Thirsty Butterfly

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watering flowers -
a huge butterfly waits
for his turn



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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Wetterleuchten

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sheet lightning -
the frogs are quacking
louder tonight


sudden thunder -
the frogs suddenly stop
quacking right now



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Wetterleuchten -
die Froesche quaaaken lauter
heut nacht




Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Firefly

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稲妻は　遠くなるや　初蛍


lightning
still so far away -
first firefly



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The weather has been quite unstable, but here we are with our FIRST visitor!
Looking up and then down in the valley ... what a light show !




Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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ants

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dinnertime -
four tiny ants drag
a huge caterpillar



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mid-day heat -
four tiny ants drag
a huge caterpillar

Watching such scenes in Kenya, I am inclined to interpret the ants' unco-ordinated dragging as the will to co-operate, handicapped by lack of overview...!

Here is a recent scene from Japan :

shinkansen platform --
a woodlouse goes its way
undeterred

Right among the passengers' big feet...!

Isabelle.

... ... ...


Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Summer day

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summer morning -
another weed blossoming
by the roadside



summer lunch -
a beetle dives
into the curry pot



summer eve -
a badger nodds
its "good night"


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The badgers always trodd along when we have dinner outside. They stop, watch us for a while and then start nodding their heads before they move on ...


Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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AHA the moment

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO　　TOP . ]
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I guess many expect tooooo much of the

AHA moment.

For me, it is just the little things in daily life that catch my attention at any moment, on the daily walk to the letterbox all these flowers by the wayside, my cat sleeping happily in his box, a mosquito trying to pierce the window pane, the raindrops still rolling down of leaves after the rain has stopped ... the problem is to be attentive to these small things.

Once you are attentive in every moment, you see sooooo many things to add your AHA ! Sometimes I can,t stop to use the shutter of my mental camera to catch all these little bits and pieces ... just, they are not GRAND in any way, not spectacular, not sensational, but they ARE !

I have learned to be attentive during the practise of Kyudo, Japanese archery. It is the same awareness, now clad in words, not in arrows ... hahaha


a last drop
from the bent leaf ...
summer rain is over


GABI responding to some discussions about the moment.



New Year's morning -
I wipe some dirt
from my glasses

January 2011



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Tempted to go on by so many reactions ...

aaa, the "haiku no shunkan 俳句の瞬間、あああの瞬間" as it would be in Japanese, has never come　to my attention yet !

It seems the term was coined by the haiku translators, like Kenneth Yasuda and R.H. Blyth.
source : simplyhaiku.theartofhaiku.com


The other day a group of rakugo tellers would make senryu starting with

aa, arara

to express surprize at something


a-a arara
another forum
to spent my time

XYZ-Forum

No, I did not write WASTE ... hahaha

.....


My Japanese haiku sensei would say:

genba ni tatte ... write from the place where you are ...
from reality and experience, as opposed to composing solely from your desk.

That is maybe misinterpreded as
show, don't tell
in the ELH world.
I still have not found a Japanese equivalent for this kind of advise.


Childhood memory ...

I guess when something was so unforgettable that you still remember now, it must have been quite a strong impresison at its real time ... therefore, somehow, you are still back there in the moment ... sort of a time slip moment ... dont know how to put that into English.

I think there is a difference between something you really experienced (either now or in the past)
and something you just make up, as you would write a novel or fiction.

I love to read biographies of famous people, but novels about nonexistant personalities are usually kind of boring ...

For me, the real quality in haiku, maybe shasei is the better word for that, brings it to live and makes it so unique.


Should we use imagination when composing a haiku?

For me, Japanese haiku is a snapshot of a moment of real life, presented without judgement or imagined embellishing whatnots ... indeed, that is the most important part of haiku training for me. This is where I find haiku so much different from Western poetry. It teaches me to be attentive, without being judgemental, philosophical or hunting for special effects.
Maybe we should go back and examine the motives of WHY we write haiku
and not any other kind of short-form poetry.

More about this in my LINK about shasei, sketching from real life.

My Haiku Training, My Haiku Doo 　俳 句 道


There are of course other attempts when composing haiku,
shasei is not the only one.


