michael lambe's scrapbook

On October 22nd, I joined the Hailstone Haiku Circle’s composition stroll in Nara. The weather was temperamental, but we didn’t get a full downpour until the evening – once I’d gotten back to Kyoto – so we were lucky. Though the maple leaves hadn’t changed yet, the leaves of the 南京黄櫨 (Chinese tallow tree) had turned a beautiful crimson.

Plunging from the open grassy plain into primeval forest, we came upon a stream and Stephen Gill carefully placed some stones for the ladies to cross over.

Hesitant poets
cross the beck
on freshly-placed stones

Here in the woods we also encountered a stag who had somehow managed to avoid getting his antlers removed this year. The deer in Nara are quite unafraid of humans, and so to avoid having them injuring people their antlers are removed. This fellow is obviously faster or sneakier than most.

Here we are under a massive oak, descendant of oaks that have been here for thousands of years.

At Shinyakushiji we viewed 12 ancient statues of heavenly guardians, a big fat Buddha, and in the garden flowers like these:

Shinyakushiji -
a boy admires a girl
admiring Budhha

The persimmon trees in Nara were hung with luminous fruit… But I couldn’t help noticing the metal fencing and forsaken machinery – that was painted the same colour!

rusty ripe persimmon -
In the long grass
abandoned metal fences

Finally we returned to a cafe, where we had tea and delicious apple cake – and shared our haiku.

Finally something decent on the TV.

I was delighted that my own two offerings met with the others’ approval. And even more so that one of them made it onto the Hailstone website report. You can read some haiku by the other members and Stephen’s report there.