haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering! 14th September.

haikaiTALKS: haiku aesthetics - YŪGEN | a saturday gathering_under the banyan tree

host: Lev Hart

14th September 2024

haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering_under the banyan tree

Haiku Aesthetics: YŪGEN 2

Your host for haikaiTALKS Lev Hart

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Aesthetics: YŪGEN 2

According to Jane Reichhold, Autumn is linked not only to loneliness, but potentially to fear, spirits, and the unknown. The autumn kigo in Lorraine Haig’s haiku lends a touch of the uncanny to its mystery, it's yūgen:

 full moon

       the forest moves

       its shadows

       (HAIKUsutradhar, Sep 16, 2023)

The moon, unless specified otherwise, is an autumn kigo. Its potential to suggest the uncanny, instead of myriad other possibilities, is actualized in context with “the forest moves / its shadows.” Somewhere in the forest, the poet has remained still long enough to observe the movement of trees’ shadows. From her standpoint, the shadows are not moving with the moonrise. The forest itself is moving them. Her perception of an animistic forest is not unlike the worldview of Shinto, Japan’s native religion. The poet is experiencing the spirit world of the forest. If she were to say so explicitly, our sense of mystery would be slight. The declaration would provoke incredulity. The poetry lies in the suggestion.

Besides mystery, awe and wonder, elegance is a traditional aspect of yūgen. Lorraine’s haiku shows a touch of elegance in the alliteration of "full" with "forest," and “moon” with “moves,” connecting the fragment and the phrase via harmony.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to write two haiku with yūgen, with or without the uncanny. Feel free to add a poetic touch --- a little is likely to be enough. Remember the kigo. When has nature filled you with mystery, wonder and awe?

Jane Reichhold, "A Dictionary of Haiku Classified by Season Words with Traditional and Modern Methods"

https://thehaikufoundation.org/omeka/files/original/7fb6654a1dfd1afef97369da920530f8.pdf

The Yuki Teikei Haiku Season Word List:

https://yths.org/season-word-list/

indian subcontinent SAIJIKI:

https://www.trivenihaikai.in/indian-saijiki

The World Kigo Database

https://wkdkigodatabase03.blogspot.com/

The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words

http://www.2hweb.net/haikai/renku/500ESWd.html

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Thank you for doing this for us, Lev.

Members,

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This is an exciting phase for haikaiTALKS! Have fun! Keep writing and commenting! _kala