Haiga 619 Kristy Karkow haiku - fire

Haiku by Kristy Karkow (USA). Artwork by myself.
Is it possible to visualize sound? I think it can be done.

In this haiga, I used bold simple shapes, strong brush strokes, vibrant complementary colors of green and red, strong contrast of tones, and wild-looking font. I think these visual elements contribute to convey not only the kind of sounds but also a sense of fear of the wildfire.

I just hope that this is not self-complacency.

Haiga 618 Linked haiga - moon

Haiku by Michael McClintok and Taneda Sandoka. Artwork by myself.
In some areas of the world, moon is attributed to female, and sun to male. The attribution is opposite in some others. I do not know why it is so, but one thing is common, that is, both moon and sun are viewed as something sacred. They are above us always, 24 hours a day, watching and caring. It is no wonder that poets and haijin of all generation have taken up sun and moon as theme of their literature.

As a visual artist, the circular shape of the sun and moon is valuable. Just placing sun or moon in a painting makes it structured, giving it a good focal point.

Haiga 617 Linked haiga - minimal

Haiku by Cor van den Heuvel and Taneda Santoka. Artowrk by myself.
Haiku is the shortest poem form in the world (I think). Some of them are even shorter, like in these haiku here.
In visual art, there is a school called minimal art, and I feel that the style fits nicely with short poem. In here, both images look almost like pattern design, but adding verse and a little something else make them independent works of art.

Haiga 616 Linked haiga -high-heel shoes

Haiku by Kikko Yokoyama, Max Varhert, and myself. Artwork by myself.

Another linked haiga. Some women love high-heeled shoes, and some don't. The choice of shoes seem to reflect the personality. As for me, I do not have any preference, but am interested though, because the high-heel seems to present more drama than the regular shoes, to present nice theme for artwork and literature, and they seem to articulate certain femininity.

Thunder god and bellybuttons

"Hurry, hurry, Mommy!", kids are screaming under a dinning table, pressing both hands hard against on their bellybuttons as thunder flushing and roaring outside. Mom rushes to the scared kids and does what she is expected to do--pasting bandaids on kids' bellybuttons.



They say, from olden times, that the god of thunder loves bellybuttons and come dig them out your belly and eat them when the thunder strikes. This story scares kids, and my grandkids are no exception, hence the bandaid protection.



Tawaraya Sotatsu, one of my favorite Japanese painters, did a painting of the god of thunder and the god of wind. This image here is that of the former. Superb imagination.

Haiga 615 Matsuo Basho haiku - Mogami River

Haiku by Matsuo Basho. Artwork by myself.
I made this longer version of haiga in A1 size (594mm X 841mm), and made some printouts. I will present them, as a token of my gratitude, to those who supported realizing my haiga exhibition .

There are two haiku about the Mogami River in Basho's "Narrow Road to the Deep North". I made two haiga separately, but for this long haiga, I put the two together, linked them so to speak. Putting together is no big deal when you are working with digital data. I just love this software called Adobe Illustrator, which I have been using since its earliest version.

Haiga 614 Linked Haiga & Buson monument

Haiku by A.C. Missias, Joann Klontz, and paul.m. Artwork by myself.
There is linked haiku, so why not linked haiga. I made each one of the haiga some years ago, each written by different haijin at different times and place, not meant to be linked. I have a reason to have them linked together, but the reason is pretty subjective, more like a feeling, and difficult to express in words.

Putting them together necessitates some adjustments of colors, of composition, and of determining focal point so the three become one, or visually linked.

---------------------------------------


I was out to Kobe and Osaka yesterday. In Osaka, near Umeda Train Station, I found this monument. This frontal image is repeated in the back as in a mirror.

At the first glance, it appeared as a modern sculpture, but I found a Buson's haiku engraved on the triangular stone, the famous haiku about the rape field and sun and moon. According to a little board on the side, in the olden days, when Buson wrote the haiku, this area was a stretch of wide rape field.

Haiku monuments are usually made with natural stone. This one is done with very new approach, not only the materials used (Polished and shaped stone and stainless steel), but it expresses the poetic content of Buson's haiku in sculptural form. This approach coincides well with the way I make my haiga. I liked the monument instantly.

Haiga 613 Casimiro de Brito haiku3 - words

Haiku by Casimiro de Brito (Portugal). Artwork by myself.

Just a few words uttered by someone may have profound effects, be they good or bad, on the another. In my case, the words were "Keep on embracing". These words triggered a chain of thoughts and actions thereafter. In order to fully embrace the other, one needs to restrain all the self-centered thoughts, transforming one's mind becoming like the clear water, which embraces a lot of things and still maintains its identity as the water.

Obviously, the words have left good effects on my life, being surrounded by nice family members, friends, and co-workers.

