Space Cup: Submitting my entry right away / Chiyuda

Space Cup! First one to enter!!!
is what I'm aiming for with this submission, but

(I tried to challenge myself to publish the article at midnight, but I wonder what number I'll end up being???)

For participating in the Space Cup, I thought of some measures to boost my mood.

Well, this time,

both my main job and side job are quite busy,
so I have no choice but to use my spare time,
and in such a situation, when it comes to composing haiku,

I feel like I can't really compose them unless I have the motivation to say, 'I'm going to do it!'

So, for one thing,

Aim to be the first to enter the Space Cup!

I'll use this as motivation.

And another thing.
If I'm going to participate anyway,

isn't there something interesting I can do
that others aren't doing?

So, what I thought was,

Let's try writing the haiku by hand with a brush!
(Maybe there are people already doing this😅)

And while I'm at it, I'll make a stamp
for my haiku pen name 'Chiyuda' too!
(Maybe no one is doing this?)

Ohhh, just thinking about it,

my mood has lifted.

I've decided to post this brush-written and self-made haiku stamp at the end of the article,
but first, here are my entries for this time!!!

◆These are the 3 haiku for this time

↓↓↓↓↓

Mottled fertilizer frolicking, clods of earth, plowing the field

A tightly knotted tie flutters, the scenery shines

Through the smartphone, a tasteless buoy, cherry blossoms scatter

Explanation of each haiku

1. Mottled fertilizer frolicking, clods of earth, plowing the field

Fertilizer is scattered in patches across the field. When I put the hoe into it, I imagined the clods of earth, which had been patiently sleeping through the long winter, dancing with the joy of receiving the compost.

I went out to the actual field looking for hints, and

the sight of fertilizer scattered 'in patches' on the soil surface became the hint for 'mottled fertilizer'.

I tried various words to express the clods of earth, but by using 'frolicking' (hashagu),

• 'the sense of movement from plowing'

• 'the joy of receiving the fertilizer'

since both of these can be expressed, I finally decided on 'frolicking'.

Mottled manure frolicking, clods of earth, plowing the field

I really wanted to compose a haiku about a field, so I wrote this one 💦

2. A tightly knotted tie fluttering, the wind shines

I wanted to write a haiku imagining my son who will be a high school student starting in April, so I first looked for a seasonal word, and

"Kaze hikaru" (shining wind)

I fell in love with this seasonal word at first sight, and

風が光る！だなんて、凡人の私には
とても思い付かない、何て素敵な季語なんだ！
と感動しました。

I want to write a haiku with "Kaze hikaru"!

That is what I thought when I wrote it.

To make good use of the seasonal word "Kaze hikaru",

"Wind" = expressed by the fluttering tie. "Shining" = firm determination shining brightly.

While tightening the tie,
a firmly knotted determination.

The spring breeze blowing past his back,
makes the tie flutter,
and he walks briskly with a dignified face.

I wrote this haiku with the image of entrusting the joy and hope of enrollment to the blowing wind.

A tightly knotted tie fluttering, the wind shines

Personally,
this very simple haiku, which is full of hope and feels like spring, is my favorite.

3. Through the smartphone, a tasteless buoy, cherry blossoms fall

Due to the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, online results announcements are mainstream this year.

Speaking of passing announcements, I remember the thrill and excitement of searching for your examinee number among those written on the stark white paper posted on the bulletin board, and that atmosphere was wonderful.

"Is my number there?"

But now, with online results, you just enter your number and click, and suddenly...

It just shows up.

"Unfortunately, you have not passed."

Seeing that string of inorganic characters lined up on the smartphone screen felt so flavorless and empty.

Is this really it...?

I wrote this haiku to capture that feeling that both parent and child felt.

The way the word "failed" pops up on the smartphone with a single click.

I struggled a lot with this expression,

but I likened it to a buoy drifting aimlessly and inorganically on the open sea, trying to express the way the characters appear and drift inorganically on the smartphone screen.

Also, I intentionally wrote "Sakura chiru" (cherry blossoms falling) in katakana as "サクラチル" to give it a retro feel.

Through the screen | flavorless | a buoy, cherry blossoms fall

By the way, this haiku became the one I am most attached to, both because I struggled with the word choice and because of the lingering regret of the failure.

Finally, revealing the brush-written version

So, finally,

I will reveal the brush-written haiku and haigo (pen name) stamp version.

For the brush, I used an extra-thick brush pen. (I considered using real ink, but decided against it because it's too much of a hurdle to write quickly in my spare time.)

For the haigo stamp, I sent the design to a stamp shop and had a rubber stamp custom-made.

Even though I say "custom-made," it's nothing too grand; I just created the design, turned it into an image file, and ordered it from a "stamp shop" online.

So, I finished the application in about 30 minutes.
(By the way, the delivery time is also 2-3 days.)

And here is the brush-written & haigo (haiku pen name) stamp version!

(Please forgive my poor handwriting and the wobbly lines 💦)

By writing them by hand,

even though it's a brush pen, I felt a sense of sincerity,
and I was able to face each haiku one by one,

and above all,

my attachment to each haiku grew, so even though I'm not good at writing, I'm glad I did it!

My introduction has become long, but
these three haiku this time,

I look forward to your evaluation!

< Bonus >

Review of the previous "Sasa Cup"