Haiga 191

Another haiku by Buson.
Sakura flowers are blooming everywhere now in most parts of Japan. People go out and hold picnic under the sakura trees. In most cases, they stop for a few minutes to admire the blossom and the next moment start drinking, singing songs, clapping hands, and forget about the beauty above them. I am pretty sure Buson was not attending such picnic when he wrote this haiku.
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I will be out town for a few days. The next posting is on April 4.

Haiga 190

Haiku by Yosa Buson of Japan.
Buson is known as a haijin, but actually his profession was a painter, and a good one. He left many screen paintings of large size, including the one on which Buson wrote down all the text of "Narrow Road of Oku" by Basho, and added illustrations here and there.

Poem+image 01

The poem is by Octavio Paz of Mexico. He is the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1990.
I picked this particular poem, because each one is short and has the feel of haiku. All together, the poem could be appreciated as a Renku (chained haiku). Haiku is the source of my inspiration in making artworks most of the time, but I do get inspired by poems like this time to time.
Click the image to see a large version.

Haiga 189

Haiku by Alenka Zorman of Slovenia.
Alenka wrote this haiku around the time when she became a grandmother.
It must be comforting to observe your daughter and her newborn enjoying the warm of the Spring.

I have three grandchildren myself. It is comforting to know that the DNA I received has been passed on to the future generation.

There is the idea of rebirth, and I believe in it. Even if I do not have child in this life, there is the next life for me (for my soul to be precise). My soul will receive a new body, will get marry, and will have children.

A newborn,
in his small grip
seeds for big future

Haiga 188

Haiku by Kakio Tomizawa of Japan.
Spring can be found at an unusual place.
For the shadow area, which is the key element in this haiga, I added a hint of pale color on the egg, and warm grey on the plate. I also kept the contrast in shadow area low. All this handlings contribute to the expression of Spring shadow, I hope.

Haiga 187

Haiku by Sumiko Ikeda of Japan.
Boy, I want to be shot by such a flower-pointed arrow like this.

Haiga 186

Haiku by Masajo Suzuki of Japan.
Masajyo-san wrote many love haiku. She used to run a small pub called "Unami(April wave)" in Ginza, Tokyo. The pub was later passed on to her grandson. The first time I visited the pub, the grandson and I hit it off right away, because he lived some time in Hawaii, and I lived there all my highschool and college years, and we both like the place very much.
I frequented the pub whenever I had a chance to visit Tokyo. My haiga works for Masajo-san decorated the pub's wall. And then two years ago, I learned that the pub would be demolished because of the city planning.
I made my own haiku/haiga about April wave:
Wetting my color-faced
Aloha shirts,
April waves

Haiga 185

Another haiku by Carol Purington of the USA.
Spring can be felt even in a confined room. Carol observes the limited nature from the window, makes a sketch, and then add her imagination. That is what makes her haiku unique among numerous haiku written only from sketching. In a way, her haiku is closer to the present day haiku in Japan. Contemporarly Japanese haiku has come a long way from "shasei"(sketch) haiku adovocated by Masaoka Shiki.

Haiga 185

Haiku by Carol Purington of USA.
Carol lives in a big farm in Massachusetts, but because of her illness she has been confined to bed for almost all her life. She looks out the window, observing the changing nature, and writes haiku. To make this haiga, I made use of Andrew Wyeth's famous painting "Christina’s World". I made quite a few haiga for her haiku. I then made print-outs and presented them to her for her enjoyment.

Haiga 184

Another haiku by Kobayashi, Issa of Japan.
Japan is a moutainous, volcanic islands, and there are numorous hot springs all over.
I wrote a haibun about one of such places:

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A mountain haijin has come to the seaside. I am at a hot spring along the coast of the Japan Sea (a twelve hour train ride from my town). The spring is located in the open, right by the beach. A few steps away is the wide, wide expanse of the Japan Sea. I watch the huge sunset as I warm myself in the hot water.

calm sea...
a boat's wake leads
to the setting sun

Basho walked along this beach on his "Narrow Road of Oku" and wrote the following haiku:

the rough sea -
flowing toward Sado Island
the river of Heaven

Sado is too far to see from where I am. And I do not stay outside to observe the river of Heaven, the Milky Way. I have a party to attend and, having been in the hot spring too long, I am more attracted to cold beer and sake.

a treat for travelers,
milk for Basho
and sake for me
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(published on Frogpond and American Haibun & Haiga, 2003)

Haiga 183

Haiku by Kobayashi, Issa of Japan.
An old haiku master's all too popular haiku.

Haiga182

The photograph and the haiku (or maybe a senryu) are by myself.

