Aikido Haiku

Firm Aikido stance
Fending off the mosquitoes...
Uke has no chance


I encourage everyone to write haikus on this thread. I've always had an affinity for this form of poetry.

Drew

Graceful hakama...

The flow of the winter wind

Shares its harmony

Drew

Sorry to revive an old thread...

"Learning 'Weird Kotegaeshi' from Imaizumi Sensei"

Watch Sensei once, twice

Weird Kotegaeshi, Uke falls

We all grin and bow

I stand there confused

Gentle hands push me forward

That way! Thanks Sensei

wrists hurt, aching knees

lower back, just felt a crack

more Aikido please

Advice from the wise

Sustains those who comprehend

Armor grows within

Two cardinals roost On a cherry blossom tree... What simple pleasure

This is the way haiku should be written. It shouldn't be self absorbed. Writing in such a way can teach one to not be so self absorbed.

Yokomen uchi...

Choose in the blink of an eye

To enter or blend

A gi white as snow

The mark of a beginner...

A valued uke

Aikido sensei

Guide students along the path...

Kohai witness light

A few notes on haiku.

The popularity of haiku was spread in the 17th Century by Basho, a Japanese traveller and student of Zen Buddhism. Basho, the pen name of Matsuo Munefusa (1644 - 1694), is the recognised master of the form and is renowned for infusing his verse with subtle allusiveness, leading to the haiku being adopted widely as a discipline used in the teaching of Zen philosophy. Basho's classic work, Oku-no-hosomichi (The Narrow Road To The Deep North, 1694), is an account of his travels to northern and western Honshu and is made up of haiku interspersed with passages of prose.

hills golden with sun

flowers offer their bounty

cloud shadows move on

Hanmi handachi...

Nage is a sitting duck

Or so it may seem

Mike, thanks for the earlier complement.

Drew

Crisp curl of incense

Head lifts, eyes keen, shoulders square

Hint of training past

Sweat collecting in

The sound of slaps on the mat

No more Ukemi

To enter deeply,

On eight paths of forgiveness,

Unbroken circle

Hair salon upstairs,

dust, cellar dampness, old sweat

well-loved smells of home

Bokken free of dents...

Like a brand new beginner

Who will take some hits

Drew

Nathan Trail (Wormwood) wrote: Enter from the North Flow like Water into Ice Iriminage

Id like to change this one:

Enter from the North

Flow like Water into Ice

Go to the Center of Mind

:: I liked it so i felt like changing it... PM me if u want me to remove it...

Tatami,

Chilled by the winter breeze,

Warmed by my students' hearts!

Thunderous Imact

Three Hundred Plus Pounds Uke

Dreams Of Soft Breakfalls

Bowing heads,

Something good begins,

The sounds of Aikido.

Black & white (belts),

All practicing together!

What's the difference?

Started writing haiku and practising Aikido at the same time a few years back. Currently travelling from the South to the North of Britain, training in Aikido (many thanks Renshinkan) and writing haiku along the way. Putting together my own version of Basho's, "Narrow road to the Interior (deep North), I now realise! A few not yet drafted:

Rucksack snail

Without a trail passing

Through the winter world.

From door to door,

Bowing to the shared life,

The aiki hobo.

Fishing again…

Too tired to explain

The weapons bag.

"Yes sensei"

I bow and sweat leaps into

The old tatami.

( After Basho's famous frog/pond poem).

A peach within a stone,

So much kindness inside

These dojo walls.

Re from. Like most western haiku poets I've abandoned the 5,7,5 structure. It's not essential to haiku but can be fun to work in. To me the essence of haiku, is immediacy, humour, subtle metaphor and pictorial beauty. To hint at what can't be said, like the farmer in the hakiu who points the way with a raddish!

Mark

x

http://thewalsh.com/

Ah, fooled again by these ifernal machines! Every 3 lines is a different poem. Not one big thing.

Mark

x

The gleaming, sharp sword,

Cuts without fail!

No one there. . . .

is it a haiku

if the structure does not hold

form traditional?

where are the seasons

metaphorical ramblings

which make a haiku?

in translation

from Japanese to English

can we hold to form?

and would it work

to take it then from English

back to Japanese?

i believe in lineage

within tradition evolve

to find my place

for i have not earned

as yet like Kensho Sensei

right to improvise.

Haha! Many thanks - I have had a breakfast named in my honor, but this is the first time I have been mentioned in a poem!

In Japanese haiku and poetry, the number of syllables is important because then, in Japanese, we have to think of an ingenuous way in which to arrange the words. . . . this is part of the challenge. Haiku is an abbreviated form of the longer "renga" or linked verse style of poetry. As you well know, "form" is very important in all of the Japanese arts and disciplines.

Of course, Mencius first asked this question (in regards to form): "When carving the handle of an axe, where do you look?"

The answer is "the hand." By studying the hand in which the handle must fit, we can understand the form the axe handle should take. In Eastern thinking, all form has this kind of reasoning and logic behind it. . . . . .

Thanks again.