Haiga 434

Haiku and artwork by myself.
This illustration was done as my early training in computer graphics, more than 15 years ago.
Adobe Illustrator, my favorit art software, was only Ver. 3 then, and the artwork is pretty primitive, but I kind of like it so I added a haiku.

Haiga 433

Haiku by Ban'ya Natsuishi. Artwork by myself.
The first anniversary of my mother's passing is tomorrow. Haiga 431, Haiga 432, and Haiga 433 are dedicated to my mother who is survived by 11 children and more than 40 grand, and 10 great grand.

Morning chill,
a white flower
stops sucking water
花一輪水吸うことをやめた朝

Haiga 432

Haiku by Dee Evetts (USA). Artwork by myself.
When I attended Spring St. Kukai with Tony san, Dee san was conducting the kukai. There were about 10 haijin, sharing and debating on each one's haiku.
Among the haijin was Cor van den Heuvel, the author of Haiku Anthology. The next day, I went to Barn & Noble to pick up a copy of the anthology, the first haiku book I read. This was about 10 years ago.

*****
I got an request from Lee san of Modern Haiku. He and Scot Mets are compiling an Anthology of 21st. Century English-Language Haiku, and one of my haiku will be included in it.

Haiga 431

Haiku by Tony Pupello (USA). Artwork by myself.
I first got to know Tony through a collaborative haiku anthology project called "12 Tongues", in which children's haiku in 12 languages were put together. I did its cover illustration and some other drawings for its pages. Then, when I visited NYC, I met Tony in his downtown office. He invited me to Spring St. Kukai, where I was introduced to English haiku and kukai for the first time. Very inspiring experience, for soon after that, I started making haiga and then writing my own haiku.

I uploaded the result of the 82nd. WHA Haiga Contest.

Haiga 430

Haiku by myself. Photo is from a series by Boston.com on N. Korea.

I was reading about meteorite. The meteorite seems to "fall" to the earth, but acutually, the earth's gravitiy is pulling it to the earth from the outer space, just like a baby is pulled out of mom's womb. We casually use the word "fall", but what is really happening is being pulled. Newton found it out by watching an appple fall from the tree.
"Fall" seems to have negative connotation, but there is really no "fall" in this world. Everything that falls is being pulled, to reach different and constructive stage. Even the falling leaves fall to pull out the new growth in the next season.
If you are experiencing fall of fate or fortune, you are at the same time experiencing the new aspect being pulled out. You only need to notice it.

Haiga 429

Words by myself. Photo is from NASA.
We have acquired wide range of visions, from micro to macro. Hope that the visions will eventually affect our thoughts and activities in peaceful way.

Haiga 428

Haiku by myself. Another tourism poster series. Influence of Japonism is evident in this poster.

"Baker's Dozen" is now in the hands of my friend in NYC. He will set aside some copies for the Tenri Cultural Institute's library, and then send the rest to me.

Artist, Hiro Yamagata's painting show is going on there at the gallery. Robert san of Simply Haiku requested me to write something about the show relating it to haiga, to which Hiro san gave me a go.

Haiga 427

Haiku by myself. Photo by @yooomifm, who I know only through twitter. Suppose to live somewhere in Tokyo. She certainly caught a fantastic dawn sky.

Haiga 426

Haiku and photo by myself.
This photo and the yesterday's one were taken by Tenri Central Library . The library is in a very nice surroundings as you can see in the photos. Only a few minutes walk from my office, that means I have good place to sneakt out whenever I get tired of desk work.

Haiga 425

Haiku and photo by myself. Another haiga of rebirth theme.

Haiga 424

Haiku and photo by myself. I had taken this photograph a few days ago, because the vivid contrast of red and green caught my eyes. I contemplated haiku while looking at the photo, and came up with this one here. Then yesterday, the book "Red Leaves" came. Nice coincidence.

The body perishes, but the core of life, which I like to believe is the soul, continues to live and moves on to the next life cycle.

This haiga is a good example of how haiku verse and image interact.
Haiku alone is:

Red leaves...
resting on green clover
to be born green again

But with the photo, you need not write "red" and "clover" because the photo has those information.

Red Leaves, Eng-Jp Bilingual Literary Journal

Just received copies of "Red Leaves". It was published in Australia. My short story "Worldman" is included in it. "Worldman" was originally a haibun. I then expanded it to a story. I submitted Japanese version, and the editors translated it into English for free. Pretty good deal.

Red Leaves link http://p.tl/tL6D 　http://p.tl/BQsZ

Among the contributors of this issue is Iris Yamashita, a screemwriter who was nominated for an Academy Award for her screenplay "Letter From Iwo Jima", directed by Clint Eastwood.