Poetry is
the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings:
it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility."
William Wordsworth


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Matsuo Basho to his student Hattori Doho :

If you get a flash of insight into an object,
record it before it fades away in your mind.

- Reference - Blyth on Basho


. Hattori Dohoo 服部土芳 .



Matsuo Basho also has two haiku by himself, where he uses the expression
. - shibaraku wa しばらくは for a while - . 　　


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a moment of experience

In Japanese, we sometimes call it TAIKEN　体験, experience with your whole body ... children are great at this!

Of course I KNOW that the charcoals are hot, but only when I touch them ... hopefully by accident ... can I experience this physically.
and then write my haiku about it ...

lunchtime -
a hot potato
on my plate

My husband does the cooking and I burn my fingers on the hot potatoes ... grin grin ... got this hot one before putting it into my mouth.

a "moment of real experience" is wonderful and alive and right here and now.
But stretching this to a moment of "temporary enlightenment" and then "Zen enlightenment" ... is something quite different.




Take your time to check this discussion

Susumu Takiguchi : Aha, Just A Moment, Please　



Not 'Here and Now' but
'Everywhere and Everywhen'
Haiku Time versus Newtonian Time
WHR Susumu Takiguchi


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Beyond the Haiku Moment
Haruo Shirane

If Basho and Buson were to look at North American haiku today, they would see the
horizontal axis, the focus on the present, on the contemporary world, but they would probably feel that the
vertical axis, the movement across time, was largely missing.

There is no problem with the English language haiku handbooks that stress personal experience. They should. This is a good way to practice, and it is an effective and simple way of getting many people involved in haiku.

I believe, as Basho did, that direct experience and direct observation is absolutely critical; it is the base from which we must work and which allows us to mature into interesting poets. However, as the examples of Basho and Buson suggest, it should not dictate either the direction or value of haiku. It is the beginning, not the end. Those haiku that are fictional or imaginary are just as valid as those that are based on personal experience. I would in fact urge the composition of what might be called historical haiku or science fiction haiku.


As I have shown in my book Traces of Dreams: Landscape, Cultural Memory, and the Poetry of Basho, Basho believed that the poet had to work along both axes. To work only in the present would result in poetry that was fleeting. To work just in the past, on the other hand, would be to fall out of touch with the fundamental nature of haikai, which was rooted in the everyday world. Haikai was, by definition, anti- traditional, anti-classical, anti-establishment, but that did not mean that it rejected the past. Rather, it depended upon the past and on earlier texts and associations for its richness.


Read more HERE
Beyond the Haiku Moment:
Basho, Buson and Modern Haiku myths
Haruo Shirane



More Reference


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quote
A Moment in the Sun: When Is a Haiku?
The “now” of haiku isn’t quite as simple as many haiku poets think. Is it the original moment of experience? Is it the moment of inspiration when you are moved to write about an experience, regardless of when that experience happened? Is it the “moment” that is captured within the poem, that may or may not have actually happened, but that readers believe happened, or could have? Or is it the moment when the reader “gets” the same experience upon reading the poem, upon realizing that he or she has had the same experience? It’s easy to say “all of the above.”
And perhaps that’s the fullest answer, but not every haiku poet believes that each of these possible “moments” has equal value. Some believe that haiku must be about direct personal experience, and that you must not alter any of the facts.

Michael Dylan Welch
source : graceguts/essays


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inazuma ya kinoo wa higashi kyoo wa nishi

Enomoto Kikaku 　


flashes of lightning -
yesterday in the east
today in the west

Tr. Gabi Greve

We might wonder if this is one moment or longer ...
I remember a terrible summer in our valley, with one thunderstorm chasing the other for about two weeks. Sometimes three separate thundres would show up in one evening and keep us awake and shaking, since the thunder really reverberates in the valley, in the house and in your own body after a while ...

I would have written a haiku like this one too, after two weeks of constant fear and shaking, and still within the limits of this one moment when the thunder would come back again ... aaaa, here we go ...


flashes of lightning -
yesterday to the right
today to the left


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Quote from the SHIKI archives

What is for YOU the 'aha moment' ?

