Dear Horst and all,

If you have a moment, read my latest musings about Issa haiku and the temple
Mokubo-Ji. This is a good example what the study of culture can bring to
light through the medium of haiku and improve our understanding of the
masters work.

http://darumapilgrim.blogspot.com/2006/10/mokubo-ji-and-umewakamaru.html


GABI


Translating Haiku

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/translatinghaiku/





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QUOTE from here
http://haiku.cc.ehime-u.ac.jp/nobo/20061028/18483.html



> >>>
> >> Angelika Kolompar Bygott wrote:
> >> In the dusty room --
> >> a small brown spider hanging
> >> by a single string
>
> > Gabi answered:
> as for your poem, it would look more like a Japanese haiku to me if you
> changed line one just a bit .. that way the CUT works better and it does
not read
> like just one sentence forcefully streched into three lines
> >> dusty room --
> >> a small brown spider hanging
> >> by a single string
> >
> Dear Gabi,
> if i may... i do not follow you. I am speaking in general terms without
c
> onsidering the specific haiku by Angelika.
> Writing in English is different than writing in Japanese. So it is
strange
> that a possible "measurement" of haiku may be based on the formal identity
in
> the grammatical structures. So i think your approach may not go to the
right
> path.
> Thank you for your attention and look forward to listening your
opinions...
> Dario
>
> Dear Dario,
> as you know, haiku originated in Japan quite a while ago with a set of
> prescriptions (yakusokugoto) to define the genre.
> Writing haiku in English or any other language is different, I do
agree.
> But some of the formal specifics of a Japanese haiku can be kept in any
> language, for example the CUT ... which I do not consider a grammatical
structure,
> but a formal one specific to Japanese haiku. Otherwise, you will write
short
> poetry, which is not a bad thing, but a different thing.
> I might be off the American path, but I still like to remind people
once
> in a while of the Japanese ancestors of haiku ... hahaha ... Please study
the
> classics of Japanese haiku to improve the understanding and writing of
your
> non-Japanese-language ones ... that would be my plea.
> It is an old and rather fruitless discussion, I am well aware of this
...
> still, living in Japan and being fond of the soul within the season words
> (kigo) and all the good things in Japanese haiku, I ramble on like this
once in a
> while.
> Take a look at the growing collection of the World Kigo Database to
find
> some kigo for your area to use in haiku. Or try to find words that carry
enough
> cultural background to be a new kigo for your area! Do not just drop kigo
> entirely, that is my advise on the kigo issue, for example.
> Greetings from Japan
> Gabi
> http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/
> <<<
>

> 061028
> I should like to support what Gabi wrote: "Please study the classics of
> Japanese haiku to improve the understanding and writing of your
> non-Japanese-language ones," and I would like to add, study the classics
of any culture,
> especially of course those of your own. I also think that writing "short
poetry [...]
> is not a bad thing, but a different thing." It is therefore good to
become
> more and more aware of ones own position — and be it an ever so little
position
> — in a great tradition. Thus as to "[the] approach may not go to the
right
> path": Increase your word-power through familiarity with the classics —
not
> only the haiku classics! — so that you "find words that carry enough
cultural
> background" with more ease ... to write texts that are worth reading. And
if
> they turn out to be good haiku, that's even better for our little circle
here.
> Horst
>
> ________________________________________________
> In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas.
>
>


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