Hello my family of Poets! Welcome to Haibun Monday. Toni here (hayesspencer, Kanzensakura, toni spencer) bringing you the prompt and thought for haibun today. Today the prompt for our haibun is “rain”. We all have rain in common – too much, too little, gentle spring rain, torrential summer rain, rain mixed with snow, soaking cold rain. Walking in the rain, singin’ in the rain, dancing in the rain, playing in the rain. We stay inside and drink soup or tea or something cozy with alcohol, read while it rains, listen to the rain on the roof before we go to sleep. We groan at the rain when we have to walk in it to a bus or train stop and curse up a blue streak when a car goes by and SPLASH! thoroughly wets us through.
Basho wrote of rain:
spring rain
leaking through the roof
dripping from the wasp’s nest
The Japanese actually have 50+ words for rain unlike the Inuit which really do not have 100s of words for snow. Being Japanese, their words for rain are seasonal and specific and at times, extremely artistic. We Westerners look at rain as rain – the same rain that falls in the morning in spring is the same rain that falls at night in autumn. Right? Nope. The Japanese are so in tune with the changing of the seasons around them and how those seasons affect them, they created haiku – a poetic form about changing seasons, nature, and the now. The melancholy felt when the seasons changed and climate changes took place are part of their concept of mono no aware. Here are some of the “rain” words for you:
ame – rain
kosame – light rain
kisame – rain that drips from tree branches
enu – misty rain
ooame – heavy rain
yokoburi – driving rain
shuuchuugouu – severe localized downpour
uro – rain and dew
kanu – cold winter rain
shun rin – spring rain
shun u – gentle spring rain
shuu rin – autumn rain
ugo – after rain
nagame – long rain
yuudachi – sudden evening rain
shinotsukuame – intense rain
yulimajiri – snow and rain
uhyou – freezing rain
hisame – very cold rain or hail
ryokuu – summer rain
touu – winter rain
houshanouu – radioactive rain
As you can see from the brief list, the words truly do specify the rain of the moment, the season. And to help inspire you, a video from Live From Daryl’s House, “Here Comes the Rain Again” – a pared down version of the original:
Now, for you:
–Write a tight one paragraph haibun, non-fiction, about rain and you followed by a haiku (not a 5-7-5, micropoem, senryu). This haiku will be about nature and tie your words together. Rain: how you experienced it, the emotions it brought out, the inconvenience it was, the beauty of it. Choose one of the words for rain for your focus and use it as your haibun title. Haibun are based on the original non-fiction writings of Matsua Basho as reflected in his “Road to the Deep North”, tight paragraphs followed by nature based haiku.
-Write and post your poem on your website.
– Copy and paste the direct url to your poem in Mr. Linky at the bottom of this post.
– If you have settings on your webpage that warn of proceeding further to the site or other security measures, please remove them. Fear of viruses, hacking, etc, can cause readers to not proceed further and read your poem.
– Return to the Pub to read and comment on the poetry of your fellow poets. It is important to us tat you take the time to become part of the community through your comments. The link for Haibun Monday will be up all week so if you post early, please come back to read and comment on later posters.
– On your website, link back to dVerse Poets Pub.
– Have fun and stay dry!
hayesspencer said:
Hello y’all! Welcome to Haibun Monday. It is hot and sunny where I am but today, it is all kinds of rain falling in the dVerse Pub.
Mish said:
Oh I’m so glad you did this prompt, Toni. I love how the Japanese language goes beyond one simple word for rain. The word list is beautiful to the ear. Thanks for sharing your knowledge of haiku and for this inspiring prompt.
~Mish~
Grace said:
Hot and sunny here too from Toronto. I never knew there was so many words for rain, wow.
I have learned a lot from you Toni. Thank you and I will be visiting once I get home.
Happy Monday.
hayesspencer said:
Happy Monday to you as well. And these are just a small segment of them!
Dr. Crystal Howe said:
Toni, do you speak/read/understand Japanese? I don’t, not a clue, and barely grasp the forms of haibun and/or haiku. So I didn’t write to the prompt, but did write *something*.
lillian said:
Hi there! Hot, humid and sunny in Boston this afternoon! I’m loving the sound on this video — rain notes singing round my head. What a wonderful prompt!!! Looking forward to having raindrops to read 🙂
hayesspencer said:
Looking forward to reading your raindrops!
hayesspencer said:
I really liked this pared down version of the extremely dramatic original video. I was glad Dave Stewart got in on this and was able to shine a bit.
