MITSUAKI KOJIMA

Winter sunlight comes slowly and doesn't stay long. Satoru Kanematsu watched the first rays light up blood red flowers in his winter garden. Kagaribibana, the Japanese name for cyclamen, literally means bonfire flower.

Mamiko Seto took time to reflect on how the morning sunlight unfurled a yellow ginkgo leaf carpet on the stairs leading to her university.

Ignited
by morning sunshine
cyclamen

Cool morning
ginkgo leaves falling
on each stair

Yoriko Tashiro was also up early, lost in thought while waiting for a bus. She admired how mountain ridge after ridge seems to float on winter morning mist. Junko Yamada says she was mesmerized by the deep red color of berries in a woody thicket.

Bus coming
mountain ridges float
morning mist

Radiant red
mysterious future
brier fruit

The sun sets earlier each day until the winter solstice on Dec. 22. The event is often clouded over, but Sosuke Kanda was traveling by Shinkansen near Lake Biwako when the afternoon skies suddenly cleared. Kyoto lies on the front side of Mount Hiei, its top graced by a Buddhist temple. On the other side of the mountain, Kanda witnessed the glorious effect of sunlight beaming from a near horizontal angle on ginkgo and maple leaves.

Michael Corr was also touring the scenic mountain.

Sudden sunset
autumn lights cover
backside of Mt. Hiei
White rat's gourd
snow-capped Hiei holds
Lake Biwako

2007, a year commemorating the rooster, is near its end, notes Kanematsu. J.D. Heskin wrote a haiku for a meditating Buddha.

God's absence
a shrine rooster kicks
fallen leaves

Always by himself
but he never looks lonely
Buddha in winter

Tatsuko Toshima wrote her poem in Hungary. A chanson is a cabaret song intended to stir festive thoughts in its listener. Keiko Fujii may have been feeling a little forlorn when she composed her poem. A donjon is a medieval castle tower.

Halting
for piano chanson
Budapest backstreet
Moon and donjon
looking down on me
serenade

Long winter nights afford more time for dreaming, writes Mototaka Yamakami. While Yamakami's grandchildren would like to escape the cold, the poet has more exotic visions. The longest night of the year, known as touji in Japan, occurs Dec. 22.

New Year dreams
grandchild travels to Hawaii
me the moon

Want to try composing haiku ?

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The next issue of the Asahi Haikuist Network appears Dec. 29. Readers are invited to send haiku about winter vacations and the New Year 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>.