Perhaps it's the moment when one recognizes what meets the eye as being more than what meets the eye. For me that can happen in the immediate moment, but also after the fact, upon reflection. It's also the awareness of a single moment in which one or more elements are encompassed, and which may be in striking (and sometimes ironic) contrast with one another.
- - -


Is it for you an important, an indispensable part of the haiku ?

Yes; without the 'aha' moment, it is just an interesting three-line poem.
The degree of the 'aha'-ness (!) might vary, but there is always something that makes you aware of more than just the description of the moment at hand. Here are two examples by Issa translated by Robert Hass. The first is more descriptive and pastoral, to my mind, than the second. which is more immediately striking; yet it makes me think on it longer:

snip snip

Can haiku be a neutral description of the world ?

Yes, it can be, but it is usually much more, because although a haiku poem is often a description of something (for instance) in nature, or of a single event, we bring our mind and our ability to make connections and recognize allusions and parallels elsewhere in our experience to our reading of the poem. And so the depth of it's 'description' increases. But I think Marjorie Buettner has put it much better than I.... :-)

susan bond
©　Read more in the SHIKI archives




railroad crossing
their goodnight kiss
one hundred boxcars long

Edward

Free Format Theme: Time
Shiki Monthly Kukai April 2010



. . . . . More LINKS about this subject !


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The Haiku Spirit

another topic often quoted in English language haiku theory.

俳句スピリツ　？？？

I wonder what this would be in Japanese?

quote
俳句随想―海外の俳人と共に俳句を考える　
烏山九齊

「芭蕉の言葉」

一、俳諧の誠（俳諧という言葉は俳句と置き換えてお考え下さい）
見るにあり、聞くにあり、作者感ずるや句となる所は、即ち俳諧の誠なり。
解説」自分が見聞きして、感動したことがそのまま句となるのが、俳諧の誠なのである。
俳諧の誠とは、俳諧の精神 ・価値 というほどの意味で、今の言葉で言えば、詩性とでも言うのでしょう。対象に直面したときのその場の生きた感覚に重きを置き、それが作品となるところに俳句の価値があるというのです。

1. Haikai no makoto (sincerity of haiku)

A haiku poet needs to feel inspiration from the varied emotions and impressions inspired by nature via looking and listening. It is the haiku true mind. Without sincerity, there is no haiku spirit. And without the spirit, a haiku is not a haiku.

俳諧の精神 ・価値 haikai no seishin to kachi

bilingual source : 烏山九齊



The Fishing Cat Press
Thanks to webmaster Gilles Fabre, the "Haiku Spirit" begun by Jim Norton and Sean O'Connor lives in a new form.
Haiku Spirit
in English and French ... www.haikuspirit.org/


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MacDonalds
MacZen
MacHaiku

further thoughts

Imagine a Catholic mass celebrated with green tea and rice crackers.
Or
a Zendoo with chairs and everybody drinking coffee.

It is the essence, not the form, you might say.
But sometimes I wonder, if the simpler item, the form, does not even fit, how can the essence be the same?
If you do not make the effort and communicate in Japanese, live in Japan, how do you really expect to UNDERSTAND the essence of Japanese Zen or Japanese Haiku ?

. My Musings about cross-cultural understanding .


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ZEN and HAIKU ... and the moments inbetween


MORE
about writing haiku ...
in the moment

Sketching from Nature , SHASEI 写生



Rakugo ... comic storytelling performances 落語


. . . . . BACK TO
My Haiku Theory Archives

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some comments from friends

Some tend to say that the moment is less of an "aha" than "ah."
I also think there is some confusion as to whether the moment is in the haiku or prior to it. The former view leads, I think, to greater emphasis on rules, the latter to greater formal flexibility.

.....

"show don't tell" is what they tell me often when workshopping. "show the moment".