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
We had intense rain on Saturday but today a hesitant sun is peeking behind clouds… I love the thought of having all this descriptive words for rain… and it got me thinking how many there really are in English… there are actually quite a few too… I tried to follow your rules as close as I could.
hayesspencer said:
You did a great job – nailed it with that exquisite haibun and haiku. We have quite a few words that describe rain as well, but none as descriptive and specialized as the Japanese. We had Songai baishō to no hageshī ame – intense driving rain with wind damage. Almost like a tornado but not.
freyathewriter said:
My first attempt at Haibun Monday – a very apt prompt for the weather in England this morning! Thank you for hosting, Toni, and for the prompt! I did my best with your guidance/rules…
kanzensakura said:
You did a super job! I truly enjoyed. And it is sooooo hot and dry here. But we had Songai baishō to no hageshī ame – intense rain with damages. Some parts of the city still have no electric and trees are still blocking some outlying intersections. Not a tornado but….intense!
freyathewriter said:
Thank you so much! Your weather sounds really very intense – we don’t often get anything like that here, although we had some stunning thunderstorms a few weeks ago – the lightning was awe-inspiring (although it gives me a very ‘electric’ feeling in my stomach that I’m not too keen on)!
kanzensakura said:
Our storms that stem from hot dry summers with a bit of cold coming through can be frightening. Seeing the damage caused even more so. We have been blessed the past couple of years. Our worst was from Hurricane Isable which occurred about 8 years ago. Much of Virginia was without power for 1 – 4 weeks. It was horrendous. Hearing the wind roaring through the trees and the rain pelting the roof was scary. No lightning but….
Linda Kruschke said:
Excellent haibun prompt, as always Toni! I had to do a Google search for the 50 Japanese words for rain, though, because none of the ones you provided fit the occasion I wanted to write about. I found the perfect one!
kanzensakura said:
I am so glad you did that! Way to go for you. and there are rain words not listed with the 50 “famous” ones. All in all I think about 70 total. I tried to pick the most frequent but somehow I missed Songai baishō to no hageshī ame which we had Thurdays. Some parts of Richmond and outlying areas still have no electric. We didn’t have any for three days.
Victoria C. Slotto said:
Just a “delicious” prompt–this makes me want to learn Japanese, but I have a hard enough time remembering English and French these days!
kanzensakura said:
LOL, I am still learning Japanese. I think sometimes even they have trouble with the language! I am so glad you enjoy this prompt. I worked on it for several weeks off and on.
Victoria C. Slotto said:
With so many words, I can understand why Japanese poetry is so, so…? How many words are there for stunning? And why there are so many variances in translating the work of the masters.
kanzensakura said:
Well, it is like any written language. There are differences in the areas of Japan – the cities on different islands have some of their own words. And the translation….I could look at the Russian word for “beautiful” but instead, I may read it as pretty, someone else could read it as stunning. And of course, the kanji in which Japanese is written. There is Romaji, kanji, and the “new” which is shaped differently and looks like a hybrid of Korean and Chinese and shortcut Japanese. And what the words nuanced to mean three hundred years ago. And how the translator was educated and where. And here we have just a few for stunning and the nuances that can come from the word:
びっくりさせるような startling, stunning, すてきな
beautiful, gorgeous, nice, wonderful, stunning, raving,
すばらしい
great, nice, stunning, fabulous, beautiful, incredible
So you can see why there would be a problem with translation. We have the word stunning: synonyms: Stunning spectacular, striking, fabulous, splendid, magnificent, gorgeous, exquisitive, impressive, beautiful, dramatic, dazzling startling
Language. It is a mess. Sakura always means blossom and blossom can be pear, peach, cherry, whatever….
Dr. Crystal Howe said:
Ha, there’s my answer! 🙂 Guess you have an advantage here, Toni.
kanzensakura said:
🙂
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
I do love the variations here… all have used different words for rain, and so many different stories told.
kanzensakura said:
With so many words for rain and so many variations in rain, it just brings out all kinds of different for us. I enjoy that!
Bryan Ens said:
rain only makes a brief appearance in mine, but there is a reason for that…
kanzensakura said:
🙂
kanzensakura said:
I am taking a little break to fix dinner for the hubs and I. Plenty of cold lemonade, moscati, and prosecco are out on the bar. help yourself!
Victoria C. Slotto said:
Since we are dry, dry, dry and hot here, how about a Long Island Iced Tea? Though I don’t drink, I do believe I recall the effects of those! And they are really dangerous in hot weather.
kanzensakura said:
I can mix you a virgin one that won’t hurt you and will be tres yummy
Maureen Sudlow said:
Just linked – mid-winter here in the Antipodes
kanzensakura said:
It is odd how the seasons reverse, isn’t it? Thank you for linking to us!
Maureen Sudlow said:
thank you for allowing me
Rosemary Nissen-Wade said:
And here in the Antipodes rain is a very topicza subject right now! 😀
Rosemary Nissen-Wade said:
Oh, typos! *topical
whimsygizmo said:
Wishing for some kisame here. 115 today (a new record, yay us, she says, dripping in both sarcasm and sweat.)
