Some Go haiku

A soft, sweet brow at dawn
A golden thread at noon
But now, at dusk, Kaya makes
my heart feel envy.

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Only tangentially about Go:

Might lose on time now.
But the dog pulls me outside.
Ah, Oxytocin!

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(tak) – of a wide, invigorating space

탁 · 탁 · 탁 · 탁 · 탁
Yeonwoo’s powerful weapon?
Or just corgi feet?

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せめあいだれを semeaidare wo
五月雨を gathering the rains

あつめごてはやし atsumegote hayashi
あつめて早し of the wet season – swift

もちこみかわ mochikomigawa
最上川 Mogami River

– Basho

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Ravens and pigeons
Gather in the autumn corn
On quiet evenings.

(for Images of olden times - #181 by bugcat)

How many more trips
Must I make into the cave
Collecting the slate?

(for Images of olden times - #178 by claire_yang)

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These stones speak silence
Scribing tomes of life and death
Looking for ma’at

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Walking on old kifus in the secret garden

From far came sounds of cats and dogs, dancing and fighting with stones.

I wrote down three more tsumego.

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It also works with rhythms :heart_eyes:

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ma’at is Dutch maat, “rhythm”?

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I’m not a scholar,
But I can search the archives
For ancient wisdom

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Does ma’at mean rhythm in dutch?? That’s so cool! Yes and no! Ma’at can absolutely be called rhythm but the usage of the word is in reference to the Egyptian ma’at which was both the goddess of and incarnation of truth, balance, justice, harmony, etc

In terms of go, all of these things can be interpreted as great strength and ideal play.

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Sumi ni ishi
korosarete kara
O-ki ga tsuku

The stones in the corner –
after they have been killed
he starts to worry . . .

From the essay Some Senryu about Go.

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https://senseis.xmp.net/?GoHaiku

Here, or there, or where?
Reading clarifies the choice,
And instinct prevails.

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Kitani’s Furoshiki
inspired by BGJ #14, excerpt

Walnuts, honey pot,
Buddhist staff, eyedrops, plasters,
Tissues, cup for tea.

The British Dans
inspired by BGJ #15

Diamond, Daly, Dunn,
Bates, Bock, Cooper, Cock, Goddard –
Hitchens, Hall and Wells…

(I was unable to fit in Irving, Tilley and Fairbairn. These are all players who held a dan rank in the BGA in 1971, almost fifty years ago.)

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This one was in BGJ 172, Summer 2015:

white blossom petal
falling lands on the go board –
how can black reply?

Emzi Zimiziyu

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A Dutch go haiku by Jaap K. Blom (year 2000), illustrated by me:

Translation (not in Haiku form):

old lines
a hand swerves away from the board

deep invasion?
sharp tesuji?
furikawari?

brief, dry tick

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From Fairbairn’s post on L19, discussing haiku written by poet Masaoka Shiki (1867–1902).

真中に 碁盤据ゑたる 毛布かな
Go board needs placing flat and right in the middle: Oh, wretched blanket!

Only Fairbairn would write a haiku with no romanisation. Up for a bit of Japanese practice, @S_Alexander ?

The back story is that Shiki was very ill - as was well known at the time as he was a long-time sufferer from the consumption that was soon to kill him. He would have been too weak to lift a bulky kaya board, and in fact goban here refers to a paper go board. This is hinted at in the apt choice of sueru as the verb (i.e… fixing it in place), but we know this anyway because Shiki’s notes tell us.

Until the 1950s go sets comprising a paper board and clay stones were common, being the equivalent of today’s plastic sets. Shiki describes how he got out a beginner’s book and started playing over the moves on this board only for the wind to blow in a draught and mess with the board. (…) We can infer from other writings by Shiki that the book in question was in fact a joseki book by his contemporary Honinbo Shuei.

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Pioneering the laziest genre of poetry yet: the Sensei’s Library RandomPage haiku.

The lines are simply the first article titles that pop up and fit the metre.

Furuya Masao
Kyu Exercise 65
Essential Go Terms

Cross-cut then extend
World Youth Goe Championship
The Magic of Go

Eye of a Chain
Kobayashi Koichi
Go Review Partner

Despite the coffee
Either muffins or dango
Make my sensei groan

Inspired by Excerpts from the AGA E-Journal - #10 by bugcat

Whenever I play go with Yokoyama-sensei in his home, Mrs. Yokoyama attends us with food and drink. She gives us each a cup of coffee during our first game, and endless cupfuls of green tea for the remainder of my visit. She usually plies us with small snacks – crackers, biscuits, hard candy – as well as traditional foods such as mochi (sticky rice cakes), anko-filled muffins (anko is a sweet bean paste), buntan and mikan (citrus fruits).

Sometimes I know the losing move when I make it, and sometimes Yokoyama-sensei feigns indigestion. I thought, at first, that his groans meant that I had gained an advantage or found a tesuji; I quickly discovered that they were the laments of a teacher with an inept pupil.