Haiga from Oku-no-Hosomichi by Basho

Haiku by Matsuo Basho. Artwork by myself.

In his travel journal, Oku no hoso michi, or Narrow road to the deep north, Basho wrote the following:

"As we sat in a room at the front of the temple and rolled up the screens, the entire landscape unfolded before us. To the south, Mount Chōkai propped up the sky, its image reflected in the water. To the west, the Muyamuya Barrier blocked the road. To the east, the road to Akita stretched out on an embankment far into the distance. To the north was the sea, whose waves broke into the lagoon at a place called Shiogoshi [Tide-Crossing]."

I have been to an area nearby this place mentioned here. I was impressed by the scenery there but I was not into haiku and haiga then. I was more interested in sipping good local sake (rice wine), and chop-sticking local delicacies while viewing the wonderful scenery.

Something for a change 9

Artwork by myself.

Anyone wish to contribute haiku, senryu, poems?

Something different - hey jude

While net surfing, I found this chart. The famous song, the one sung at the opening of London Olympic, is actually very well organized.

---------
In London Olympic again, I am closely watching a Japanese swimmer, Kosuke Kitajima, a gold medalist. His first Olympic was when he was 17. Ever since, he participated in every Olympic Games. I have been watching his growth as a swimmer since he was 15 years old, when he was receiving training at Tokyo Swimming Center (I designed its logo mark and all the swimming wears including swimming cap).

Haiga 869 - Alan Pizzarelli haiku

Haiku by Alan Pizzarelli. Artwork by myself.

This is a re-work of a haiga I made previously. Reworking happens quite often in my case. In each case, the after result is better than the before. It seems that there is no end to creation.

I love tomatos, by the way.

Something different - children's marching bands

One big event of the summer pilgrimage festival is the marching band parade contest. Just like in Olympic there are three prizes: gold, silver, and copper. For 10 days everyday, contest area is packed with children dressed for marching.

The area happens to be just the side of my office building so you kind of have to swim through the crowd of children to go anywhere. They practice too while waiting for their turn so the sounds are everywhere. Its 8:00 in the morning. The sun is already high up and temperature going up. Young energy and heat fill the air.

Something different - wood craft

On the first floor of my office building, an exhibition of wood crafts has started today. This exhibition is just one of many events going on now in my town, where a children's summer pilgrimage festival is held from today through Aug. 4. Each year, more than 200 thousand children participate from all over Japan as well as from overseas countries.

The wood craft work on the right of the photo is the largest of the exhibition. It is about skiers sliding down a slope. When you turn the brown circular plate seen at the right bottom, the skiers start to sway, arms and legs moving just like the real skiers. This work won the first place in all Japan wood craft contest.

Something for a change 8

Olympic artwork by myself.

London Olympic is just around corner, only a few more days to go. And here is another artwork for your entertainment. Poetic contributions are welcome as usual.

Haiga 868 - Rita Odeh haiku

Haiku by Rita Odeh. Artwork by myself

Among the haiku contributions, this haiku by Rita-san caught my attention. Really nice haiku (senryu) itself, and seemed to give me an idea for a short story.

Haiga 867 - Alexis Rotella+Kuniharu Shimizu senryu

Senryu by Alexis Rotella. Original artwork from the web. Digital manipulation and bug drawing by myself

I happened to read Alexis-san's tweet yesterday, a senryu about lady bug. Just for fun, I started making haiga for it. At first I looked for an Indian female statue with sensual pose, the kind you often find on the stone wall of temples. I however could not find appropriate one so I searched something else and found a color portrait of a woman. It was too colorful, as in most of Indian paintings, so I did a little digital manipulation to get the effect I felt comfortable with, then I added the ladybug illustration I had done before, placing it as if it is crawling on the painting of the woman.

The image might be too illustrative of the verse, but it's ok. I'm just having fun.
Here is differnt version:

Alexis-san worked on my haiga, and sent it back to me. She added lines and red ornaments on the artwork with her iPad. I then added my bug illustration. The artwork had a new appearance so I came up with a new senryu and added it to make a new haiga.

Just having fun again.

Something for a change 7

Artwork by myself

Now that the London Olympic is about to begin, I am presenting this artwork for you. I am not sure if this artwork will inspire you to write haiku or senryu. But my reasoning is, Cor van den Heuvel writes a lot of baseball haiku, so why not Olympic?

Haiga 866 - Polona Oblak haiku

Haiku by Polona Oblak. Artwork by myself.

Wow!,18 contributions!
Thank you so much, all of you contributors, for showing interest in this "Something for a change" series. Your enthusiasm really make my selection a difficult task. After perusal, I picked Polona's haiku.

I made a little adjustments in the artwork so the verse stays contextually and physically comfortable in it. The adjustments are: changed the color of the butterflies (including the one in the bottle), and their locations; made the green twig more distintive; changed the color of the bottle bottom; omitted the cricket; enhanced the blue of the background.

