12/08/2008

ice and frost

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.............. only ice
in the birds basin ...
orange morning sky





just awoke again to minus six around
and all white with deep frost and ice ...
much too early for the season this year




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12/07/2008

Ainu food

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Ainu food -
I look for medical herbs
in my own woods




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WASHOKU : Ainu Food アイヌ料理 Ainu ryoori  





my inspiration for the above haiku


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12/06/2008

samui cold

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samusa ni mo
hodo ga aru ya
juunigatsu



It was minus 6 centigrade this morning
and a daily high of .. well, just one degree centigrade
and one more day like this to come ...
very unusual for the season, to say the least ...





December 7 ...
the cold goes on



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12/01/2008

Moon Venus Jupiter

  
  








04 less wobbely




05 in the dark



whow and behold !
a special performance
in the sky







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Jupiter, Venus, Moon are coming closer -

The waxing crescent moon and blazing planet Jupiter
Throughout November, Venus will be climbing upward toward Jupiter,

MORE information



My neighbour called twon nights ago to ask if I had seen the aliens which where aiming their spotlights at our valley!
The two planets where shining so strongly in our absolutely dark night sky ... it was quite amazing.

Today it is a bit lighter when I took the photos, but if you look carefully you can see all the three of them.



December 02
Tonight, the moon is above the two stars!
Quite a change from last night!
The smiley face in the sky is gone already.



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11/28/2008

kitsune

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bright daylight -
a fox peeks into my
living room


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I had just settled for a cup of tea when I saw some ears outside. Both cats were in the kitchen sleeping, so who could it be? Most probably a stray cat to chase away.

When I opened the door-window, a small fox was standing outside, looking at me in wonder just as I looked at him. He did not even run away, but seemed to ask "Care to feed me something?"

After quite a while he turned away, walked leisurely over to the staircase and to the upper part of our garden. With a final look back and giving me a kind nod he disappeared in the underbrush.


WHOW ... I sure hope to see this visitor again !



We have seen foxes around in the late evening and hear them in the nearby woods.



FOX ... a kigo for all winter


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Fotos and Haiku from Tom Maretic, thanks TOM!!


a young urban fox --
there is already friendship
in our meetings


fox's voice
in the night ... inspires
a new story


foxtmaretic


fox03


fox02



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11/24/2008

dreaming room

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 -  - 



dreaming room ...
a new buzzword
for the old MA




click on the haiku to find out more ...



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as I sit in my dining room
wondering about the dreaming room
he calls from the living room



I do not approve of this word and do not consider it a translation of MA, but never mind.
For me, haiku is about reality and what I experience in the moment, not in a dream.

The word reminds me of the Australian aborigines "dream time, dreamtime", but that is a different matter alltogether, I find.




and one who can not keep his MA in Japanese culture is a

manuke 間抜け "one without a ma feeling"
a fool, an idiot, a blockhead, someone stupid . . .



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Assimilation of the Ma Aesthetic Better Equips Western Poets
to Write Haiku

by Denis M. Garrison

Amongst traditional Japanese aesthetic considerations applicable to the art of haiku writing, ma is arguably preeminent for poets working in another language, for whom much of the treasury of haiku allusions is not available. It is, of course, axiomatic that the better a poet assimilates the full panoply of traditional haiku aesthetics, the better equipped he or she will become; but for non-Japanese poets, ma has special value, I think.

What is ma?
Literally, ma is the sense of time and space, incorporating between, space, room, interval, pause, time, timing, passing, distanced, etc. More particularly, ma may be taken as the timing of space, as in the duration between two musical notes. Silence is valued as well as sound. It is said that the ma aesthetic is influential upon all varieties of Japanese art.

I am not an expert on Japanese traditional aesthetics, in general, nor in ma, specifically. It is not my intent to dissect nor analyze ma in its native context.

Read it all HERE

 © Denis M. Garrison / Simply Haiku Winter 2008


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the MA ...
could we be silent about
something else?


the MA ...
are we silent about
different things?


I just had a moment of silence with my cat HAIKU and he seemed to ... well ...
January 23, 2009

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shichi go choo and Kabuki 七五調


quote
"There is nothing like a ma!"

What is ma? Well, that's not so easy to explain but without it Kabuki wouldn't be half so interesting as it is. Imagine, for example, this speech that everybody knows -

"To be or not to be?"
(Dramatic pause)
"That is the question."


In Kabuki that pause would be called a ma, and ma are tension filled moments applicable to acting movements, dance, or speech. The internal psychology of a moment is expressed by the actor, who holds the attention of the audience in a pregnant pause that creates tension and emphasis.

Similar to the above example, ma may be expressed in speeches as the tension between the lines of shichi-go-chô - the division into lines of seven and five syllables used in much Japanese poetry. Look at the following example: in order to make things clear I have divided this haiku poem by the playwright and critic, Kawajiri Seitan (川尻清潭) into syllables -

Yo-za-ku-ra-ya (5) Evening cherry blossoms
Ma-ta Su-ke-ro-ku no (7) And once again
Ke-n-ka-za-ta (5) Sukeroku fights


Here one could imagine a dramatic ma pause after Mata Sukeroku no, before completing the poem. Similarly, when the thief Benten Kozō abandons his disguise as a young girl and reveals his name, (Benten musume meo no shiranami - "Benten the Male, Female Bandit") he dramatically lengthens the last syllable of Kozō before speaking the final part of his name - Kikunosuke. An actor with a poor sense of ma might well leave too short a pause and so any feeling of suspense before the completion would be lost.
Although Western poetry does not use shichi-go-chô (partly because Western languages do not have the consonant-vowel parings which make up the Japanese language), dramatic pausing between the lines can sometimes be equally important but perhaps less stylised than in Kabuki.