Dear friend
this is a piece of advise I have not yet heared from my Japanese sensei. I guess it is a misunderstanding of the shasei concept of sketching from nature.
But there are many ways to write haiku, shasei is just one tool to use.
Gabi


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haiku moments -
in the temple garden
stones asleep

Shikoku, Summer 2005



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[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]

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Beetles

blackberry flowers - the biggest beetle chases its rivals

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More bees and butterflies are here
My Summer Flowers

Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Picnic

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The days are getting warmer.
We have started cooking outside in the garden, enjoying the splendid view of the green mountains while food is simmering.
The big hawk and his wife are circling slowly over our valley.


summer picknick -
a bird dropping right into
the cooking pot


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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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WKD - Millipede Mukade

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
. mukade 蜈蚣 と伝説 Legends about the centipede .
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signs of summer -
a centipede
in my bathtub
2007
and 2020, May 02

.


a centipede
takes its morning walk -
aah, my kitchen table
2009



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The messenger (retainer) of the deity
Bishamonten was thought of as a centipede!
Bishamon and the Centipede
Daruma Museum


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millipede, centipede
kigo for all summer


mukade 蜈蚣 むかで
"one hundred legs" mukade, hyakusoku 百足虫（むかで）

red centipede, aka mukade 赤蜈蚣（あかむかで）
red-headed centipede, akazu mukade赤頭蜈蚣（あかずむかで）
blue-green headed centipede, aozu mukade 青頭蜈蚣（あおずむかで）
centipede with a bird-head, tobizu mukade 鳶頭蜈蚣（とびずむかで）
"one hundred legs" mukade 百足虫（むかで）




yasude 馬陸 (やすで) millipede
yasude 馬蚰（やすで）
. . . CLICK here for Photos !
aka yasude 赤馬陸（あかやすで）red millipede
shiro yasude 白馬陸（しろやすで）white millipede
tobi yasude 鳶馬陸（とびやすで）
tama yasude 球馬陸（たまやすで）round millipede
enzamushi 円座虫（えんざむし）
kusamushi 臭虫（くさむし）"stinking insect"
osamushi 筬虫（おさむし）
amabiko 雨彦（あまびこ）
zenimushi 銭虫（ぜにむし）

.................................................................................


.. .. ninehundred-nine times tock
.. .. one time tack -
.. .. centipede with a wooden leg

Gabi Greve, 2005


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Print by Tsukioka (Taiso) Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)

Fujiwara no Hidesato - Tawara Tota Emaki 俵藤太絵巻
is shooting the centipede at the Dragon King’s Palace
近江国三上山の百足退治 Omi, Mount Mikawa


- quote
Fujiwara no Hidesato (赤堀 藤原秀郷)
was a kuge (court bureaucrat) of tenth century Heian Japan. He is famous for his military exploits and courage, and is regarded as the common ancestor of the Ōshū branch of the Fujiwara clan, the Yūki, Oyama, and Shimokōbe families.

Hidesato served under Emperor Suzaku, and fought alongside Taira no Sadamori in 940 in suppressing the revolt of Taira no Masakado. His prayer for victory before this battle is commemorated in the Kachiya Festival. Hidesato was then appointed Chinjufu-shogun (Defender of the North) and Governor of Shimotsuke Province.

Hidesato, also called Tawara no Tota, is a popular figure in the Japanese legend, such as
"Tawara no Tota Conquering the Giant Centipede on Mount Mikami"
Mukadeyama むかで山 / 百足山 "Mount Centipede".
Since he drove away the mukade with his arrow, there are now no people in the village who can see clearly with both eyes.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


Mikami Jinja 御神神社 Mikami shrine at the foot of the mountain 三上山.



. Tawara Toota Hidesato 俵藤太秀郷 Tawara Tota .
Tawara Tōda, "Lord Bag of Rice"
Tawara Tota Emaki 俵藤太絵巻 scroll


. mukade 蜈蚣 と伝説 Legends about the centipede .


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Fukushima 福島県 Tabitomura 田人村

Once Sarumaru Daiyu was hunting a white deer and came down all the way to Nikko. The Huge Mukade 大ムカデ from Nikko eats the children of the white deer, this deer mother had called the famous arrow shooter Sarumaru to help.
He put some spittle on his arrow and shot the mukade dead.
Even now if people want to kill a mudake, they use spittle.


. Sarumaru Daiyu 猿丸大夫 waka poet .


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quoting from Zhunagzi - Chuang Tzu

quote
The unipede K'uei (Kui) envies the millipede, the millipede envies the snake, the snake envies the wind, the wind envies the eye, and the eye envies the mind.

