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Haiku Attunement &the “Aha” Moment

By Edward Levinson

As a photographer and writer living, working, and creating in Japanfor 40 years, I like to think I know it well. However, since I am not anacademic, the way I understand and interpret the culture is
intrinsically visual. Smells and sounds also play a big part in creating
my experiences and memories. In essence, my relationship withJapan is conducted making use of all the senses. And this is theperfect starting point for composing haiku.
Attunement to one’s surroundings is important when makingphotographs, both as art and for my editorial projects on Japaneseculture and travel. The power of the senses influences my essays andpoetry as well. In haiku, with its short three-line form, the key tosuccess is to capture and share the sensual nature of life, both
physical and philosophical. For me, the so-called “aha” moment is themain ingredient for making a meaningful haiku.
People often comment that my photos and haiku create a feeling ofnostalgia. An accomplished Japanese poet and friend living in
Hokkaido, Noriko Nagaya, excitedly telephoned me one morning after
reading my haiku book. Her insight was that my haiku visions weresimilar to the way I must see at the exact moment I take a photo. Oneof her favorites:
star shaped
pumpkin flowers
radiant humans(Edward Levinson, Balloon on Fire, Cyberwit.net, India, 2019. Ibid
for all other of the author’s haiku.)
Nagaya sensed my haiku were captured in an instant and were seen
and preserved the same way as my camera’s eye. In this she is right.
My haiku are not recorded as thoughts, but as sensory feelings thattake me deeper into the wonder and symbolism of nature, the cycles
and rhythms of the cosmos. Similar to what photographers call the“original capture”, the special moment is first recorded in the heart,then developed into a visual word image on paper.
Most of my haiku come to me when my senses are in harmony
with the surroundings, the mind preferably blank and receptive:
quietly drinking a cup of tea, sitting or walking in nature, working in
the garden, people watching, riding on trains, even driving.
The following spring haiku came to me while driving through themountains on a misty wet day, as I was moving to start a new life inthe Japanese countryside. Not wanting the heavily loaded van to lose
momentum by stopping to jot down my thoughts, I kept repeating thepoem like a mantra until I memorized it.
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Author Edward Levinson

spring rain
washing heart
spirit’s kiss
Later this haiku certainly surprised a Japanese TV reporter who
was covering a “Haiku in English” meeting in Tokyo where I read it.
Later it appeared on the evening news, an odd place to share myinner life.
PHOTO 1: Author @Edward Levinson

Flower Shower

Sharing has always been a part of haiku’s history. The origin ofhaiku is entwined with renga poetry, which has a 700-year history.
Renga poets collaborate on a poem by linking to and building upon
the previous verses. The first 5-7-5 stanza of renga was called hokku
and in Matsuo Bashō’s era (1644–1694) it gradually became anindependent poetic form. Renga was written as a group endeavor incontrast to haiku being written by an individual’s experience. In thelate 19th century, prolific poet Masaoka Shiki (1867–1902) began
using the word “haiku” as the name for this stand-alone verse, as wecurrently know it. Shiki was influential in promoting the idea of haiku
as shasei, “sketches of life”, which is popular today. Here is just oneof his 20,000 haiku:
get drunk, sleep
weep in a dream
mountain cherry blossoms(Masaoka Shiki, The Shiki Zensh ū Vol.11, Kōdansha, Tokyo 1975,
in Japanese, above translation by author.)

Japan SPOTLIGHT • May / June 202039

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Receptivity & the Unthinking Mind

When writing my haiku, the first image/word connections usually
come to me in Japanese. I quickly scribble them down phoneticallyusing the Romanized alphabet, following standard 5-7-5 syllable
pattern, keeping to the rule of 17 syllables. Then I render them into
English while working to make Japanese kanji versions more poetic.
While not always exact translations, the English and Japanese haiku
play off each other. On occasion English comes first or both versions
come out simultaneously.
The original idea, the “aha” moment, is most often stimulated by ascene or image that inspires me. I call this process “VisualStimulation and the Unthinking Mind”. Some obvious sources ofinspiration for haiku poets: nature, touching human relationships,societal problems, ironic or humorous juxtapositions, and encounterswith art.
My first impression becomes the basis of the haiku. The thinking
brain part, searching for the best words, creating a rhythm, polishingwhat I call the “punch line”, come after the first vision in theunthinking mind.
The popular image of Zen Meditation is to sit, concentrate on
breathing and try to become empty. The empty space is conducive tobeing receptive; a heightened sense of awareness to one’s
surroundings is also a benefit. This is just one example of a practicethat creates fertile ground for seeds of inspiration to sprout. Otherformal meditation practices are just as valid, be they religious or anyof the mindfulness techniques encouraged these days.
PHOTO 2: Author @Edward Levinson

