Saturday, December 29, 2007

NOTICE BOARD お知らせ(Feb. 16, Revd)

If you wish to contact us about events, publications and other general matters, please do so through the COMMENTS key below this Board. We will reply to you also through the key.
イベント、出版物、その他に関する一般連絡はこのコラム下のCOMMENTS キーにてお願いします。日本語でも結構です。
******HAILSTONE PUBLICATIONS******
HAILSTONES (2001) a haiku chapbook ¥700 (sold out)
LOST HEIAN (2003) a Japan-in-Asia haiku gathering ¥800 (discount price for last copies)
ENHAIKLOPEDIA (2005) a haiku topic anthology, incl. haibun ¥1,000 (discount price)
The MOON and INSECTS (2007) a haiku chapbook ¥500 (edited by JW)
SEASONS OF THE GODS 神々の四季 (2007) ¥1,000 almanac (incl. haibun and illust., just released!)
******HAILSTONE EVENTS******
(RECENT PAST: for event reports, see archive postings)
Sep 13, 2007 Urban Ginko in Tenroku, N. Osaka (KG/HM)
Nov 17/18, 2007 Hailstone Autumn Haike in the Tango Peninsular, Kyoto Pref. (RD)
Nov 25, 2007 Mt. Ogura Is Shedding Tears pt. 10. (Ritsumeikan Univ. Volunteer Centre)
Dec 1, 2007 Takaragaike Ginko & Renku Study Meet (JD)
Dec 20, 2007 Seasons of the Gods Book Launch, by Nomi Jinja, Takatsuki, Osaka (AM)
Jan 13 , 2008 Hatsu Ginko-Rodokukai in Gion, Kyoto (PM)
(FORTHCOMING: for further details, please see separate postings; enquiries through the COMMENTS key, please.)
Haiku sketch walk: Friday, March 7th; 11:00-3pm (in the event of rain, bring rain gear) 
1st rendezvous spot-Eiden Demachiniyagi train station at 10:30am (connected to Keihan Demachiniyagi station in northeast Kyoto)
2nd rendezvous spot-Eiden Ichijoji train station 10:50am (northeast Kyoto)
(If you'd like to join us at any point during the haiku sketch walk let us know.)
Let's tap into our inner senses with a 'haiku sketch walk'. Don't worry, you need not be an artist, or be able to draw well. Just come out for a short walk, allow nature to help you reflect a bit, and sketch whatever impresses you.
We will visit two temple gardens. Forty-five minutes to one hour will be spent at each temple to walk around, reflect, and sketch whatever impresses you. Afterwards, we will have a late lunch around 1:30pm at a nearby soba restaurant. At the restaurant we will share our sketches and try to add complimentary haiku (yours or somebody else's). Bring a small sketch pad or book and a few pencils or your favorite ink pens. Bring temple entance fees: ¥500 for each temple (total:¥1,000) & Bring money for soba if you'd like to eat at the restaurant.
rare snow dayー
old-style haberdashery
on the snowmen //gerald/ (enquiries: Gerald Staggers)

English Haiku Workshops - Hibikiai Forum Spring semester at Friend Peace House just north of Nashinoki Shrine E. of the Gosho in C.Kyoto (2nd Thurs. Apr.-Jun. 18:15) and Senri Yomiuri Culture Center’s Eigo de Haiku in N.Osaka (4th Thurs. Jan.-Dec. 18:00, enquiries: Nitta 06-6833-5031). Lecturer: Stephen Gill.
******Miscellaneous******
Correction- in the anthology, “SEASONS OF THE GODS”, Poem 1/p. 6; the translated Japanese should be written and read as 新年のうるはしき夜明けの使者なるや/天馬空駆く蹄の音す(shin-nen no/uruwashiki yoake no/shisha naru ya/tenba kuu kaku/hizume no oto su).
************
Enquiries, also possible through the COMMENTS key below! If you don't leave your email, we will reply through the COMMENTS key, too.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Seasons of the Gods

Hailstone Haiku Circle's latest collection is now out: Seasons of the Gods.1,000, ¥210 (postage stamps to add for despatch in Japan), 98 haiku poems, 96 pages, 84 poem commentaries, 40 contributors, US$ 12 (airmail postage paid), 8 b/w illustrations, 5 sections (New Year, Spring delivers, Summer fulfills, Autumn detaches, Winter distills), 4 haibun, 2 linked verses, 1 fold-out cover by Richard Steiner, 1 afterword (Haiku, Shinto & Japan's Natural World) by Toji Kamata, and a partridge in a pear tree! Just in time for Christmas. Place your orders with Mari Kawaguchi. Discount package available for contributors. Outside enquiries via the comments button below. Please leave your email address for reply.

The Book Launch Party, held on 20 Dec. beside Nomi Jinja in Takatsuki, was attended by eighteen poets, amongst whom we were especially pleased to see Judy Dale, who had just flown in for a few days from Canada (leaning on the table).

