Korean Summer Poems for Rainy Season

With rainy season upon us these days I've been spending my leisure time back here in Thunder Bay Canada reading and drinking tea. Lapsang Souchong with milk is usually my rainy day tea, most especially when it's a bit on the cool side out.  

I have recently started a new venture doing tea ceremonies here in Thunder Bay a few times each month in various locations around town. Mostly outdoors in summer in local park where you can drop by and see and even sample some tea if you like. Details for which can be found at my Where Wisk Way Blog or better still on my FaceBook group page Travelling TeaTime also to be found in the sidebar on this page.  

Pondering the various parks in town and talking with my friends about their favorite park places and experiences I'm reminded of this poem below about this poem below written about a peach orchard high up in the mountains that a Korean poet had discovered :  

Only white gull and I

Know about the thirty-six peaks of Mount Chung-Ryang.

White gull will never tell anyone

But I am suspicious of you, peach blossom.

You might fall into the stream

And, floating by, tell the fishermen about our secret place.

--Yi Hwang  

Upon my moving back to Canada I had come across a Tea Ceremony water container online. I was window shopping :-) It reminded me of the poem below

When a shadow appeared on the water,

I looked up to see a monk crossing the bridge.

Stay, I said, so I could ask

Where he was going.

But, pointing at white clouds, he moved on,

Answering without words. 

--Anonymous

(Both the above from Sunset in a Spider Web Sijo Poetry of Ancient Korea Virginia Olsen Baron, Minja Park Kim)

Here are two poems for a rainy day : 

Rainstorm at a Mountain Temple

The gale howling in the valleys

tears out the trees by their roots.

The downpour washes over every peak,

loosening rocks to tumble down the slopes.

The boom of a temple bell

opens the air, in waves.

-- Cho Eun 1900-196?

It is Raining

It is raining, incessantly falling

like tears streaming over sorrow,

Thinking you will be coming

soaked in the rain,

I push my window open

and hold a potted plant in my arms.

It is raining, incessantly falling

while I am expecting you.

I imagine seeing you

smiling in the misty woods 

before I am sent to sleep

by the sound of rain dripping from the eaves. 

--Yi U-Chul 1923-1984

(Both of the above taken from Modern Korean Verse in Sijo Form by Jaihiun Kim)

Well now I'm off to sip more tea and read away until I drift off recalling the rain dripping from the eaves of the garage I'd seen earlier today.... Best wishes and until next time, stay youthfully minded : for that is where inspiration often comes.

Gisaeng Postcards near Seoul City Hall

Rose scented postcards featuring a Gisaeng on each! Each with a sijo poem in English and Korean and a short bio on each Gisaeng written by Brother Anthony of Taize a.k.a An Sonjae.

I found these right inside Deoksu Palace in Seoul. It's the palace near Seoul City Hall : Across the street from the Seoul library and Seoul Plaza. On the palace grounds they have a wonderful gift shop that sells many unique items that are rare and near impossible to find at other souvenir shops.

Brother Anthony's site may be found here and for those finding their way into the Korean way of tea / Korean tea Ceremony I highly recommend his book The Korean Way of Tea available via What The Book : (The Korean Way of Tea) or through Seoul Selection's The Korean Way of Tea

Here's a brief, but more detailed explanation that I wrote about Geisaeng here : Tales of a Gisaeng and all of my posts regarding Gisaeng.

Korean Shijo Poems : Book Reviews

Much like the more famous Japanese Haiku Korean Shijo poems (also spelled Sijo) are syllable based but are a bit longer and a tad more challenging than haiku. Shijo poems are like higher level haiku poems if you will. If you're in South Korea now the English bookstore whatthebook.com (located online as well as brick and mortar physical form in Seoul) has two sijo books on offer one of which is a children's book entitled Tap Dancing On the Roof by Linda Sue Park.


As Tap Dancing on the Roof @ WhatTheBook Bookstore's site explains :

"Sijo is a traditional Korean form of poetry. Sijo is syllabic, like Japanese haiku, with three lines of 14 to 16 syllables each: the first two introduce the topic, the third and fourth lines develop it, and the fifth and sixth lines contain an unexpected humorous or ironic twist. This collection contains 26 sijo, half on "Inside" and half on "Outside" themes, many humorous, all appealing to a child reader. The simplicity and accessibility of these poems will encourage children to try their hand at writing sijo".

I have heard only good things about Linda Sue Park's book as it is a good book to introduce Shijo to children. Haiku is taught in the west as a way of developing pronunciation through syllable counting. Well, Shijo is a more advanced version of this.

 One Sijo book I highly recommend is Sunset in a Spider Web. It contains poems by Chosun Dynasty writers (mostly Gisaeng, Monks and Yangban of that age). The illustrations by Minja Park Kim are wonderfully sublime ! So too are the fine and sometimes rare selections chosen for this volume.

Here are some excerpts :

Only white gull and I 
Know about the thirty-six peaks of Mount Chung-Ryang.
White gull will never tell anyone
But I am suspiciou of you, peach blossom.

You might fall into the stream
And, floating by, tell the fishermen about our secret place.
  -- Yi Hwang. 









Ten Years it took
To build my little cottage.
Now the cool wind inhabits half of it
And the rest is filled with moonlight.

There is no place left for the mountains and the stream
So I guess they will have to stay outside. 
  -- Song Soon.

Amazon.com has several copies for it for rather cheap as they are connected to the rapidly multiplying thrift / goodwill stores across the United States. Here's amazon.com's page for it
Also it may be found at Abebooks.com an online small bookstore aggregate. The link for Abe Books page for Sunset in a Spider Web is, well, you got it. It is a wonderful book that I often turn to every few months for inspiration. The excerpts I have shown you are not exceptions to the others in the book as all the poems in the book are well chosen gems making this a book very well worth its purchase.

