Radish

in the evening soup
miso-soaked disagreement
a piece of radish

Kim M. Russell, 15^th April 2019

My response to Carpe Diem #1647 Japanese-radish flower (daikon no hana)

Today we have a classical kigo taken from the Shiki saijiki: Japanese-radish flower (daikon no hana). Apparently, daikon means ‘big root’ and is a long white crunchy vegetable that looks like horseradish, but with a mild flavour. It’s also known as winter radish, Oriental radish or Japanese radish, and is a staple of Japanese food: pickled, garnished, or served steaming in miso soup.

We have been given a few examples of haiku by Matsuo Basho as inspiration:

kiku no ato daikon no hoka sara ni nashi

after the chrysanthemums,
apart from radishes,
there is nothing

mononofu no daikon nigaki hanashi kana

samurai’s gathering–
their chat has the pungent taste
of daikon radish

Matsuo Basho (1644-94)