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Maiko evening fragment


The turquoise kimono
Madame chose for you today:
In my butterfly dream
It holds you tight.

(Tito, for Gion no Ichiwaka, 15.12.07)

Thursday, December 13, 2007

URGENT

Please see the third post below (Notice Board, edited) for BOOK LAUNCH on 20 DEC. 18:00-20:30.
HAILSTONE HAIKU CIRCLE 4th ANTHOLOGY ‘SEASONS OF THE GODS’ (神々の四季)BOOK LAUNCH at Kinshokaku Restaurant 錦松鶴 (072-671-5191) , Takatsuki.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Posting Difficulties

As he found that our site wouldn't allow him to do it himself, Kamome requested the following tanka posted. Our webmaster, David, hopes to make changes to the Hotspot early next year to make it easier for those of you who joined as contributors using the old system to post using a new one. We all wait with bated breath! If you are having difficulties with signing in to post or comment, please accept the editors' apologies for this temporary difficulty. A few of us, however, still seem able to post and comment, so do continue to visit every now and then to see what's new ...

Wishing open-eyed
About living together,
We talk on the phone -
Afterwards, the moon shines down
Into my empty kitchen.

(Kamome)

Monday, December 03, 2007

Amanohashidate and Kinosaki Haike

At 9:00 a.m. on Saturday 17 November, Tito and I met at JR Sagano-Arashiyama station and began the annual Hailstone Autumn Haike. Our numbers were low but our spirits high. This was my very first foray into northern Kyoto Prefecture; and I had wanted to visit Kinosaki in Hyogo Prefecture ever since I read Shiga Naoya's short story 「城崎にて」 (Kinosaki nite) about a decade ago.

Tito kindly took the driving duties on himself, so apart from ineffectually fumbling with a map from time to time, I was able to fully enjoy the transition from city to countryside, flat lands to hills, and finally inland to coast. Waiting for us at the end of two-and-a-half hours' drive at Chionji temple in Amanohashidate were John Dougill and Mari Kawaguchi. After picking up a little sustenance at the local shops (thanks Mari for your extra homemade sandwich!), we crossed the bridge linking the sandbar with the coast, and soon found ourselves on a beautiful fine-sand, sun-drenched beach, the perfect spot for a picnic lunch.


Next we strolled up the centre of the sandbar, flanked on both sides by pine trees, with frequent glimpses of the sandy shore on each side. While we were viewing a shrine positioned to worship a miraculous fresh-water spring (which sadly was not in a miraculous state), a young local shrine enthusiast turned up on his collapsible bicycle, and in no time had agreed to accompany us on our travels for the day. We next took to the shoreline, and, with John taking the lead, some of us were soon walking barefoot in the surf, dodging the occasional large and purple beached jellyfish.


Barefoot
On this bridge to heaven
The gods and I ...
-- John Dougill


Another fateful meeting was with the 宮司 (guuji, or shrine priest) of the Kono shrine, clad in resplendent hakama. We came across him shortly after saying good bye to John at the shrine and making our tour of the impressive 岩座 (iwakura, holy rocks) there. Tito and the priest found they had much to talk about regarding the origins of some of the most important Shinto deities and the noble clan of Amabe to which the priest belonged (at least, by marriage -- his wife, in black in the middle of the picture, has the actual bloodline).



Next we eschewed the funicular and climbed to the peak of Kasamatsu for the obligatory (but no less impressive for that) upside-down viewing of the Bridge of Heaven as the sun began to sink towards the horizon. We ended our day together with a boat trip back across the bay.


towards pine-trees
crossing over the turning bridge
... scent of the sea
-- Mari Kawaguchi

Then Tito and I drove on to Kinosaki. Our hostesses at the ryokan Ashigaru were eager for us to enjoy our crab meal in as timely a fashion as we could. In fact, they did everything short of stuff the legs into our maws! As there were only two of us, they had stuffed us into a tiny windowless room in the dining area, and a similarly sized space in our bedroom. At least we had the privilege of an escape rope hanging next to the window!

We were able to catch the last shuttle bus into the town centre and undertook a three-spa 外湯めぐり, clattering along the streets in our geta and yukata. Then it was a taxi-ride back to the ryokan for some late-night beer and haiku-reading.



Breakfast was in similarly cramped conditions, but the morning view from the waiting room and the rotemburo was impressive.




the inn waiting room
lightning on the peaks:
"another five minutes"

-- Richard Donovan

The weather on the second day, however, was less so. Eventually, tired of waiting for it to settle down, we drove down to the base of Daishizan and began our hiked ascent past Onsendera. After a coffee break at the cable-car centre at the top, we braved increasingly foul weather and headed up to Momijidaira. We were greeted there by ochre leaves and showers of propritious hailstones from the clouds rolling about our ears. After a brief stop, where we waited in vain for a break in the weather, we set off back down the trail, a newborn stream nipping at our heels.



In the black clouds above
A god must have broken
His rosary of hailstone beads.
-- Tito

The footbath at the base of Daishizan was a welcome way to end our hike.