Haiga 612 Casimiro de Brito haiku2

Haiku by Casimiro de Brito. Artwork by myself.
I was not a swimmer at all, but after I moved to Hawaii, swimming came very naturally to me, I even became enthusiastic about it. In college years, I used to ride bicycle to and from the campus, and often I made a bit long way to Ala Moana Beach to swim. That was when I learned to swim long distance, like a mile. A happy young swimmer in a paradise.

I was also constantly jogging up and down hill of Nuuanu Valley, along the Pali Highway. If the Ironman Triathlon Hawaii was there then, I would have seriously considered participating.

Now, I regularly go to an indoor swimming pool in my town. It's like I have been swimming good part of my life. A happy old swimmer now. When I pass away, I will be swimming for a while in the River of Heaven, or Milky Way, until I find a pool in a mother's womb.

Gentle swell of sea,
I just let my body
float and rock

Haiga 611 Casimiro de Brito haiku -the sea

Haiku by Casimiro de Brito (Portugal). Artwork by myself.
Casimiro san is a well established poet, so well that he is often mentioned as a candidate for Nobel Prize in Literature. I met him in my town, when I helped organizing the 2nd. World Haiku Association Conference. He's been a regular face at the subsequent conferences, and also at the 1st Tokyo Poetry Festival two years ago.

The sea... Life on the earth goes way way back, born as a simple primitive life form at the bottom of the sea, around where hot water gushed out. That is what the recent scientific findings tell. Not only that, the sea produces from a tiny life forms and all kinds of minerals to devastating tsunami and typhoon. The sea is indeed the biggest producer on the earth.

Typhoon clouds

The photo is taken at 9:00a.m. from my office window, toward the southern sky.

This morning, wind is quite and no rainfall, but typhoon itself is still near by, slowly passing by our area. It is not hitting my town directly, though. The nearest it comes will be around noon time so we are till in alert.

This typhoon brings a lot of rainfall, in some area as much as 1000mm, that's 1 meter, amazing. Hard to imagine that much water is above us, within the clouds. As I write this blog, the rain starts again.

Water islands -
stretch of watered rice patch
reflecting stretch of rain cloud

------
Update:

Typhoon coming

Yesterday, my wife and I went to my haiga exhibition site. Because of the typhoon, it was cloudy and temperature low. Pleasant drive for a while until we were in the middle of a mountain path. Rain started, and soon enough it became down pour. Good thing there were not much wind then. On the way back was in similar condition so we dropped in a shopping mall to have a break.

The big typhoon is slow to come. Today, more wind and rain. And tomorrow is the big day.

The sea's gifts for us -
tsunami in spring and
typhoon in summer

Children's postcards exhibited

My office sponsors postcard contest for children annually. We do this in collaboration with a chidlren's magazine. Chiildren submit their postcard on which they are free to draw, paint any artwork. The cards are then exhibited on the ground floor of my office building. Don't they emernate certain power?


We receive a lot of cards, as you can see in the photo. I am personally looking for some future haiga artists, but children are more interested in depicting anime charactors they adore. I guess that is a good thing, the children are getting used to producing artworks and illustrations, and that is an important beginning.

Anthology cover desgin

The 2nd Tokyo Poetry Festival and the 6th World Haiku Association Conference will be held from Sept. 9 through 11 this year. I have been doing the design assignments for the event. So far, I completed two flyers, four types of tickets, and two posters. Now, this anthology is the final one. It is in A4 size, and the image here is showing the front, spine, and the back.

As to my attending the event, I am still in a process of adjusting my schedule. I really wish to attend at least a day because the most well known and widely read poet, Shuntaro Tanikawa will be participating in the event, and this is a good chance to meet him in person.

Haiga exhibtion -the day one

The exhbition site is about 50 minutes by car, but today, I took the train and even though the ride was pleasant, took me more than two hours. Should have taken the car.

When I got there, there were already some people there. I met Takeda san and his secretary. Takeda san is the head of the Kanan-cho municipal and had wrote a few words of recommendation for the exhibition flyer. He liked the exhibit and promised to spread words around.

If you have noticed, I am wearing a strange looking hat. I saw my singer friend was wearing it today. This is the kind of hat Basho used to wear back in olden days. I was surprised it was still manifactured today. I borrowed it and tried it on myself. It was light and fitted nicely. I might get one myself.

The day one begain quietly. But starting from tomorrow, the museum will hold a summer special exhibition. A lot of visiters are expected, and I hope they will get to see our exhibition, too.

Haiga Exhibition - preparation

My friends and I met at Chikatsu Asuka Museum this morning, and began setting up the exhibition. On one wall, the first half(26 out of 52 haiga) of my haiga of Basho's "Narrow Road to the Deep North" is exhibited. Each haiga is small but when placed in this manner, it creats substantial volume. Each haiga is laminated. My friend, a singer, is setting up exhibit of musical instruments on the red table. These instruments were used for the recording of the reading of the Basho's story.


