orange mist

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early morning -
the shadow of pines
behind orange mist



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. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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diamond morning

morning meditation - the short lifespan of snow patterns day moon light and shadow and here is ME taking photos

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. . . Check my PHOTO ALBUM from here to nr. 22



. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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pink morning

pink morning - what else can I say but THANK YOU ! pink morning what else can I say but NAMU AMIDA ! my neighbour below GokuRakuAn ... the Roof wild fields in pink sunshine pink morning mist - GokuRakuAn at its best 鴇色の朝を迎えて南無阿弥陀

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薄紅の大垪和の朝や言葉なし

pale pink morning in Ohaga
without words

rosaroter Morgen
in Ohaga ...
ohne Worte


Nakamura Sakuo

Thank you, Sakuo san!

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My Photo ALBUM of this morning
Start from here to Nr. 37



. . . Read my SNOW Haiku of this winter 2007/2008


. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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sudden rain

sudden rain - my world reduced to shades of gray

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The gray of this background is called Genji Nezumi Gray
#888084

Grey, Gray (hai-iro, hyaku nezu) and Haiku




Behind the house, all the snow has slipped from the roof and hangs onto the gallery of the outdoor kitchen !






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A note from Larry Bole, Happy Haiku Forum

Gabi san, just a note about gray:

Thanks for the haiku and the haikutopics entry on gray. I like Rikyu, and now I have something new to learn about him and "Rikyu gray."

Recently, in New York City, there was a controversy about plans to renovate the Guggenheim Museum. The designer of the building, Frank Lloyd Wright, hated gray. Originally, the building was painted a buff yellow. But afer 11 coats of paint over the years, the building ended up being light gray. Recently, the Landmarks Preservation Commission here decided that the building will remain light gray. This has disappointed architects and others who decry the graying of our cities.

It makes me think of how garish we would find it if the marble-white sculptures and buildings of antiquity were restored to the original vivid colors they were apparently painted with.

Anyway, hopefully I will be visiting an exhibit of work by the great American artist Jasper Johns at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, titled "Jasper Johns: Gray," which will look at his use of gray throughout his career.

"Johns has worked in gray, at times to evoke a mood, at other times to evoke an intellectual rigor that results from his purging most color from his works."


Here are a couple of gray haiku I like:


dawn–
shades of grey break
into birdsong

Pamela Miller Ness -
The Heron's Nest (Dec. 2000)



storm warning
the watercolorist works
in shades of grey

Tom Painting
from The Heron's Nest


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. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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my own efforts

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One is happy as a result of one's own efforts--
once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness--
simple tastes, a certain degree of courage,
self-denial to a point, love of work, and, above all,
a clear conscience.

George Sand





and love of haiku ...


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MORE
QUOTES and HAIKU



. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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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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Dragon King Sutra

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spring surprize -
the Dragon King shows me
his secrets







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Dragon King Mantra

. Ocean Dragon King Sutra



. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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rosebuds in snow

monochrome pattern rosebuds in snow - the wait for spring continues

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Rosebuds ALBUM till Nr. 10



MORE of my Roses and Haiku
Roses in Paradise



. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008

rose rose snow rose bud rose buds
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heavy snow again - yajiri

icicles from my roof My Buddha under cover cypresse trees in heavy snow the way up to my mailbox treetops avalanches forming on the large roof half of the roof snow is now DOWN ! Blocking our back yard - yajiri　屋尻　 jifubuki, snow blowing UP by strong storm shovelling snow the whole day ... no time for haiku

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Check my ALBUM from Nr. 1 to Nr. 30 to see this splendid winter day.

Snowed In ... ALBUM

Monday Morning, 25
Still all white around, minus four in the morning ... and more snowmen in the weather forecast!


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The back of a farmhouse is often called
yajiri　屋尻　"bottom side of a house"

In mountainous regions this part can be very narrow and dangerous for mudslides.
In winter, snowslides from the slopes and the roof are a problem.


はつ雪の降り捨てある家尻哉
hatsu furi no sutete aru yajiri kana

a dumping ground
for the first snow...
my backyard

Kobayashi Issa
(Tr. David Lanoue)

If you do not get rid fast enough of the snow from the roof, it might break the beams that support the house.
And behind the house, where no sunshine reaches until next spring, it will pile up like a glacier . . .




snow avalanches behind my home in Okayama



. The Japanese House .
in all seasons


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. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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

meditating ... the Buddha's face in the snowstorm

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Next morning, 40 cm of snow and more to come ...

Japan is engulfed with low pressure fields !






CLICK here to see me throught the next day !
More snow, more snow, more snow ...
Sunday all Day !





. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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curry days

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Hi All,

we have just finished lunch and my husband (the cook) had a great idea

we will eat curry on February 23 to 25 for lunch each day as a tribute
to not being able to join the real festival in India.
Join us, all of you who can not go to India !


I envy all who can join in person !

You see, now we are very close to you all in our hearts (and stomachs) ... grin


curry days <>
the faint smell of
haiku


GABI

http://worldhaikufestival2008.blogspot.com/



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. . . . . from WHC workshop


Big smile as I read this, Gabi ... it's close to lunch here. But should this not read:

haiku days -
the faint smell
of curry

:>) Ella



It should read both ways at once, but we do what we can.
Best, Bill K


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. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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Bertrand Russel

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The secret to happiness is this:
Let your interest be as wide as possible,
and let your reactions to the things
and persons that interest you
be as far as possible friendly
rather than hostile.

Bertrand Russell





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. . . Read my QUOTES with HAIKU



. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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bamboo exploding

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spring preparations -
the sound of bamboo
exploding







The farmers are beginning to clear the bamboo that has grown since last year. They cut it down, make small piles of it in the fields and burn it.

The sound of this poor bamboo cracking and popping --- pang panggg --- sounds like a constant firework explosion through my whole valley.



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MORE
Bamboo as a kigo, Bamboo art in Asia ...
Bamboo in my Valley



. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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COUNTDOWN finale

countdown - still counting the icicles on my roof ! ! Final call till Feb. 22 ! ! Join the Countdown ! February 23 to 25, 2008 Bangalore, India World Haiku Festival - India 2008

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. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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secrets

cats in love - this untold story of you and me cats in love - this untold story of U and MEE

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. Cats in love, a KIGO



. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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