old farmer

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battling weeds -
the old farmer sprays poison
on his fields


At age 82, he is too weak now to plant anything on the large fields and can not even keep up with cutting the weeds regularly, so today he and his old wife took the great poison spray buckets and sprayed his former fields.

This will be his final battle, since with that kind of poison, nothing worthwhile will grow there for quite some time! And his children are not inclined to come back to this closeknit rural community.


This is the reality of much of rural Japan !



we met him before:

his last apple tree


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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Praying Mantiss

a visitor's card left at my doorstep ... praying mantiss

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This is her husk on the red cap of my husband.

She left it to start her new life a size bigger than before !
Like a cicada or snakes, they change size and leave us their treasures behind ...

Some even grind these hulls to powder and make Chinese medicine for long life out of it!
To find one is an auspicious omen !



. Comments from HH friends

I saw the photo of the Praying Mantis. Very sad . . .
But a thought provoking haiku.

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Hi Gabi,
This is amazing..gives me the shivers, but I love the sabi element. Our life is so short and so fragile, isn't it.

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it's beautiful GABI and your haiku resontes well!

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Oh, this is wonderful, Gabi san!
I didn't realize they did that...
I've never seen one around here, although I think they do live in our area.

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Praying Mantiss, a KIGO



Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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WKD - New Roof - Carpenter

autumn rain - a new roof grows under blue shadows September first - a new roof on the old house

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NEW ROOF !
PHOTOS start from HERE !


Our roof is originally a thatched one, like most of them in rural areas more than 80 years ago, with the thatch fastened with ropes on a bamboo grid. That was simply covered with tin plates maybe 40 years ago, when the thatch had too many holes and was not watertight any more. Covering it with tin plates is much cheaper than re-thatching ...

When we bought the house 12 years ago, they told us the roof needed repair, so we pondered it ... until two years ago, a typhoon took part of the ridge decoration off.
We asked a carpenter to do some repairs, but he never showed up, until this year, another typhoon got the bottom plates really welded up high in the air ... now this was time to act !

So we asked a different carpenter, who did it all with his crew of two, in the rain, within three days, to make sure the arriving typhoon number 9, already brewing, will not do more harm.

We were really lucky with the weather, forecast for a strong rainy week, but when the carpenters came, there were dry spells and only soft rain in our area, so they could work under their makeshift tents. And we spent two nights without a proper roof, crossing our fingers for the blue sheets to keep in place, with success, so not much rain found its way inside.

They took off all the old wooden grid and the rusty nails, put on a new thicker grid and added the long tin plates with a new method of screwing it tightly on the thick grid. They also re-screwed the ridge decorations and secured the top decoration, so we hope this will last for a while ... and still hope number nine will pass a different route ...

We have not had any strong wind since the repair started, .. thanks GOD ! .. but I have the feeling it has become more quiet in my bedroom, which is just below this roof and has been moaning and groaning in the slightest wind, when the tin plates started vibrating with their loosened rusty nails.


..... ..... 2007年の台風情報
..... Typhoon Season 2007 .


Read my Haiku Archives


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daiku 大工　carpenter
tooryoo 棟梁　 master carpenter

He is a most important person when building a new wooden home, temple or shrine.




Though there is a core practice shared by all Japanese carpenters, defined by a vocabulary of tools and joints and a methodology of working, a carpenter will typically identify with one of four distinct carpentry professions.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !



煤はきは 己が棚つる 大工かな
susuhaki wa ono ga tana tsuru daiku kana

year-end cleaning —
the carpenter builds a shelf
for his own home
Tr. Stephen Addiss


housecleaning day —
hanging a shelf at his own home
a carpenter
Tr. Makoto Ueda


Großreinemachen –
ein Bord ins eigene Heim hängt
sich der Zimmermann
Tr. Udo Wenzel


Matsuo Basho　松尾芭蕉
元禄6年冬 - winter of 1694


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

. . . . .


the master carpenter
loves the new potatoes best -
let's take a quick lunch
Yoshioka Yutaka 吉岡ゆたか , 2007


. . . . .


