sketching from life —
eggplants are harder to do
than pumpkins Masaoka Shiki
shapely drops of glossy purple
among rotund orange globes Kim M. Russell, 19th January 2020
My response to Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #112 Transformation: sketching from life (Shiki’s Shasei technique)
In this weekend’s meditation, we are returning to a feature introduced a while ago, called ‘Carpe Diem Transformation’, in which the challenge is to ‘re-build’ a given haiku into a tanka.
The given haiku is by Masaoka Shiki, using his ‘shasei’ technique, as explained by Jane Reichhold. The poetic principle is to ‘depict the thing just as it is’, without using any associations, contrasts, comparisons, wordplays, puns or riddles, just stating what we see without anything else happening in the haiku or tanka.
Here is the haiku we are working with:
kaboocha yori nasu muzukashiki shasei kana
Sketching from life —
eggplants are harder to do
than pumpkins
Masaoka Shiki (Tr. Burton Watson)
writing in north norfolk 
Nice one Kim
Much❤love
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Thank you, Gillena. xxx
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I have always loved the rotund orange globes.
Maybe if I ever have a greenhouse, I will try growing eggplant. It’s also a bit of a contentious vegetable to cook with, but when done right, it’s wonderful.
~cie~
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They are both on my favourite vegetables list, Cara.
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You may be a painter, too. Well done!
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Thank you, Janice!
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Beautiful, the Haiku and the art too. My pumpkin cookbook confirms that I am a lover of pumpkins AND also I really LOVE eggplants! Thank you kindly.
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Thank you for reading and commenting, Anne.
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