Something for a change 6

Artwork by myself.

Any haiku or senryu contribution?

The artwork is put together with elements I made for several haiga before.

Haiga 865 - Alan Summers haiku

Haiku by Alan Summers. Artwork by myself.

From the haiku constributions for "Something for a change 5", I picked Alan-san's haiku. I like the contrast of the subject matters, big truck in the artwork, and a can of coke in the verse. However the sizes differ, both are man-made things, expressing their existence in their own ways.

I made a few minor changes in the artwork so the verse fitted in harmoniously.

Thank you to all who contributed haiku.

--------
This artwork reminds me of a painting I did in my school days. It was done on a big canvas, where a part of Harley Davidson (a Honolulu Police bike) and an enlarged part of crashed coca-cola can. I had James Rosenquist's paintings in mind. This one, especially.

A few words on haiku

Haiku is a very short poem.
What make it a sound poem which trigers fine imaginative work are inventions like “cutting words”, “juxtaposition”, “season words or key words”. Among them, “juxtaposion” makes renku, haibun, and haiga possible. Haiku is indeed the core or the seed of further creative activities. I would like to invite the world to the arena of these intellectural entertainment.

A few words on haiga

In haiga, the artwork is not subordinate to haiku, but rather occupies the equal position. Let’s take man and woman as an example, let’s say man is haiku and woman is the artwork. Man and woman, finding some affinity or emotional pull, get together and a child is born. In the same way, haiku and the artwork, each independent but shares some commonness or contextual pull, are put together, resulting in haiga, a work with new value. Mature haiku + mature artwork = mature haiga, is what I want to say. If seen in the example of renku, what follows haiku is not another haiku, but an artwork.

Artwork for the book cover

Artwork by myself.

More than a year ago, Dimitar-san requested me to do some artworks for his pending publication. I made about ten haiga, and also book cover art, and sent them to him. And yesterday, he emailed me, informing that the book would be published early next year. The anthology will contain 820 poems by 385 authors from 42 countries. Sounds like an awesome publication.

Something for a change 5

Artwork by myself.

Another invitation for haiga collaboration.

Haiga 864 - Alexis Rotella haiku

Haiku by Alexis Rotella. Artwork by myself.

Thank you all for contributing fine poems for this artwork. All of you are so quick to catch on my suggestion about haiga, that is, haiku has a story and artwork does another, and together produce yet new story. All the poems contain nice stories but among them, I have picked Alexis's one, for I thought it was most dramatic.

Inspired by this haiga, a shot story is already forming in my mind. A boy will be a protagonist, maybe a little younger than the girl in the artwork. The girl is not aware of the beauty she inherently possess, and the boy is charmed by her beauty but does not know how to term the feeling that has been fermenting in his heart. The dove could be the embodiment of the boy's feeling....

Haiku is exciting because it provides the poetic core for the subsequent creative activities, Renku, longer poem, haibun, novel, artwork, and maybe music. That was how haiku was enjoyed in the olden days in Japan. The DNA still continues today, this time in the world scale.

Ezra Pound seems to have come to the similar understanding (Poetic content of haiku as the core of creative activities) by himself, through his experience in the Metro.

I changed the color of the background and the bricks a little to give a little more contract. I also worked on the hands, too. These are small changes, but when the verse is added to the artwork, such changes often become necessary for the verse and the artwork are now interacting.

Something for a change 4

Artwork by myself.

In the previous post, the bamboo one, the artwork received many poems. Thank you all for the contributions. Though each poem has its own merit, I feel that the contextual distance between the artwork and the poems are too close: verses seem to illustrate the artwork verbally.

The artwork has its own story. I am hoping that a poem inspired by the artwork tells another story, which has nice connection to that of the artwork. It works kind of Renku, I guess. Out of two nicely related works comes a new meaning, new context.

Here is another artwork for your intellectual entertainment. Again, your contributions are welcome.

New season -
dove and I
wait for the wind

Something for a change 3

Artwork by myself.

Another chance of haiga collaboration. You are welcome to contribute haiku, senryu, wake, or whatever that comes to your mind.

One of my favored Japanese musical instrument is the bamboo flute. Here in this artwork too, I have included the flute. There are many types of bamboo flutes, and the most sophisticated one is called Ryuteki, which is used for Gagaku music. I used to play the instrument with a Gagaku emsemble. We used to play outside, under the light of the moon. That was gorgeous moments, indeed.

Haiga 863 - Joan Barrett Roberts haiku

Haiku by Joan B. Roberts. Artwork by myself.

While I was out of town, I received fine poems for the artwork of "something for a change 2". Thank you all.
Among the batch, I pick the one by Joan. I worked on the verse a little, tuned it to two-liner (hope she does not mind), and added it to the artwork. Here is the collaborated haiga.

-------

I came home late last night, and found a postcard informing that my haiku had received the honorable mention in the recent Ito-En Haiku Contest.