you up, creates a feeling of the unknown. Cicada and north wind arestandard kigo that every haiku writer from the most famous Bashō toschool kids will likely use.
My translation of one of Bashō’s famous cicada haiku, from The
Narrow Road to the Deep North:silence...
penetrating the stones
a cicada’s voice(Matsuo Basho, Oku no Hosomichi, originally published in 1702,
various English translations available.)
And one of mine:
cicadas crying
heart worrying
can I succeed?
On the hot summer day when I wrote this, many upcoming fallprojects were on my mind; the vibrating cicadas seemed to amplify
my anxiety.
I like to do my morning breathing and attunement practices outside
in nature as much as possible. It can be trying on cold winter days,but worth it for rewarding inspirations like this one, which received an
Honorable Mention in the well-known Itoen Haiku Competition:
north windtouches my shoulders
awakening dreams
PHOTO 3: Author @Edward Levinson

Essence of Being

Kigo Seasonal Words
Traditional Japanese haiku nearly always include a seasonal wordcalled kigo. In the haiku above it is “spring rain”. Japanese season
word dictionaries called saijiki help writers include one in their verse.
Saijiki lists exist in English as well. My original inspirations usually
include kigo, but I don’t force them into the poem.
Since I am an avid gardener and also practice what I call Nature
Meditation, using seasonal words mostly happens spontaneously
without thinking. The sounds of the cicadas in summer easily stir up
some poetic image. A winter cold north wind brings shivers, wakes
40 Japan SPOTLIGHT • May / June 2020

Free as a Bird

Many of my haiku are written in the free-style. Not using kigo
increases the possibility to universally share special moments. In thisnext irregular haiku, with no kigo and which also doesn’t use the5-7-5 pattern in the Japanese version, I hoped to bring some laughterto the reader by practicing the kokkei (sense of humor) style of haiku.
But at the same time I try to convey some basic truth about life.

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play in dirt, boy
work with dirt, man
sleep on dirt, dog

PHOTO 4: Author @Edward Levinson

As haiku should be, it was born from a real life episode, a natural
example of one of my lecture titles: “Writing Organically withInspiration as the Seed.” One day while babysitting a friend’s youngson, we were out in my vegetable garden at planting time. The boy wassitting in his innocent world playing in the dirt. I was working, digging
diligently with my spade preparing the soil for seeds. My dog, tired ofplaying with the boy and not in the mood to dig, was peacefully soundasleep. Man, boy, and “man’s best friend” linked in a moment.
Rather than intellectually include kigo, I prefer them to flow
naturally into the context. Many haiku messages transcend seasons
or appear on the boundaries of two seasons. Internationally somecountries don’t have four seasons, while the Nepal Haiku Societyrecognizes six seasons in their country for creating haiku. Japan isalso said to have five if you add the rainy season.

Beyond Kigo
One of Japan’s most respected modern haiku poets, Ban’ya
Natsuishi, writes without regard for seasonal words, while inspired bypersonal, political and philosophical issues. Here is one of his haiku
with a strong environmental message.
Where there was a tree
near the pure spring – –the noise of saws
(Ban’ya Natsuishi, Endless Helix Haiku & Short Poems, Cyberwit.
net, India, 2007. Ban’ya Natsuishi is the haiku pen name of MasayukiInui.)Natsuishi could have easily added a season word, but the impact ismuch greater as it is. One might at first think it is the “spring season”,
but “near the pure spring” implies natural spring water. It could also
be a hidden reference to Rachel Carson’s environmental warning
described in Silent Spring. It creates a simple image, one that isuniversally understood and lets us decide the meaning.
In a literary commentary on Natsuishi’s works Mary Barnet writes,“Haiku is not merely truth, it is wisdom coming from the juxtapositionof disparate realities.” (Mary Barnet, At the Top: Haiku and Poetry ofBan’ya Natsuishi, p.10, Cyberwit.net., India, 2019)
With a different mood, here is one of my haiku that also contains
no season word:
window of lighton stone floor
Buddha appears“Window of light/on stone floor” may imply a season where theangle of the sun is lower in the sky, but it is not really important towhat I was feeling at Anrakuji Temple along the Ohenro 88 Temple
Pilgrimage Route on Shikoku Island.

