MITSUAKI KOJIMA

Fine autumn weather tempts haikuists to travel. Yoko Kawasaki saw three tired young travelers on their way home from a visit to the shrine to celebrate their birthdays.

Mickey Nasu recently traveled to Spain. He was inspired to compose haiku about the beauty, culture and history of the places he visited in Barcelona. Barbara Casterline had a long list of errands to do when fine weather came to Nagoya.

Seven-five-three
brothers sleep close
train ride home

Forest of church spires
Gaudi's unfinished symphony
blue sky in fall

Bank, supermarket,
post office--let's do them all
Clear autumn skies

By autumn's end, however, lonely roads are no longer very inviting for travelers. Nor is the life of a poet, Matsuo Basho seems to lament metaphorically as he describes the lonely path taken by Japanese poets in the 17th century.

Not heeding the wise words, in the 18th century Yosa Buson sympathized with the master haikuist.

Kono michi ya yuku hito nashi ni aki no kure

On this road
no one traveling
autumn eve

Mon o izureba ware mo yukuhito aki no kure

Out the gate
I'm a traveler
autumn eve

Junko Yamada takes inspiration from these itinerant travelers.

Autumn sky
dreams wandering
Bohemian

This time of year the sun is traveling away from the north country in Niigata where Yutaka Kitajima lives. The haikuist admits to a primitive fear that the sun might perish or never return from the south. Satoru Kanematsu is watching the skies over Nagoya for telltale signs of incoming cold weather. He composed his haiku to commemorate the death of Matsuo Basho at 51 in the autumn of 1694. The last poem Basho wrote was about wanting his spirit to continue to roam despite his illness.

Shadows grow
longer--the pale sun
to the south

Sailing clouds
tempt me to travel
Basho Day

Sick en route
still over the wilds
my dream roams

Horst Ludwig, a professor in Minnesota, commemorates the recent death of an American author and poet. In Maryland, Beate Conrad admires a marble statue, a tombstone perhaps, by moonlight.

He drank, fought, married
sometimes, Norm Mailer, pushed by
his sense of power

In the bright moonlight
Spanish moss and dried leaves
a marble angel

Want to try composing haiku ?

Back numbers

Haiku related to travel and winter vacations are planned for the Dec. 15 and Dec. 29 issues of the Asahi Haikuist Network. Please mail haiku to David McMurray at the International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun, 5-3-2 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-8011, fax 03-5541-8539, or e-mail <is@asahi.com>.