Something for a change 2

Artwork by myself.

Again, no word from me. You are welcome to add haiku, senryu, whatever to this image. Write it in the comment. I will then pick the one I feel is the most suitable to this image, and will add it to the image.

---------

I am off to Tokyo for a few days.

Something for a change

Artwork by myself.

Spain haiga series is over now. I guess you are getting bored reading my haiku every day, so here is something for a change. Just an artwork and no haiku. You are welcome to add your haiku, senryu, whatever.Just write your thing in the comment.

You lie on the ground, push yourself up, put hands together, and the next moment you are slammed on the ground. Horizontal prayer position is possible only for a very brief moment, but you dedicate your whole body and mind. The time is so short that only thing you can say in your prayer is just "Thanks".

Haiga 862 - Kuniharu Shimizu haiku (senryu)

Haiku and photograph by myself

Colors exist only where the light does.
Without light, what a painter can do?

Haiga 861 - Kuniharu Shimizu haiku (senryu)

Haiku and photograph by myself

Cultural heritage is very rich in Barcelona. Just what can a bunch of passing tourists contribute to that?

Haiga 860 - Kuniharu Shimizu haiku (senryu)

Haiku and photograph by myself.

The architect here refers to Antoni Gaudí. Dream here refers to Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família and Park Guell, both in Barcelona. There are many more examples of Gaudi architecture in the city, but these two were the ones I visited.
Photo here was taken at Park Guell.

The organic shapes that characterize Gaudi's works did not appear so much out of place in the city like Barcelona, with its climate, atmosphere, temperament of the people.
If one is familiar with the rocky mountain outskirt of the city, which is known as Monserrat, the shapes in Sagrada Familiar are not foreign at all.

Nothing man made is truly original. Man has gotten inspiration from the Nature. Thus the originality resides in the Nature.

Haiga 859 - Kuniharu Shimizu haiku (senryu)

Haiku and photograph by myself

A different vehicle today, an open-roof, second-story sightseeing bus. I have seen similar ones in London, but here in Barcelona, this type of the bus is used for sightseeing only and many visitors enjoy the ride.
I was on my bus, looking out of the window as usual, and suddenly this red bus came into my view. Big modern logo against the old building offered an interesting contrast so I shot the scene. Haiku came many days later. The sky was not the usual blue so I colored the haiku verse in blue.

Haiga 858 - Kuniharu Shimizu haiku (senryu)

Haiku and photograph by myself.

I found these vehicles at a parking lot somewhere. From the looks of them, they are used by traveling theater people. Several painted layers were folded in to the vehicles so when they were unfolded, they would become a stage. I have never seen anything like them in Japan so my eyes got attracted by them.

No people was to be seen, probably went out for a long lunch, or taking siesta in the shade somewhere. Afternoon sun was bright, showing a silent play of light and shadow. I was the only spectator.

Haiga 857 - Kuniharu Shimizu haiku (senryu)

Haiku (or just words) and photograph by myself.

This is a rather strange photograph. It actually is the back of an old windmill. I am not sure what the wooden pole is for, but it kind of sticks out like this. The whole scene somehow attracted my eyes. After many days, when I looked at it, the words came out. It is not really a haiku or senryu, maybe just words.

Three lines encompass a space and form a shape called triangle. If drawn on paper, the shape is two dimensional, but if the lines are found in the nature, like this pole, the outline of the white wind mile, and the horizon, the encompassed space will have the depth. "So what?", you might ask. I am, too, asking the same question to myself. I just feel that there is something here, visually telling me, something that is beyond verbal expression.

Haiga 856 - Kuniharu Shimizu haiku (senryu)

Haiku and photograph by myself.

White walls painted with ultramarine blue and yellow orcher caught my eyes. And then the simmering green of the round tree, and the pristine blue of the sky. In a small village of La Mancha, the colors are collaboration of God and man.

Haiga 856 - Kuniharu Shimizu haiku (senryu)

Haiku and photograph by myself.

As I have written in the other blog posts, the shapes of shadow are so clear and distinct in Spain that I was tempted to play with them time to time. Here I was at the top of a mountain where several old windmills stood. Rather than photographing the windmills, I played with my shadow.

Haiga 855 - Kuniharu Shimizu haiku (senryu)

Haiku and photograph by myself.

The photo image is rather surreal, but it is an actual scene, wind turbine under construction. Without the fan, which is about 100 meter long, the pole looks like some kind of monument.

A guy in my group had experience woking on wind turbine installment. He said the turbine and installment cost somewhere from 1million to 2million dollars, depending on the number of turbines and locations. I saw hundreds of them while riding on the bus, so quite a investment has been put into already. I later learned that there were more than 3000 turbines around Spain now.

One problem with wind is the rising utility fee, because of the high initial cost. But, no matter how high fee gets, it is much better than having no electricity, which is indispensable in contemporary life of ours.