haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering! 25th January 2025

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

https://www.thehaikufoundation.org/omeka/files/original/7d2c89bb84ef2ca6749fe6e4e528b726.pdf

https://haikuproject.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/july-1-1-4-the-techniques-of-wabi-and-sabi/

<>

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:

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

indian subcontinent SAIJIKI:

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

The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words:

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

The World Kigo Database:

https://wkdkigodatabase03.blogspot.com/

The Yuki Teikei Haiku Season Word List:

https://yths.org/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