The K'uei said to the millipede,
"I have this one leg that I hop along on, though I make little progress. Now how in the world do you manage to work all those ten thousand legs of yours?"

The millipede said,
"You don't understand. Haven't you ever watched a man spit? He just gives a hawk and out it comes, some drops as big as pearls, some as fine as mist, raining down in a jumble of countless particles. Now all I do is put in motion the heavenly mechanism in me - I'm not aware of how the thing works."

The millipede said to the snake,
"I have all these legs that I move along on, but I can't seem to keep up with you who have no legs. How is that?"

source : ramblingtaoist.blogspot.jp


. Chinese background of Japanese kigo .




KUI
Classic texts use this name for the legendary musician Kui who invented music and dancing; for the one-legged mountain demon or rain-god Kui variously said to resemble a Chinese dragon, a drum, or a monkey with a human face; and for the Kuiniu wild yak or buffalo.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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. ANIMALS in SUMMER - - - SAIJIKI


. Legends about animals 動物と伝説 - centipede .

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[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
- #mukade #centipede #millipede #gejigeji -
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End of May

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End of May -
too much rain here,
too little there


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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Rain and Thunder

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> dark ravine
> green water tumbles
> over stones
>
> bob
>
>


We have a thunderstorm with a lot of rain today, keeping me inside.

dark sky <>
tons of water tumble
on dry fields

The paddies in our neighbourhood can use the deluge ...
GABI


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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Paulownia KIRI

桐の花　雨上がりの　霧に消え mist merges with heavy rainclouds - paulownia flowers after the storm - paulownia blossoms in each puddle

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桐の花　見上げて空の笑顔かな

paulownia buds -
and then looking up
to the smiling sky




kigo for early summer
paulownia flowers, kiri no hana 桐の花
..... hanakiri 花桐（はなきり）

The trees grow stright to a great hight, and the flowers are right in the four directions high up there. They convey a sense of straightness. In haiku, looking up at the flowers is often a theme.




aburagiri no hana 油桐の花 (あぶらぎりのはな)
flowers of Japanese tungoil tree
yamagiri 山桐（やまぎり）"mountain paulownia"
dokue、どくえ、inugiri ぬぎり
Aleurites cordata, Vernicia cordata


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Paulownia is a genus of between 6–17 species (depending on taxonomic authority) of plants in the monogeneric family Paulowniaceae, related to and sometimes included in the Scrophulariaceae. They are native to much of China (its name in Chinese is 泡桐/pao1 tong2), south to northern Laos and Vietnam, and long cultivated elsewhere in eastern Asia, notably in Japan and Korea. They are deciduous trees 10–25 m tall, with large leaves 15–40 cm across, arranged in opposite pairs on the stem.
The flowers are produced in early spring on panicles 10–30 cm long, with a tubular purple corolla resembling a foxglove flower.
The fruit is a dry capsule, containing thousands of minute seeds.

Paulownia is known in Japanese as kiri (桐), specifically referring to P. tomentosa; it is also known as the "princess tree". It was once customary to plant a Paulownia tree when a baby girl was born, and then to make it into a dresser as a wedding present when she gets married. It is the badge of the government of Japan (vis-à-vis the chrysanthemum being the Imperial Seal of Japan). It is one of the suits in hanafuda, associated with the month of December. Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia states:

The genus was named in honour of Queen Anna Pavlovna of The Netherlands (1795–1865), daughter of Tsar Paul I of Russia.

Paulownia wood is very light, fine-grained, soft, and warp-resistant and is used for chests, boxes, and clogs (geta). The wood is burned to make charcoal for sketching and powder for fireworks, the bark is made into a dye, and the leaves are used in vermicide preparations.

　© Wikipedia


Some other types of paulownia in Japan

aogiri アオギリ【青桐、梧桐】
akigiri アキギリ【秋桐】
aburagiri アブラギリ【油桐】
iigiri イイギリ【飯桐、椅】
harigiri ハリギリ【針桐】
higiri ヒギリ【緋桐】

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"autumn of the paulownia, dooshuu 桐秋（とうしゅう）

kigo for early autumn

Category : Season




kiri hitoha 桐一葉 (きりひとは) one paulownia leaf
..... hitoha, hito ha 一葉（ひとは）one leaf
..... ichiyo
hitoha otsu 一葉落つ（ひとはおつ）one leaf falls
hitoha no aki 一葉の秋（ひとはのあき）autumn of one leaf
kiri no aki 桐の秋（きりのあき）paulownia in autumn

(Some saijiki place this kigo in early winter).