Geisha Basket with TeaSet For Sale Soon !

Well,  I've got an online Ebay store now : East Sea Scrolls Ebay Store .
In the next few days I shall be selling a Geisha Basket
with a nodate teaset inside also with a Ukiyo-E print that matches the basket. As pictured here in this post. Although the lighting may be a bit off in the picture you get everything as pictured minus the tatami mat and the fireplace in the background. If you have any questions regarding the product you can Email me : JackieTango@gmail.com

Moonless Night Haiku

These days I'm in Gwangali and getting ready for the rainy season. I'm also researching the Korean Matcha Tea Ceremony that existed long, long before the Chosun Dynasty. More on that later. Suffice :

Here's a few old Haiku I had written some time ago...
~~
moonless night cool sea breeze
in a jet black raku bowl
minds silent questions rest.
--MWT.
~~
rain drums tearoom roof
frothy green tea wide white bowl
sip frothy rumble.
--MWT.

The last line "minds silent questions rest" I got from another poem. I really liked the resonance of it. So I put it into a Japanese tea ceremony haiku...I wish I could recall the poet. If you've encountered it, the earlier poem that inspired me, do post a comment ! I'd love to give it and its poet proper credit !

Moon viewing poems

     Do excuse my less than erudite post here. Others such as the author/ringleader of the Haiku Bandit Society may very well know more of the moon viewing tradition than I. Indeed he regularly holds a highly successful 'online' moon viewing party where haiku poets submit their haiku upon viewing the most recent full moon. Do indeed check out his blog.

     Online one may find many pictures of Edo era moon viewing parties. Kangetsu is the Japanese word for these such parties. Ukiyo-e prints a plenty celebrating the moon and these such viewing parties may be found at the Japanese Woodblock Print Gallery. Two of the below were found there :

Artist: Kobayashi Kiyochika

Title: A Hundred Views of Musashi: Moon Beyond Shinagawa

Artist: Kitao Shigemasa

Title: Autumn Moon at Ishiyama Temple (Ishiyama shûgetsu), from an untitled series of Eight Views of Ômi (Ômi hakkei)

The O-Tsukimi Chakai (Moon Viewing Tea Ceremony) is a traditional Japanese festival which honors the full moon in autumn at the end of September. My wife and I are busy preparing to do one such tea ceremony this September for friends. This summer we shall purchase the proper candle holders.

     As of this night I have written a few moon viewing poems upon doing a brief tea ceremony and then mellowing out with a Korean decaffeinated magnolia tea from OSulloc. I've posted two of them below. Enjoy.
~~
stressful office hours
long rivers of red tail lights
black sky only moon
--MWT.
 ~~
in the sky above
night time tea ceremony
a white peach mochi
 --MWT.

"Songs of the Kisaeng" Chosun Dynasty Poems in English.

 My post "Tales of a Gisaeng" is almost over 1,500 pageviews versus the mere 100-200 page views for my other posts. Thus I bring you more Gisaeng poetry!

 During the Chosun dynasty Korean society was strictly Confucian; marriages were most often arranged and young ladies were not permitted to go out. There is the often told tale of girls on a swing set, swinging as high as they could, just to get a view over their courtyard wall.

In this context, where women had few freedoms, even that of expression, the Gisaeng may be viewed as a 'feminist' one. Although their lives were confined to their role as concubines, serving at the pleasure of the state, they did have the education and freedom to write with their most often form of expression being the shijo poem, many of which were made into songs. It is important to note that many of these poems express both their loves and longings as well as their complicated emotions they had for their clients. Being unmarried, the Gisaeng also had great financial freedom and many were known throughout the open air markets of Chosun Dynasty Korea.

From www.abebooks.com a used bookseller conglomerate I received a copy of Songs of the Kisaeng a collection of shijo poems by various Kisaeng translated by Constantine Contogenis and Wolhee Choe.

All of the translated poems come with the original Korean so it is a great source for English speakers wishing to expand their Korean vocabulary.

Many of the poems are by the famous Hwang Jini. Reviewer and author Sam Hamill aptly describes the poems as "courtesan blues from the Chosun Dynasty". Indeed many of the poems are of longing and loss while others are passionate love poems. Here are a few samples from the book:

Ah, What Have I Done?

Ah, What have I done -- as though I didn't 
know my feelings would remain.
I would not add the few
words that would keep him.

I want to understand the joy
I felt as I was letting him go.
     -- Hwang Jini.



An Anchor Lifts

An anchor lifts, a ship is leaving
he goes this time, when to return.
Far over the sea's vast waverings
one can see a going as return.

But as the sound of that anchor lifting,
the night could hear her insides turn.
     -- Anonymous Gisaeng. 
     


Iron, We Were Told

Iron, we were told; iron had arrived again
Sure I remember brittle pig iron,
but your close, cold surface told me iron
again that was hammered and annealed.

This time I will use a furnace of earth, bellows
of such breath you will not withstand the fire. 
     -- Chinok.

Overall I'd say this book is an excellent read providing much insight into the midset of the Gisaeng. There is a fine selection of poems: some love poems, some speak of longing and loss while others are of renunciation. Theirs is a poetry of passion whereas many of the poems written by the literati yangban at the time are of historical or of topical themes and tend to be rather dry overall. Perhaps this explains current interest in the emotional complexities found in Gisaeng poetry. Indeed, it is one of their more intriguing charms.