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haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering! 25th January 2025

Writer's picture: Kala RameshKala Ramesh

haikaiTALKS: wabi-sabi | a saturday gathering under the banyan tree


host: Srinivasa Sambangi

25th January 2025


haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering under the banyan tree

Your host for haikaiTALKS: Srinivas Sambangi


Wabi Sabi – Are they the same when seen together?


Wabi-Sabi is rather a difficult expression to translate into English. We all read and tried to understand the terms wabi and sabi for their meanings as different words and also together. When we look at them separately, they appear to have a lot of differences, but we rarely see the examples of wabi and sabi as two different aspects in the art forms, including haiku. Over some time, these terms have undergone gradual changes in the way they are perceived.

The historical meaning of wabi is “loneliness, solitude in presence of nature, languishing”. Its current meaning is rustic simplicity, freshness, tranquillity, anomalies/imperfections that are beautiful”


Similarly, the historical meaning of sabi is “wilted, rusted, wizened." Its current meaning is “beauty and calm in what is mature or aged, the pleasure felt in appreciating the imperfect”

Though the terms are and should be referred to distinctly, they are usually combined as wabi-sabi, as both a working description and as a single aesthetic principle. Together, wabi sabi refers to objects or happenings that are imperfect, incomplete, or impermanent. It shows you how embracing imperfections and impermanence frees you to become a better person, by re-evaluating what “better” means… what matters and what you truly want.

Wabi sabi teaches us how to live. The graphical representation of wabi sabi is given below:



So, do you think both wabi sabi are the same when you see them together? Please share your views. You may quote some examples, including your own. Or comment on the following examples

 

morning snow

I can chew dried salmon

alone


-Basho



cenotaph wind

in a woman’s black hair

dry brown leaf


-Richard Powell

 


in my hut this spring

there is nothing

there is everything


-Yamaguchi Sodo

 

 

References:

Wabi Sabi : The Wisdom in Imperfection by Nobuo Suzuki

 

 

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KIGO WORDS

Shall we please try to include a kigo word in all the poems we share here?

Give the season and the word—under your poem. 


I'm quoting Lev Hart's request here: "This week’s goal is to compose two verses with toriawase, blending wabi, sabi, karumi, mono no aware, and/or yugen. Tell us which aesthetic concepts you mean to express in a line below the verse. Strive for originality. Avoid stock phrases and shopworn images."


For seasonal references, please check these lists:

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


indian subcontinent SAIJIKI:


The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words:


The World Kigo Database:

 

The Yuki Teikei Haiku Season Word List:

**

Thank you for this post, Srinivas.

I hope our poets take the challenge and create a haiku on these lines!

Poets,

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

We are continuing haikaiTALKS!

Keep writing and commenting! _kala

211 views93 comments

93 opmerkingen


#2 31/01


winter sea

as another wave breaks

the rainbow fades


Fatma Zohra Habis/ Algeria


Feedback welcome 🌺

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Reageren op

Thanks a lot dear sherry 🌹♥️

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Kalyanee
Kalyanee
31 jan

31.01.2025

#2


an old melody

in the whistle of pines

crazy autumn


Kalyanee Arandhara

Assam, India


Feedback most welcome

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mona bedi
mona bedi
31 jan

Post #2

31.1.25


morning dew

the puppy’s paws

smeared in mud


(Dew is a summer kigo.)


Mona Bedi

India


Feedback appreciated:)

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mona bedi
mona bedi
31 jan
Reageren op

Thanks 🙏

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Sherry R
Sherry R
30 jan

Thank you, Kala and Srini, for these valuable lessons. Very helpful.

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Sherry R
Sherry R
30 jan

#1 30.1.25


short day--

darkness settles

nothing


kigo: short day= winter (Yuki Teikei list)

L1= jo; L2= ha; L3=kyu

Original L3= into fog

(wabi)-sabi, yugen


Sherry Reniker

USA


Comments and suggestions appreciated.

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