On another wall are one haiga from Saigyo's waka, and Basho's famous old pond haiga. The other large artworks are example of my artworks born from some haiga of the Narrow Road series. On the green table is a portion of a 15m (about 45 ft long) scroll, in which you can enjoy the collaboration of calligraphy and my water color painting. My friend's recording will be run as BGM.

Haiga 610 Edin Saracevic haiku - seagull

Haiku by Edin Saracevic (Slovenia). Artwork by myself.
Such a beautiful summer day today. I woke up early, the sun's already up, bright and shine. Washed my car, went to a barber shop, getting ready for the opening of my haiga exhibition (starts on July 15).

Edin is one of the active haijins in Slovenia. I think I learned of his haiku from another active haijin of Slovenia, Alenka Zorman. So, between me and the sky, there are not the seagulls but two Slovenian haijins.

I have never been to Slovenia. What I know about the country is all from photographic books Alenka san had sent to me. In making this haiga, I thought about the sea and sky of Hawaii, which I am so well acquainted. I thought about the day like today, me laid back on the beach, admiring the pristine sky.

Beach wind
occasionally visible
in her long hair

Haiga 609 Sue Mill haiku - drought

Haiku by Sue Mill (USA). Artwork by myself.
One good thing about Japan is that the land is full of water: good rainfall, a lot of rivers, a lot of spring water, tap water drinkable everywhere. I think many Japanese take it for granted. However, when you turn your eyes to the world, Japan's condition is very rare, and is definitely a blessing and something to thank for.

Chinese are buying rights to some remote water spots in Japan. The Yellow River, one of the biggest rivers in China, is reported to reach the ocean only about 50 days out of a year. The rest of the days, it disappears along the way. This is caused by the increasing consumption of water. Water will certainly be a precious resource in the future.

Haiga 608 Haruko Iijima haiku - white socks

Haiku by Haruko Iijima. Artwork by myself.

Tabi, or cotten white socks, is the traditional socks in Japan. Now we wear them on the special occasions like at the festival time. In my case, I wear them all the time because they are a part of the priest uniform and I work as priest almost everyday. They are comfortable to wear in the summer time, good for humid climate. In the winter, however, they do not cover much of the leg part, and the material itself is not so warm.

In the festival time, as in this haiga, people wear tabi alone, no shoes. After a lot of physical activities in the festival, the tabi get soiled and looses their snow white purity. Instead, the souls of the people get cleansed.

--------
I am back from Tokyo. Rather big aftershock during my stay. Everyday, nuke plant problem is in the news. Subways, stores, everywhere is dimmer and hotter. I noticed more people were carrying Sensu, Japanese folding fan. The news says only 30% of debris has been taken cared of in three months, and still has a long way to go.

Summer clouds,
how quickly they build up
over fields of debris

Haiga 607 Peggy Willis Lyles haiku - firefly

Haiku by Peggy Willis Lyles. Artwork by myself.
"Hotaru" is the word for firefly in Japanese, and I like the sound of it. It certainly does not remind me of sometimes annoying and harmful "fly".

I always thought "fly" was not a suitable word for this cute little clean bug. The fly is always harboring at dirty water and on stinky decaying things. It spread germs, too. On the other hand, the "Hotaru" live by sweet, clear water. They harbor on it like tiny fireworks. It is such a delight for young and all to see them at night.

I wonder what is the suitable English word for this bug.

-----
I 'll be off to Tokyo for a several days. Will continue posting after I return so stay turned.

Haiga 606 Shugyo Takaha haiku

Haiku by Shugyo Takaha of Japan. Artwork by myself.
Shugo Takaha is a well known contemporary haijin, has many followers within Japanese haiku population.

Nice July day today. It rained last night, so the air has cooled a little. There is also nice breeze, too. The weather makes me feel good. Plus that, I finished all design works I had to do: 3 flyers, 2 posters, 4 tickets, 3 postcard. They are all in printer's hand now. Special good feeling.

I send all of my design data to online print firm in Kyoto. The cost of printing is about half of what I used to pay to a local print firm. The time is changing. Old fashioned print firm will be an about-to-extinct dinosaur.

Haiku book - Sayumi Kamakura

I received a new haiku book by Sayumi Kamakura. I designed its cover, and I am happy that it looks pretty good.

Sayumi's request was to make it as colorful as possible, but the publisher requested that I work with two colors. It was a challenging project for a designer.

Haiga 605 Cor van den Heuvel haiku - baseball

Haiku by Cor van den Heuvel (USA). Artwork by myself.

Cor san is well known, among other literary works, for his baseball haiku. I made many haiga from his haiku and this is one of them. As for the glove, I drew from my son's one.

When I was in junior high school, I joined the baseball club, but only briefly. I learned as I grew older and engaged in sports dealing with any type of balls, I realized finally that I was not cut out for ball sports in general. I seem to have more aptitude in sports like swimming and jogging.

Playing catch -
feeling the boy's growth
in his ball