Haïku

Poetry

Here I go again into the unknown – for me.

I am almost totally ignorant of Haiku – but… it’s not so bad, it’s never too late to drink.

And, now you know – this is quite outrageous by the way and I’m not proud of it – I go wandering around in things from the books, movies and games I love.
By dint of having movies, books, series (my JoJo… my favorite), and video games around Japan, well…. I end up wanting to put my pretty nose more into what comes from Japan.

Thanks to The Ghost of Tsushima game which is my latest find – which I’m absolutely delighted with & I need to find a way to play it this summer – I’m off to the Haiku.

So I learn that there are three major masters, who are like three founding fathers, three men who succeeded each other and who established this genre as an absolute and minimalist art.

The first one is called Yosa Buson – he was born in 1716, in the countryside of Japan. As a young man, he went to Edo and learned to perfect his painting and his mastery of short poetry: haiku.

Only Mount Fuji
Is left unburied
By young leaves.

“Put me up for a night!”
He threw the katana.
It is a snow storm.

The canola flowers.
The moon in the east.
The sun in the west.

The second, Kobayashi Yataro was born in 1763 and has the nickname of Issa. He is a man who seeks the joys of life in the contemplation of the world – and who does not want to forget the end of all life.

Spring morning –
my shadow too
overflowing with life

Without worry
it contemplates the mountain –
the frog

Covered with butterflies
the dead tree
is in bloom

The third, Masaoka Shiki is a Japanese poet who lived at the end of the 19th century. He will break the romantic style which was de rigueur – impose the word: haiku and thus becomes the father of the modern school.

Who hates this world
must love
the thistle flowers

Islands
pine trees on the islands
and the fresh sound of the wind

The red dragonfly.
At the Tsukuba, no cloud
Is seen.

You may say that it is not very easy to put all this on a stage?
I agree.

At the same time, if it was easy, everyone would have done it already.

At the same time, with the visual and musical support of several games, it becomes less difficult.

At the same time, it allows the spectator to do something else than “spectating” – he too should be able to create his haikus – what a nice evening it could be:
You come – you admire these haikus, these beautiful drawings, these amazing colors from Japan and instead of going home, you go up on the stage and …. a little haiku would you like before leaving?

Another success story.

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Featured Image : Umezawa in Sagami district – Hokusai