In movement, mie stop-motion poses demonstrate the most exciting examples of ma. Probably deriving from the fearsome iconography and facial expressions seen on some Buddhist statuary, mie are powerful poses by male characters that serve to emphasize moments of great import or tension. As the action stops, the character assumes a dramatic pose, revolves his head back and to one side and then, snapping the head into position, crosses one eye over the other and glares at his opponent. Mie are usually accompanied by two clear beats of the tsuke wooden blocks. It is the dramatic pause before the winding up and final snap of the head, between the first beat of the block and the second, which is an example of a ma of action.

Mie are unique to Kabuki and there is certainly nothing like them in Western theatre. Dramatic pauses are, therefore, more naturalistic and we find such pauses in Kabuki too. Let's look at the following fantastic example of ma which I will always remember. It was from Nakamura Utaemon VI's performance of Masaoka from Meiboku Sendai Hagi. Masaoka moves to the hanamichi in order to watch Sakae Gozen depart. Having just watched her son being murdered, Masaoka is desperate to run to his body. Watching her leave, Utaemon held the pose with extraordinary tension until, Sakae now gone, he collapsed in anguish. A master actor holding the audience in his hands!

Although we may not have a specific name for them, ma pauses are very important not only to Western theatre but in music too. My son, Misha, who is not a musician, was watching a very famous American conductor, conducting Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring," one of the greatest and most influential works of the twentieth century. The final section, the "Sacrificial Dance," is clearly divided into sections by very dramatic pauses. Every one of those fantastic pauses was cut far too short by the conductor, and all the drama was lost as the music flowed along to greatly reduced effect.

"That conductor is useless!" said Misha, and, judging by this example of very bad ma, I really had to agree. In Japan - particularly in the field of Kabuki - one would say his "ma ga warui" - his "ma is bad," meaning he has no sense of timing.

source : Ronald Cavaye - kabuki-bito.jp


. Sukeroku 助六 - Hero of Edo .




どーも 間が悪い ma ga warui

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clouds

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after the rain -
clouds fight for space
in my narrow valley




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11/20/2008

Hatsuyuki

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hatsuyuki ya  初雪や


first snow ...
two crow families fight
for a place in the sky



first snow
on red leaves ...
global warming




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A cold spell has gripped Japan, much too early for the season.
Daily high not above 5 degrees centigrade ...

and a cover of white on the red leaves and the yellow gingko !



And these crows are constantly "barking" in the sky, chasing each other, fighting for a space to stay in our valley

November 19, 2008


The cold spell continues, white morning again today, yesterday was a warm plus four centigrade ...
November 20, 2008



. WKD : first snow, hatsu yuki 初雪 .


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new start

  
  


a new start
with my new cup of tea
... Daruma cofee











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WASHOKU : Japanese Food Culture


The German Food Book project is done with ...
gone with the wind and the recession ...




BLACK COFFEE WITH DARUMA


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11/16/2008

orchids

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after my birthday ...
the orchids bend
backwards



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NOVEMBER 3
happy 60




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11/13/2008

echizen kurage

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Echizen kurage ...
a monster tamed with
miso paste



CLICK for more photos




Checking about Washoku ...
the Echizen kurage are huge jellyfish at the coast of Echizen, lately bringing much harm to the local fishernets because of their enormous numbers and sheer size ...


And yes ...
if you have lemons, make lemonade, so the locals made it ...
chopped finely and eaten with a mix of miso paste and salted plum paste.

Enjoy Japanese Food, Culture and Haiku !
http://washokufood.blogspot.com/2008/05/fukui.html




Echizen kurage 越前水母(えちぜんくらげ)
kigo for all summer
. WKD : Jellyfish (kurage) and related KIGO  



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momijigari

  
  


19 treetops and clouds



22 dynamics




counting momiji
counting
my blessings





27 shining autumn OK




further up the mountains

31 mountain road susuki



over the pass to Koshihata

37 autumn splendor




KO04 all colors of autumn OK




the smith's house

KO07 whow autumn OK




CLICK for enlargement


KO11 kamakiri and momiji OK



KO08 momiji and farmhouse OK


KO09 momiji yellow


KO10 momiji and old roof



KO12 only momiji red



KO05 Koshihata tatara house momiji



KO02 farmhouse and poles



KO13 roof and sky




EN23 brances forest mountains






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Best take the slide show in the photo album

Lake Okutsu

Koshihata Village



Temple Entsuji

EN08 Kobo Daishi Head OK



EN11 pattern momiji pine



. "hunting for red leaves" momijigari
紅葉狩 (もみじがり) .



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11/12/2008

keeping alive

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keeping the body alive ...
what a burden for
the soul




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sea of clouds

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sea of clouds ...
mountain tops red
valley still green




This morning, the sea of clouds folds like a white blanket inbetween the red leaves in the early sunshine and the green bottom of the valley.



mountain tops red
sea of clouds ...
valley still green


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11/10/2008

Do not expect perfection

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Don’t expect perfection and things to go
the way you want them to
when it comes to people, business,
your prospects, and your social life.

When things don’t go

according to your desires,
when the weather of life is foul,
be creative and consider
what may be the higher reasons
why this is happening and
why you must adjust.

Perhaps it’s to gain forbearance,
patience, inner strength, flexibility,
or the ability to withhold criticism
while serving as a loving model.


Michael Goddart




the weather of life
reaches you ...
your haiku life


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More of my
quotes with haiku


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