Haiga 181

Haiku by Ban'ya Natsuishi of Japan.
Sayumi's husband's haiku. Ban'ya wrote a batch of haiku about his eye desease, which were later included in his haiku book. I made the cover and illustrations for the book. This haiga is one of the illustrations. The original was black and white. I added colors and some elements.
http://www.geocities.jp/ginyu_haiku/publication/righteyeintwilight.htm

Haiga 180

Haiku by Sayumi Kamakura of Japan.
Sayumi shares the pain which troubled her husband's eye sight.

Haiga 179

Haiku by Anya of the USA.
Anya-san was among the first haiku people I got to know when I started writing haiku of my own.
I wrote my first haiku in English, and started to submit my haiku to online haiku magazines like Heron's Nest, Asahi Haikuist Network, Mainichi Daily, and so forth.
I learned from foreigners how to write haiku, my native tradition. Interesting.

Haiga 178

Haiku by Jim Kacian of the USA.
Jim visited me around 2001, and inspired me to the haiga making.
During the next six or seven years, I collaborated with more than 250 haijins, and produced more than 1000 haiga, some of which I am showing on this blog.

Haiga 177

Haiku by Ikuyo Yoshimura of Japan.
Spring is just a few steps away.Cats, dogs, plants, and us, all getting ready for it.

Here is my haibun:

A Spring Day

Three cold days and four warm days. That is how the month of March is like around here. A little warmer, a little colder, acquiring warmth with each small step. Spring comes slowly.
Today is one of the warm four days, and a holiday. I awake early. As I walk up to my studio, I notice ume flowers are blooming. A pair of bush warblers are busily sucking the nectar, not minding my presence. I observe for a long while, sharing their joy of having a fresh breakfast.

Decorated by flowers
and visited by birds,
this aged ume branch

I check my e-mail. The daughter of a recently deceased haijin has sent me written permission to use the haijin's haiku for my haiga. I upload the haiga on my website. I then read haiku submissions from overseas. As I peruse, some ideas for the haiga begin to come. I gather tools and necessary references, and spend engrossed hours making haiga. Three haiga materialize and two do not. All the while I have the FM radio on, tuned in to the usual music station.

A mega-hit song
after so many springs
still stings my heart

Suddenly, light falls on my working desk, almost spotlighting me in a dim room. It turns out to be the early evening sunlight reflected on a neighbor's window. Time to go home. I notice the air is much cooler. It looks like tomorrow will be one of the cold days.

Haiga 176

Haiku by Kiyoko Tsuda of japan.
Is it only the swans that fight after all the time together?

Haibun

My new haibun:
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An ox after all

“If you lie down like that, you’re gonna become an ox for sure”, my nanny so cautioned me again after the meal. I was three or four years old then, and I had a habit of lay down on the tatami mat soon after the meal, flipping through a children’s picture book or two. My nanny was raised in a strict samurai family, thus knew all the refined manners. I guess that was what my parents thought and asked her to look after me.
Every time I heard her caution, I got scared and sat up right away. I had seen how the animal lived; in a near-by farm, there was an ox, always smelling badly, always munching something with saliva dripping from the mouth, never minding sleeping next to the dung. Yuck! I never want to become an ox.

With its swaying tail.
an ox shoos away
flies and a boy

As I got older, I learned that I had been born in the year of the ox, and became interested in my disposition, comparing with that of the ox. I learned also that the ox is a ruminant, which explains the constant munching. I came to like the dairy products, and longed for the treat of sukiyaki meal with juicy beef. The ox seems slow in motion and maybe in head as well. However, as in bullfighting, the animal makes quick but wise, and challenging moves. I made the similar move when I met a wife-to-be girl, though I am still unsure if I was as wise as the ox.
2009 is the year of the ox again, and is my fifth ox year, meaning I will be sixty when my birthday comes (12 zodiac signs x 5 = 60). I am thankful that I have made it through all these years. I contemplate my life thus far and my coming old age, just as the ox seems to do, standing still in a meadow, munching slowly. I am, however, still young enough to meet the new challenge, and I know I will make a quick and wise move ‘cause I am an ox after all.

The year of oxen -
I wonder where
the red muerte is
(muerte is the bullfighter’s red cape)
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Haiga175

Haiku by Elliot Jermy of UK.
Elliot is 14 years old.
It took some thinking to visualize liquid such as black ink.

Haiga 174

Haiku by Alice Farrington of UK.
Alice is a school girl, and wrote this haiku as a classroom work. The surrealistic quality is notable.
The Shasei or sketch-like approach to haiku, which was advocated by Masaoka Shiki, marked the beginning of the modern Japanese haiku. Since then, Japanese haiku has gone through many stages of develpements, including the free-verse (like Santoka and Hosai), and the surrealistic approach.
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I will be on the road for a few days.