桐一葉落ちて天下の秋を知る
kiri hitoha ochite tenka no aki o shiru

one paulownia leaf
has fallen - now we know
the heavenly autumn is coming


Ichi yo ochite tenka-no aki-wo shiru
(With the fall of one we know that autumn as come to the country.
When one leaf has fallen, it is known that autumn is coming.
A single leaf flutters in the air and it's autumn.)

Katagiri Katsumoto 片桐且元 (1556 - 1615)
He was a retainer of Toyoyomi Hideyoshi.
He was driven in exile just before the Battle of Osaka, when he then wrote this haiku.

source : tenkomori.tv


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Basho writes to his friend Ransetsu:

さびしさを問てくれぬか桐一葉
sabishisa o toote kurenu ka kiri hitoha

A paulownia leaf has fallen :
Will you not come to me
In my loneliness?

Matsuo Basho
source : Emily Evans

Will you not call on me in my loneliness?
A paulownia leaf has fallen.

A paulownia leaf has fallen in my garden, and lonesomeness overwhelmes me.
Will you please come and see me, my dear friend?

Classic Haiku:
An Anthology of Poems by Basho and His Followers
source : books.google.co.jp


A　paulonia leaf has fallen;
Will　you not visit
My loneliness?
source : 王貞治さん


cette solitude
viendrais-tu la partager ?
feuille de paulownia
source : nekojita.free.fr




よるべをいつ一葉に虫の旅寝して
yorube o itsu hitoha ni mushi no tabine kana

. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


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きり一葉二は三は四はせはしなや
kiri hito ha futa ha mi ha yo ha sewashina ya

one paulownia leaf
and two, three, four -
how busily bustling

Kobayashi Issa


sewashinai 忙しない


. Numbers used in Kigo .


Tr. and comment by Chris Drake

kiri hito ha futa ha mi ha yo ha sewashina ya

a paulownia leaf falls,
a second, a third, a fourth --
what's the big hurry?

This hokku is from the beginning of the 7th month (August, early September), the first month of lunar autumn. In it Issa plays on an ancient Chinese saying which became a kigo season phrase in Japanese.
In the ancient Chinese anthology of philosophical writings known as Huainanzi (139 BCE, in Japanese Enanji), the phrase "knowing autumn has come by seeing a single Paulownia leaf fall" is a metaphorical expression meaning "recognizing a big change is coming before it comes by noticing a tiny change."

This Daoist approach took on a more Buddhist tone when the phrase was read in translation in Japan, where it was mostly used to mean "seeing a paulownia leaf fall and recognizing that all flourishing things soon decay and die." As a kigo in haikai, the literal meaning of seeing a paulownia leaf flutter down is stressed, and the phrase indicates that lunar autumn has almost imperceptibly just begun.

Paulownia leaves are heavy and very large (often the size of a hand-held fan or larger), and they fall earlier than most leaves, so the phrase is literally an image of autumn just beginning. Thus Issa's diary for the 7th month of 1812 has several hokku about paulownia leaves falling at the very beginning of the month, when there are few other signs that autumn has already begun. However, Issa goes beyond the standard image and evokes a second large leaf falling, followed by a third, and then a fourth. The second line sounds like someone welcoming the leaves to the ground by singing a song out loud, and Issa's reaction to the small profusion of leaves is humorous, but at the same time there is a suggestion of the deeper meaning of the original saying: if a single paulownia leaf foretells big changes in the near future, then four leaves must mean that the changes will be really big -- and they may be coming very soon.


