Monday, August 1, 2011

Wedding haiku




next to the cornfield
bride and groom exchange vows--
cicadas hum





Here's a couple of other "field" haiku that appeal to me. The first is by Seira; the second by Shiki.


lifting up their horns
the cattle look at people
on the summer moor -Seira

a hoe standing there
no-one to be seen,--
the heat! -Shiki


Shiki is one of my favorite haiku artists. He's considered one of Japan's four great classic haiku poets, and responsible for introducing the name of haiku for this form, and also in modernizing it. As you can see from this haiku, he has a real eye for the interplay of humans with nature, plus a humorous take on the world.
He was born in 1867 and had planned to become a politician. He studied at the Imperial University, but his love for literature pushed him toward writing. He chose Shiki for his pen name. At the age of 22, he developed TB and according to legend the "shiki" was a bird that coughed up blood when it sang. Shiki died fairly young in 1902, but he left behind many haiku and many essays about it.

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