greetings from europe

Hello,
I'm in Northern Ireland for a short visit, dizzy with jet-lag and waking up too early every morning. One of the pleasures of being up so early is dragging my parents' dog out for a pre-dawn jog across the frosty park.

sniffing complete,
my dog raises his snout
to the northern stars

Richard's Winter

I am posting this on behalf of Richard Steiner as it was buried in the comments section:

Great Idea, this blog. All hail for Hailstones! So, to commemorate this occasion, here is a poem:

winter is as winter does,
snowy dreams of spring
reveal my thots

Baby Work

my second child, miya, is seven months old. she's already discovered the usefulness of crawling; her style at this point is more like a snakeーslithering about. virtually everything within her reach is likely to go into her mouth; her brother's small colorful toys, and the wheels on our tv stand, are among her favorites. if she can't get to where she wants to fast enough, she uses an effective uh, uh, uh, moan for getting attention. it's quite a treat to be able to see her interact with her ever-expanding world.

first snowー
tiny handprints
on the window

december moonー
parts of the river
tested by teenagers

Posting On This Page

A warm welcome to our new members. I hope you will post regularly on this page and comment on the poems and news posted by other members. For those of you who are new to blogger, here is what you need to do to post on this page:
1. From this page click on the orange blogger button in the top left hand corner
2. Sign in to the Hailstone page using your member name and password
3. Select the Posting and Create tabs
4. Enter a title for your posting (this will appear above your posting on the blog page)
5. Type in your posting (you can add a photo from your computer if you wish)
6. Click the orange Publish Post button below your text
7. When you next visit the blog page your posting should be waiting at the top of the page.

Good luck!

HAIBUN

“KUMA-NABE”

We descended deeply snowed Mt. Goten-yama in Hira Mountains to its foot, where there was a lodge for our stay tonight along the Mackerel Road/Saba-Kaido. The Road, in old Edo days, had been used for conveying such fishes on foot in a day from Wakasa area facing Japan Sea to Kyoto towns: the distance of around seventy kilometers or more. We rinsed our boots and simple crampons in a small clear stream rapidly running in front of the entrance hearing the landlady’s lively welcome as reservation had been made. We could sniff at pleasant incense being burned in the hall.
To go up and down the mountain and to have a New Year party with meats of boar and, especially, of bear/kuma, were aims of our today’s tour. The bear is, of course, a Japanese black one named Tsukino-wa-guma possessing a white bib-shaped speck like a crescent around its neck under the jaw.
After a hot bath, the party started by a toast with beer in a warm air-conditioned parlor floored with tatami mats. Snow, seen through the shoji screen, lay thick in the garden outside. The sound of running water reached us. Then, sake, shochu and whisky as well were brought along. A young man, the landlady’s son, served us the meats as “kuma-nabe”, a cook of boiled meat and vegetables involving eatable wild grasses and salted mushrooms in a big hot pan/nabe with basic taste of sweetened soy sauce and similarly to sukiyaki, we eat directly hot boiling ingredients from the nabe. In the first half of the party, the bear was served and then boar. The sliced bear meat, rather transparent, looked paler than boar’s because of a much richer fat content, but it tasted lighter. Both were of different tastes and were very nice. All got drunken and talked on and on about possible mountains to go this year. Despite these, I have felt somewhere a bit of guiltiness: I feel so always when I eat the meat of wild animals. During the party, it has begun to blow. The wind becoming stronger.

“kuma-nabe”-
rushing about over the roof,
the sound of mountains

熊鍋や夜空を駆ける山の音　（『未来書房』）

Yomiuri Culture Center Eigo de Haiku class Shinnenkai, 12 Jan. 2006, Senri Chuo. Left to right: Akito Mori, Reiko Hayahara, Tito, Yoshiharu Kondo, Mari Kawaguchi, Kaoru Geka, Ikuko Hirata, Mizuho Shibuya, Yoshihiko Suzuki (Hisashi Miyazaki is behind the camera).

Welcome to the 'Hotspot'!

Dear Hailstones,
Welcome to the Hailstone Haiku Circle's first online website, provisionally called 'The Hotspot'. If you can think of a better name, we can change it later on.
You can advertise a haiku-related event here or post a poem for comment. We wish to feature mainly winter poems until the end of Feb. You can leave comments for others by clicking on the 'comments' tab beside a contribution. You can use Japanese, if you wish. As others outside the Circle will be able to view this site, please do your best to make 'Hotspot' look nice and read well. The three site editors, David McCullough, Hisashi Miyazaki and Stephen Gill will occasionally do some housekeeping and tidy up the site. Some old postings will continue to be available under 'previous posts' and there are many Links for you to follow to other haiku websites, if you wish to explore the net. The Haiku Ireland one even features some of your poems (under Books). If you wish to post a photo, please choose the 'centred' option, where the words are displayed above/below the photo, as in the Shinnenkai posting. Try to visit the site once a week or fortnight to see what's new. We are still experimenting ... and so can you! Have fun with our Hotspot site!
Thanks again to David for setting it up, and very best wishes to all of you,
Stephen

Stephen's Japanese Check Shirt

Shirt = シャツ？
日本語でpostingが出来ます！

droppings on
a bench in the winter park
flu virus contained in? (hisashi)

I wrote this with thought of a biologist. It then remided me of Basho's January haiku, "uguisu ya mochi ni fun suru en no saki" (onto a drying rice cake / on the open veranda / a bush warbler dungs). This Basho's one was followed by Shiko's wakiku, "hi mo massugu ni hiru no atataka" (sunlight, also straight / warm daytime). Shiko's wakiku can be followed after mine and we also expect the sunlight UV will kill the virus(s). Do you agree?

Mount Hiei, January 2006

Bloodberries strewn
On the trackless snow...
Rat-ta-tat-tat!

A haiku for comment

Hazy March sun
Over the boar wallow -
My poem is at ease.
(Henshoji-ato, 9.3.05)

Comment 1: I wrote this haiku last spring in the woods near Hirosawa Pond, Kyoto. I found a muddy place where wild boar come to bathe at night. The time and the place conspired to make me feel 'at ease' (I wouldn't have been if it had been night!). In the haiku, I have become the poem itself. Not allowed? In choosing this, our first piece on the blog for comment, I tip my hat to my fellow editor. Next, one of his? (Tito)

Andres' son, Leon Matos

Here is Andres' wife, Racki, with their newborn son, Leon. They are back in Venezuela. We trust that Leon will not take after his father and fall into a poetic disposition!

hailstones on top of odaigahara

hailstones in the valley of the giant cedars