Master’s ChairUniversal Haiku
As a writer immersed in Japan and its culture I often wonder if
certain of my haiku will only have meaning for Japanese readers andpeople familiar with Japanese culture. Does it have international
appeal to bridge cultures? More importantly, can a personal haiku(with or without a kigo) have universal meaning and share something
special with the world? Natsuishi’s “noise of saws” certainly does.
Most nature images will easily cross cultural boundaries. Consider
this one of mine:full of heaven’s rainheads bow to the earth...
hydrangea flowers
PHOTO 5: Author @Edward Levinson

Faces of GratitudeHydrangea is a kigo easily recognized as “summer” in many places
around the world. However, “full of heaven’s rain” refers to the rainyseason in Japan, which happens to be when the hydrangea are in fullbloom. Regardless, it was the picture of “heads bowing to the earth
with thanks for the rain” that inspired me and is universal in nature.
Participating in the 10th World Haiku Conference in Tokyo in 2019,
I heard many of the international attendees baring their souls, sharing
their experiences of life that easily transcended national and ethnic
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boundaries. Many included seasonal references from their own
countries but just as many didn’t. The following example, from a
Moroccan poet, is likely a homage to Bashō’s famous haiku – “oldpond/ frog leaps in/sound of water”:
A clear pond
The birds
Fly into the depths.
(Sameh Derouich, in World Haiku Conference Anthology, publishedby World Haiku Association, Japan, 2019, edited by Ban’ya
Natsuishi.)
For Japanese haiku respecting the 5-7-5 pattern is important andadds necessary discipline to the “no kigo” style. Both traditional andmodern Japanese haiku are actually written as one long line – notthree short ones as in English. In Japanese language, the ear
instinctively hears the 5-7-5 sections. The 17 syllables are called on:long vowels are counted as being two on and the ending “n” sound isalso counted as one separate on in the 17 total count, increasing theneed for brevity. However, rules allow for extra syllables whennecessary.
The 5-7-5 pattern is not really practical in English and otherlanguages. Using a short-long-short line form is one alternative, butwith different languages having different word orders, this often
doesn’t work. However, in any language, the sound and rhythm of thehaiku is important. I would like to see more emphasis on haiku as“spoken word” poetry that brings alive the writer’s experience of amoment.

On Demand Inspiration
Ku-Kai are gatherings for haiku poets of all levels. They meet,compose, and share haiku upon a given theme or seasonal word.
Sometimes the poems are written and polished in advance;sometimes they are composed on the spot. Constructive criticism isusually allowed and the best haiku of the day, selected by the teacher
or group, are read aloud.
Writing haiku on demand is not my usual way to work. As noted, I
prefer to go with the raw inspiration of a moment, but occasionally I
will join such a meeting.
To my surprise I found I could come up with a good haiku using
my imagination, creating a visual scene without really being there. But
to do so, I must have a real memory or feeling for that word; the heartand mind still need to be calm and empty for something true tomyself to come out.
So one rainy Sunday afternoon sitting around a table with a groupof Japanese haiku hobbyists, I shut my eyes and focused on thegroup’s theme image of takenoko, the summer seasonal word for“bamboo shoots” sprouting in a thicket and also a seasonal fooddelicacy for many.
confused on the pathbamboo shoots
show the way
42 Japan SPOTLIGHT • May / June 2020

The image is personal in tone and perhaps not immediately obvious
to the casual reader. Tampered bamboo shoots, popping straight outof the ground, and pointing upwards like arrows, appeared in mymind’s eye as symbolic markers guiding me on my path.
Sometime later I pulled from my bookshelf a slim volume of haiku
by Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), a famous poet of peasantbackground, and smiled when I found this one:The daikon picker
points the way...with his daikon(Kobayashi Issa, in Inch By Inch 45 Haiku by Issa, translated by
Nanao Sakaki, La Alameda Press, New Mexico, 1999.)