Issa may well be thinking of Buddhism and the Pure land here as well. Four leaves falling instead of one is a very clear reminder that all things constantly and often unexpectedly change and that death and life are inseparable. Four falling leaves, then, might give Issa a sudden gut feeling of how near the Pure Land is. In fact, placed a few hokku earlier in Issa's diary are these two hokku:

nembutsu ni byoo no tsukishi hitoha kana

a single leaf
falls to the rhythm
of Buddha-name chanting


kiri hitoha totemo no koto ni saihoo e

a paulownia leaf
gives itself utterly
toward the west

In the first hokku, a leaf uncannily leaves life and falls as if in harmony with someone chanting Amida's name, and in the second hokku, Issa seems certain that leaves can go to the Pure Land in the west just as fully as humans can. In this second hokku Issa seems to regard the leaf as a teacher and comrade who is demonstrating to him how to be brave and resolute and all-trusting in Amida as it leaves its limb.

With these last two hokku in mind, its seems possible that in the very first hokku above about the four leaves falling Issa may also be referring to the sound of "four" (shi), which is the same as the sound of the word for "death" (shi).
The fact that the two words are homonyms has made the number four a taboo word in certain ritual contexts in Japanese, although Issa joyously uses it, perhaps because it reminds him of the Pure Land. Issa's advice in the last line to the leaves to slow down seems to be both a humorous expression of friendship and sympathy with the leaves and a realistic recognition that time never stops. Issa is probably addressing himself as well and telling himself to relax and follow the rhythm of time created by his own relationship with Amida.



The discussion continues here:

見一葉落，而知歲之將暮
knowing the end of the year approaches its very end by seeing a leaf fall

. Translating Issa .

- - - - -

涼しさのたらぬ所へ一葉哉
suzushisa no taranu tokoro e hito ha kana

into a place
lacking coolness
a paulownia leaf
Tr. Chris Drake

The date of this early autumn hokku is unknown, though the time of the hokku is probably late August or early September. It's in a collection of hokku Issa sent to the Edo poet Seibi, who returned them with his evaluations, so it was probably written between 1812 and 1816.
The first fallen paulownia leaf of the season was regarded as very significant, since traditionally it was believed to mark the clear, undeniable beginning of autumn and the end of summer-like early autumn days. The hokku seems to be about a village or town or a part of one which still seems to be in late summer. It's warm there, and it "lacks" the coolness of true autumn. As if to remind the people here that time is actually passing, a single large, roughly heart-shaped paulownia leaf now lies on the ground.
The phrase "knowing autumn has come from a single fallen leaf" goes back to ancient China (see the 11/7/2012 post), and the first fallen paulownia leaf often has somber or even ominous overtones in Japanese literature. In this hokku the paulownia leaf seems to be an image suggesting time itself and inevitable change and decline, abstractions which have suddenly become all too visible and poignant through the appearance of the leaf. Perhaps Issa is also suggesting that no matter where paulownia leaves fall the weather always feels unrealistically warm and the people there are always trying to live in an illusory timeless bubble, since that is the human condition. Amida Buddha may well be in the background of this hokku.

Chris Drake

. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .

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kigo for early autumn

kiri no mi 桐の実 (きりのみ) paulownia nut
. . . CLICK here for Photos !


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kigo for late autumn


aburagiri no mi 油桐の実 (あぶらぎりのみ)nut of the Aleurites cordata
..... toyu no mi 桐油の実（とゆのみ）
Aleurites cordata. Tungbaum
It is used to make oil.


iigiri no mi 飯桐の実 (いいぎりのみ ) nut of the Iigiri
Idesia polycarpa
..... nantengiri 南天桐（なんてんぎり）


tobera no mi 海桐の実 (とべらのみ) nut of the
Pittosporum tobira



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powlonia buds -
a promise of kindness
and sweetness



paulownia blossoms
Gabi Greve, Spring 2009



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paulownia patterns
Gabi Greve, August 2010


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[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]

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May Rain again

may rain - ever more shades of sparkling green

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. . . . . samidare ya
may rain yesterday !




Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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May Rain

五月雨や　... samidare ya May Rain - the old farmer plants cherry trees

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Our neighbour is feeling much better these days and back to

. . . Hanasaku Jiisan, the Blossom Grandfather !

五月雨や
老夫植えてる
桜の木

Nakamura Sakuo provided the Japanese !
Thank you, Sakuo san!



Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Beetle buzzes

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early summer -
a beetle buzzes
around my head


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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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