Red leaves...
resting on green clover
to be born green again

Haiga 423

Haiku by myself. Yet another tourism poster haiga. I used some copies of the poster to write my haiku.
All these posters seem to have their roots in Ukiyo-e prints.

Ad in Tube

"see haiku here" is advertized in London Tube. http://p.tl/KmDv
Just a joke, though.

Haiga 422

Haiku by myself. Another poster haiga. A poster usually carries words that stand out. In this poster, I lightened the words below to put more emphasis on the haiku.

When I was a college student, I spent a month ,visiting all over USA on Greyhound Bus. At Grand Canyon, I took a walk on a descending narrow path. On the way, I sat on a rock and started playing Ryuteki, a bamboo flute used for Gagaku, court music of Japan. Total silence and then my flute. It was such a soothing experience. Even now, when I see images of Grand Canyon, the memory comes back to me, hence the haiku.

Haiga 421

Haiku by myself. I found a series of tourism posters made in 1930s in the USA. They are done in silkscreen or lithograph, and look nice so I decided to use them for haiga.

A poster has image and words. Image and words must be related, and they together convey a message. I think that haiga, in contemporary sense, is like a poster.

Haiga 420

Haiku and artwork by myself.
One autumn day, I was on a train and noticed high-heel shoes like this. I wrote a haiku and later made this surrealistic haiga.
Obviously, there is a little influence from Giorgio de Chirico, an Italian Surrealist.

Haiga 419

Haiku by myself. Photo by Kristina Kotarski.

I wrote a rain haiku before:

Downpour,
pickpocket and I are
under the same roof

Haiga 418

Haiku by myself. Photo by Frans Lanting.
This haiga is done with the similar idea as yesterday' one (Haiga 417). That the space is an important element for group-living applies to us human, too.

Haiga 417

Haiku by myself. Photo by Angela Bacon-Kidwell. I had seen a similara scene near my house, and I wrote this haiku then.

Safely returned home. This time, my stay in Tokyo was quite comfortable, for the schedule was not tight as planned before. I had a chance to visit Apple Store in Ginza. I played with ipad displayed there, downloaded my haiga ebook and checked how it showed on the device. I must say that view was wonderful.

Haiga 416

Third haiga collaboration with Romano san.
Anyone wishing for collaboration, send at least 20 haiku (usually only two or three become haiga).

"Ma", or space and time, plays important part in Japanese art, including performing art.
In sumi-brush painting, "Ma" is usually the area of white rice paper left unpainted. A blank space, but it is the space where views can let their imagination play. "Ma" could be a painted space, like in this haiga. Painted, but has very few visual elements, like shapes and lines, thus offering a playground for our imagination.

I will be out of town for a few days starting tomorrow. Monthly visit to Tokyo. Will not be able to update this blog.

Haiga 415

Another collaboration with Romano san.

Good news is, my Basho ebook is to be used as a supplementary textbook at two Japanese Language Schools: one in Manhattan, NY, and the other in Paris. The haiga ebook can be viewed on any PC, Mac, and even on ipad. It also can be printed out in good quality so there are many use in the classroom.

Haiga 414

Haiku by Romano Zeraschi of Italy. Artwork by myself.

Romano san sent me a batch of haiku the other day, asking me to make some haiga from it. I made three, and this is one of them.
Not all haiku become haiga. Some are already visual enough, and its haiga would be redundant. Some simply do not inspire me.

When I read this haiku, some rural scenes I had seen in Italy came back to my mind. Rome to Florence, Rome to Napoli, somewhere along there.

Romano san offers me to stay at his little cabin on a cliff by the sea. Nice offer, but I do not know when I can make it.

School exhibition

This photo is a scene of haiga exhibition held at a high school near Tokyo. An English teacher there had requested my permission to use some haiga from WHA monthly haiga contest. And she wanted to exhibit her students' english haiku and haiga along with the WHA haiga. She reported to me a few days ago that many people had shown interests in the exhibit, and she was happy the exhibition had gone so well. I am happy, too, that WHA haiga contributed to such a well-received exhibition.

Haiku 413

Haiku by myself. Photo is from a series of photographs taken at the site of Indonesian volcano eruption.

Haiga 412

Haiku by myself. Photo by Mustafa Guraishi of India. Artficial or natural, the rainbow always attracts people's eyes. And I am one of them, too.

I was quite late in submitting my haiku for World Haiku 2010 anthology. I looked through all the photo-haiku I made recently. One thing about photo-haiku is that haiku needs to be rewrote if it is to stand independent of the photo. And even after rewriting, without the photo, many haiku could not stand alone, only eight remained. Photo and haiku become integral part of a photo-haiku piece and offers one complete whole.