Photos & Haiku
Using photographs as stepping-stones into haiku is extremely
popular in Japan especially on TV programs, blending their need forvisual content with written shasei style life imagery. We can also see
numerous examples of traveling photographers creating photographic
essays to illustrate Bashō’s famous walking journey to the North.
In the past I often did slideshow presentations with my nature
photographs narrating them with Nature Meditation suggestions.
Many people found it easier to meditate looking at images, which thenled them into their own worlds. I was often asked which came first,
the meditation theme or the photo. Truth is, the creative process goes
both ways, and is the same when pairing photos with haiku.
One evening I took an abstract rain photo while sitting in the car ata shopping center. Back home, seeing the enlarged photo on thecomputer, I composed a caption for posting it on social media;
without thinking, it came out naturally as a haiku. The photo moment
came first; the haiku followed later after seeing the screen image but
is based on a real life episode.
PHOTO 6: Author @Edward Levinson

All Alonerainy night
waiting for you
tears of lightSpecialArticle

In another local experience, where admittedly the thinking mind
slipped into the process, I contemplated the difference between thespring and fall sunsets. I was driving east towards home down thetwo-lane highway known as Nagasa Kaido (translated loosely as “TheLong and Winding Road”). A red sunset ball in my rearview mirror
seemed to hang there forever, like one of those red laser-pointer dots,
following my actions, appearing as red catch lights on unsuspecting
house windows and shimmering across water filled spring paddies.
In the fall, the sunset is short and sweet, to the point of being madeinto a well-known Japanese metaphor: Aki no y ū hi, tsurube otoshi,“The fall sun sets as a bucket dropping [rapidly] into a well.” (Tsurubeotoshi – “dropping bucket” – is on the fall season word list).
Suddenly I wondered if there is an opposite image for a spring
season, long-lasting sunset. My metaphor came out in the form of ahaiku, with many photos to match it already in my archives!
spring sunset
floats freely
balloon on fire
PHOTO 7: Author @Edward Levinson

a hole in the sky
the eye of God opens
I am seen(Edo, haiku pen name of the author from the Japanese Megumi noMichi meaning “Road of Blessings”).
Can we experience haiku as a conversation or prayer, in addition tothe traditional idea of a painted word image? Is it simply a picture oris it a work of art? Are they personal experiences or universal
feelings? Do we really need to intellectually think about it?
Following the path of both traditional and modern haiku, I want towatch, feel, and write naturally, to read and see the light of others.
Through deceptively simple haiku I discover seasonal, spiritual,philosophical, humorous, and ironic epiphanies as well as ourcommonality.
feeling finerunning with my camera
mountain laughing
PHOTO 8: Author @Edward Levinson

Natural Balance

Beyond the Image
In art and life, finding validation of one’s own work by seeing thework of others is comforting. These three modern haiku are not“linked” on purpose; the authors are from different countries andbackgrounds, writing on their own at different times, but they sharethe same theme.

Welcome Smile

Note: The author’s book Whisper of the Land was the subject of aJapan SPOTLIGHT interview in the Nov.-Dec. 2015 issue (https://www.jef.or.jp/journal/pdf/204th_Interview_03_xx.pdf). His books areavailable at www.edophoto.com and www.whisperoftheland.com

Walking is philosophy’s
best friend – –voices from the clouds(Ban’ya Natsuishi, Ibid, Endless Helix Haiku & Short Poems)
The window asks
Does the wise man know
I am the eye of eternity?
(Abdulkareem Kasid, Sarabad, Shearsman Books, UK, 2015. Kasid
is an Iraqi poet living in the UK.)

Edward Levinson is an award-winning photographer and short filmmaker, as
well as an essayist and poet. He exhibits and publishes internationally; as aspeaker he presents photo-illustrated talks on photography, creativity, and his
unique experiences with Japanese culture. He is a member of The Photographic
Society of Japan and The Japan P.E.N. Club. Living in Japan since 1979, heresides in Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture, inspired by nature and Japanese culture.

Japan SPOTLIGHT • May / June 202043