Building my new home - Gabi Greve :
. Ground-breaking ceremony (jichinsai 鎮祭 ) .



An important tool of the carpenter:
. nokogiri　鋸　(のこぎり)　saw .


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[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]
[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
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Spidernet

looking up - a first sign of autumn in the net

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Spiders in Paradise 。。極楽の蜘蛛


Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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virtual silence

virtual silence nobody comments on my haiku

Prof. John Stackhouse

E-mail Silence:
I’m Not Writing Back Because I Hate You

I’ve come to see e-mail silence–when someone takes longer to reply than I think she should–as a Rorschach test. How I interpret that void, how I fill it in, tells me what’s in my mind to use as filler.

Earlier this year, a friend of mine in another city did not reply to several e-mails I sent him over three months. I passed through a succession of emotions: denial (”It’s no big deal”) to anxiety (”I wonder what’s wrong”) to anger (”That conceited jerk!”) to sadness (”He doesn’t like me anymore”).

Finally, he did reply, and told me that he and his professional website had encountered a terrible series of problems with their ISP that lasted, yes, three months, and he was only now back online and catching up.

Have you ever had to take one of those psychological tests consisting of sentence stem completions? They look like this: “When I walk into a room, I feel ____” or “When people look at me, they think ___.” Well, e-mail silence is like that: “My boss isn’t writing me back right away because ____” or “My father isn’t writing me back right away because ____” or “My girlfriend isn’t writing me back right away because ______.”

What I fill in tells me something of what I have in mind to fill it in with. And when I consider my customary reactions to e-mail silence, I sometimes don’t like what I see.

Cognitive therapist Dr. David Burns warns us against “mind reading” and “catastrophism,” the habits of mind by which (1) we assume we know what someone else is thinking and (2) we assume the worst. Indeed, a therapist friend of mine says that most people who engage in mind reading also engage in catastrophism, rather than assuming positive motives: “He’s not writing me back right away because he’s mulling over just which superlatives to use!”

Read it all HERE

　© John Stackhouse

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More abuot EMAIL SILENCE !


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some comments

Love your senryu, Gabi!
And a good question...
it's funny how I can sense what I like or don't like about someone else's work, yet
can't tell about my own!
But as you say, when the comments are contradictory... that doesn't help much!

I remember your "silence of stones"... an awesome haiku!

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bright autumn day -
listening to the silence
of stones growing older

This one's lovely, Gabi. And if we listen carefully, what will we hear, I wonder? Thanks for sharing this.

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I say, think positive thoughts.
A autumn leaf desires nothing else than to be a leaf. Silence is only uncomfortable for those that need it filled. My thought for the day..

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Hi Gabi,

I'm not sure we've met but it's a pleasure to read you!

your 'silence of stones' haiku is inspired, I truly enjoyed it!

this is a very interesting thread... I believe we sometimes assume the worst
because an ego is a fragile thing that needs careful handling and we all have a little...
after all, doesn't society teach us to "look out for #1"..,

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Ahh yes... I ALWAYS assume, when there no comments, that my haiku so stunned the reader with its grace, trueness to form, and sense of wonder that they COULD NOT recover composure enough to respond...

THEN, I hasten back for a 're-write-...

.....

gabi, my silence, virtual or actual, on this only means I've been to busy to check in for the last few days.

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More of my Haiku about SILENCE !


Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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monkey

what do you think? he asked nothing, said monkey

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Sculptor Takamura Ko-Un 老猿(ろうえん)



Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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eternity

eternity - the spider's thread from HERE to THERE

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After the rain, there was just this long one thread stretching from the stones to the chair on the terasse, sparkling in late sunlight.

I should get a better camera, but I hope you will see the beauty anyway.



Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Layers of clouds

layers of clouds and yet the sky stays blue

HAIKU
The color BLUE for heaven and water



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A while later I found this haiku by Bonchoo:


上行くと下来る雲や　秋の空
ue yuku to shita kuru kumo ya aki no sora

clouds floating above
and clouds floating below -
autumn sky

Nozawa Boncho　野沢凡兆
SKY and kigo

Clouds in my Haiku Valley 谷に雲


Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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old and young

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lush summer leaves <>
the old, the young and
the one's inbetween








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Inspired from HERE !
Haibun by Larry Bole




Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Sweltering Heat

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just sitting outside in more than 38℃, sweating,
eyes closed, too hot for any action



sweltering heat -
the different songs
of cicadas



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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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roses

tiny roses in late sunshine - our great love

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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Last Bon ceremony

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送り火や　家族で見えし　流れ星

okuribi ya kazoku de mieshi nagareboshi



sending-off the souls -
the whole family watches
shooting stars




The whole large family of our neighbour, now 82, has been back home this year, which is quite seldom lately in rural Japan.
So many generations watched the heavenly spectacle together in great awe!


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The final ceremony for O-Bon is sending off the ancestor's souls with a special fire, okuirbi.


My First Bon Ceremony

My Shooting Stars


O-Bon rituals and related KIGO





Okuribi, the great send-off fire in Kyoto


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some comments

Nice one, Gabi . . . and blessed, indeed.

.....

How exciting, Gabi...
love the fireworks!
I enjoyed your haiku -- and learning about this event!

.....

Hi Gabi - A very good haiku and one that has instructed me in a wonderful tradition. I only wonder if it would work better for most readers if you drop the hyphen after "sending"? I realize it can work either way . . . jez wonderin'

sending off the souls–
the whole family watches
shooting stars

.. GABI : Thanks, for your suggestion.

I guess I mixed it up with the usual translation for okuribi,
(送り火) (roughly, "send-off fire").

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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Shooting Stars

....................................... \ \ ......... \ shooting stars - how many promises will he keep ? / 。。。。。。。。。。。。 catch the moment - the shooting stars outnumber my wishes \....................................... ................\

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Meteor Showers as KIGO

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some comments

This is SO good! It has the dreamy quality of the old masters. So reflective and just right.
Thoroughly enjoyed.

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I missed it! Thanks for the links Gabi, and the lovely haiku.

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Oh, a wonderful haiku, Gabi san! Fine work indeed!

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Lovely, haiku, Gabi. Glad you've had a good view of the meteor showers. So often, we end up with clouds!!!

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its a lovely haiku ... makes me go all tanka-ish ...
i cant see the pic ... i see the wording and what i think must be the stars are slashes and dots ... however i can imagine it ...

.....

Aaaah! Hi Gabi, A beauty!

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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Mother Mosquitoe

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I watch her
s l o w l y .. sucking my blood -
mother mosquitoe








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This one became so dear to me, I just could not swat her off. She left quietly after finishing her meal, and the spot did not itch as much as it usually does ...


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Actually, the first version of this one was written a few days ago in hospital, when a young unexperienced sister nurse tried her hand at my veins ... only later, when this mosquito choose almost the same spot for her action, it clicked again



I watch her
s l o w l y sucking my blood -
sister Mosquito




... Mosquitoes (ka 蚊) ... a KIGO

Comments from HH

hey Gabi, I like how you stretched out "slowly"

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Oh, a beautiful moment, Gabi...
(I've done this -- once or twice, lol!)

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Lovely GABI!
I like the way you've done it!

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Hi Gabi. I can't think of anything else that I would watch "slowly sucking my blood" so L3 seems rather obvious. If your remove "my blood" I think your 'ku will pack more of a punch ...

I watch her
slowly sucking ...
mother mosquito

... now I see a baby at the breast in the first two lines - suddenly transformed in the third.

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a s l o w rise
to the bump --
blood plump "ka"

INSPIRATIONAL as USUAL dear Gabi san

知美

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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Early Morning

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early morning -
the joy to be
BACK again



gentle rain
on the parched fields -
Namu Amida Butsu



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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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