Love this prompt, Toni. Struggled a bit with the haiku, as usual. Sigh.
kanzensakura said:
The haiku will come. It took me years and I still struggle with them. Sometimes it is easier to just go short-long-short. The Japanese words will count to 5-7-5 abut written in one straight line at least the old ones were. Go figure.
kanzensakura said:
115 degrees and it is still June. You have my deepest sympathy. Last year it got up to 110 here – in this humidity it was like trying to dredge through a vast pot of hot oatmeal. And I meant to say, your haiku was beautiful and haunting.
Walter J. Wojtanik said:
Late to the dance tonight, but it worked out. In the throes of an intense early summer rainstorm tonight. Fully inspired by the tympani and the percussion of nature.
Walter J. Wojtanik said:
Sorry I’m late to the rain dance. But the storm that wages out my window is intense and entertaining. Very inspiring. It fed my muse this evening. A timely prompt, Toni!
Walter J. Wojtanik said:
Oops. Neither appeared to send last night, so I was resigned to redo again. Glad I didn’t.
kanzensakura said:
Great! I love it when Nature inspires.
ZQ said:
Good evening… nice to walk through the weeds here… very creative
😉 ❤
ZQ
Bodhirose said:
Toni, I so enjoyed your prompt and managed to write something early but have been felled by a kidney stone winding its way s l o w l y through my system!!! Between the pain meds making me woozy and the stabbing pain I’m nearly good for nothing. I can’t seem to catch a break. I had to miss a family party over the weekend and visiting my mother in the rehab center. I’m beyond depressed and saddened. I’ll try to do some visiting tomorrow…I’m so hoping. 😦
lillian said:
Oh my goodness —- so sorry to hear this. Hoping hoping for some respite from the pain for you. Bodies in pain — not good. Thinking of you….
kanzensakura said:
Bless your heart. Drink plenty of water to wash that thing out! What you wrote was most excellent and showed no signs of your illness. I thank you so much for it especially under such adverse circumstances. And to miss out on family events and I know not visiting your mom is a worry as well. You just sit back as comfy as you can and take care of you. Hugs hugs hugs
thotpurge said:
Great prompt… rushing out now but will be back to read… it is monsoon time, grey and ominous here but I tried a different type of rain!!
kanzensakura said:
I kept looking for an equivalent to monsoon because I know we have several folk in monsoon areas. Alas, I couldn’t find because the Japanese do not have.
kim881 said:
Good morning from North Norfolk! On a day when I would have liked some wet weather for inspiration for this week’s haibun, there is no rain! A few grey clouds, some wet patches on the path from yesterday’s downfall and drops on the garden refuse bin outside my window, but no rain. However, wet weather is something I know a bit about, considering where I live and that we haven’t had any summer yet. It seems as if April has extended into June. Thanks for the prompt, Toni.
kanzensakura said:
Thank you! And have you seen the *last* episode of Penny Dreadful? Heartbreaking. But they went with it because the show has been cancelled for Season 4. But fitting, very fitting.
kim881 said:
I won’t get to see it until later on tonight. I can’t wait! Can’t believe they’ve cancelled it.
kanzensakura said:
I know. But I think they knew when they shot this. Silly me, I sat and cried at the end. It was all just so….sad.
kim881 said:
I have a soft spot for John Clare.
kanzensakura said:
As do I. His character has so grown and become so…human.
lillian said:
Good morning all. Sipping my second cup and moving into the storm 🙂 of reading that is! I’ll bring my umbrella as I read. Maybe, Toni, you should hand out some of those little umbrellas that come with tropical drinks from the bar??? 🙂 I’d like a pink on please. 🙂
kanzensakura said:
I have plenty of pink ones! and the lavender. I put the yellow, blue, and orange ones In a separate little baggie to give out and keep the pink and lavender ones. So I can most def hand you a pink to plop in your coffee if you like. They go with everything.
Arcadia Maria said:
Good morning. This is an interesting prompt. Looking forward to reading everyone’s post later today.
Laura Bloomsbury said:
Gosh it’s only Tuesday and the poets have already been out in force, judging by Mr Linky. No wonder – this prompt goes to the very heart of poetry so many thanks to you Toni. Will take me quite a while to savour all the rains!
kanzensakura said:
Thank you Laura. I am so very pleased and happy with all the responses. What fun she giggles as she splashes in rain puddles…….
Rosemary Nissen-Wade said:
Apologies. I misunderstood and did not use the Japanese word but the English translation for my title.
kanzensakura said:
It’s Okay Rosemary. A few other folk did as well. So don’t worry about it.
Mish said:
A beautiful Tuesday. I am happy to be home today as many of my co-workers celebrate “Solidarity Day”, a Native American holiday. Off to do some gardening to enjoy the sun after posting my rainy haibun. Be back soon to take a pleasant walk through rainy trails. 🙂
little learner said:
Late to the party, as usual! And then I linked incorrectly! Sorry, all. Time to retire for the day. Thanks for the amazing rainy haibuns!