haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering! 21st September.

haikaiTALKS: haiku aesthetics - SUMMARY: Integrating Our Skills | a saturday gathering_under the banyan tree

host: Lev Hart

21st September 2024

haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering_under the banyan tree

Haiku Aesthetics: SUMMARY: Integrating Our Skills

Your host for haikaiTALKS Lev Hart

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SUMMARY: Integrating Our Skills

Each week, we have focused on how a haiku expresses one or another aesthetic concept. In actual fact, each of these ku is a blend of the various concepts we have discussed since June. Let’s return to the verse with which we started:

       spring moon

       mother darning a sock

       by the window

       (Keiko Izawa, HAIKUsutradhar, Apr 25, 2023)

The kigo connects with the rest of the verse. Cultures around the world and throughout time have linked motherhood with Spring, the season when flora and fauna reproduce. Spring is also the season of renewal. The mother renews a sock. Keiko demonstrates that a kigo is not merely a time stamp, or a garnish, for the rest of the verse. The interrelation of the kigo with the rest of the verse --- the toriawase --- is foundational.

By linking the moods of the season with the concreteness and immediacy of the moment, the reader shifts from thinking “the moon is the moon, and the mother is the mother,” to, “the mother is not unlike the moon,” “the mother is like the moon,” or even, “the mother is the moon.” The reader’s shift from one way of seeing the world to another evokes her awe and wonder. In short, Keiko’s verse has yūgen. It is based on the toriawase --- the interrelation of the kigo with the rest of the verse, the season with the moment.

Both Spring and the moon, as phases of the annual and lunar cycles respectively, express continuous change. In this context, the mother also seems subject to the influence of time. In contrast to the imagery of Spring, perhaps she is in the autumn of her years. The inference would be consistent with sabi. Keiko’s haiku, an intersection of annual, lunar and human life cycles, is beautiful in its ephemerality. The haiku’s sabi, like its yūgen, unfolds from the toriawase.

Consistent with sabi, the poet in Keiko’s verse is invisible, omitting the words “I,” “me,” and “my,” as well as avoiding idiosyncratic wordplay and personal reflections. The imagery is not coloured by strong feelings, or distorted by flights of fancy. The poet does not betray her presence with conspicuous literary devices. The wording's clarity complements the poet's invisibility.

The toriawase of Keiko's verse also gives rise to wabi. The mother darns by moonlight because she cannot afford lamplight. The sock is darned because she lacks the money to replace it. Consistent with wabi, the austere imagery nevertheless evokes serenity.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to compose two verses blending toriawase with a combination of sabi, wabi, karumi, or yūgen. Which aesthetic concepts do you want to highlight with your haiku? Tell us in a line below the verse. (Two lines is too many.)

Remember the kigo. It’s the foundation, from a traditional standpoint, of the haiku.

Saijiki:

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,

Please give your feedback on others' commentary and poems too. _()_

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