of perfume from
last night's dream
morning fog -
a heron fades in
.... fades out
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On my way uphill to the mailbox, in splendid white invisibility ...
This heron, first his voice in the void, then the sound of wings, then a swish of body, sound of wings, voice in the void ..
How many haiku have been written about this cliché ? I wonder ..
And yet, when it happens, it is breathtaking !
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. Heron (aosagi) Egret (shirasagi) .
Read my Haiku Archives
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9/26/2007
Sea of Clouds
my sea of clouds -
so many friends left
in memories
for the friends of the Haiku Hut !
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another fine autumn morning at GokuRakuaAn.
Sea of Clouds 秋の雲海、2005 Autumn
Read my Haiku Archives 2007
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