Enjoy the moon gazing, haijin? I know I did! Congratulations to last week’s contributors!

Haikai Challenge Participants

1. Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr 2. joem18b 3. Dwight L. Roth 4. Peter 5. Figments of a DuTchess

6. Reena Saxena 7. Jane Dougherty 8. Janice 9. Jade Li/Lisa 10. Tessa

11. Xenia Tran 12. Jules 13. Revived Writer 14. Deborah 15. Kerfe Roig

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Ultreya!

Can you believe halloween is only eleven days away! Eleven days! Let’s get ready for it by revisiting a kigo guaranteed to get us in the mood: the scarecrow (kakashi)

As I said last year:

According to the traditional calander, that renders this month the last of Autumn. And since many birds have migrated, that leaves plenty of opportunity for crows to feast without competition. To preserve the fruits of their harvest, or prevent the ravaging of whatever crop remains in the fields, farmers have relied on the use of the scarecrow:

“A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.[1] Scarecrows are used across the world by farmers, and are a notable symbol of farms and the countryside in popular culture.”

The scarecrow has become a cultural icon throughout the world and throughout history:

“In Kojiki, the oldest surviving book in Japan (compiled in the year 712), a scarecrow known as Kuebiko appears as a deity who cannot walk, yet knows everything about the world.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Feathertop” is about a scarecrow created and brought to life in 17th century Salem, Massachusetts by a witch in league with the devil. The basic framework of the story was used by American dramatist Percy MacKaye in his 1908 play The Scarecrow.

L. Frank Baum’s tale The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has a scarecrow as one of the main protagonists. The Scarecrow of Oz was searching for brains from the Great Wizard. The scarecrow was portrayed by Frank Moore in the 1914 film His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz, by Ray Bolger in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, and by Michael Jackson in the 1978 musical film adaptation The Wiz.

Worzel Gummidge, a scarecrow who came to life in a friendly form, first appeared in series of novels by Barbara Euphan Todd in the 1930s and later in a popular television adaptation.

The Scarecrow is the alter ego of the Reverend Doctor Christopher Syn, the smuggler hero in a series of novels written by Russell Thorndike. The story was made into the movie Doctor Syn in 1937, and again in 1962 as Captain Clegg. It was taken up by Disney in 1963 and dramatized in the three-part TV miniseries The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh starring Patrick McGoohan; this was later re-edited and released theatrically as Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow.

A film directed by Jerry Schatzberg in 1973 starring Al Pacino and Gene Hackman is titled Scarecrow and deals with two characters on a journey reminiscent of the one in L. Frank Baum’s book.

The Scarecrow is a character in the DC Comics universe, a supervillain and antagonist of Batman; Cillian Murphy portrays the character in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Similar characters, known as Scarecrow and Straw Man, have appeared in Marvel Comics.

British band Pink Floyd recorded a song called “The Scarecrow” for their debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. John Cougar Mellencamp’s album Scarecrow, which peaked at No. 2 in 1985, spawned five Top 40 singles including “Rain on the Scarecrow” (#21).

The song “Scarecrow People” on the XTC album Oranges & Lemons is a cautionary tale about the evolution of mankind to ‘scarecrow people’ who ‘ain’t got no brains’ and ‘ain’t got no hearts’ and are the result of humans destroying their world with wars and pollution.

Melissa Etheridge recorded the song “Scarecrow” for her 1999 album Breakdown. The song is actually about Matthew Shepard. The title makes reference to the bicyclist who found Shepard tied to a fence, who thought he was a scarecrow upon first glance.

Tobias Sammet recorded his third Avantasia album with a title The Scarecrow, as a first part of Wicked Trilogy.

A scarecrow named Scarecrow is one of the protagonists in Magic Adventures of Mumfie.

Circle of scarecrow children at Joe’s Scarecrow Village
Joe’s Scarecrow Village in Cape Breton, Canada is a roadside attraction displaying dozens of scarecrows.

The Japanese village of Nagoro, on the island of Shikoku in the Tokushima Prefecture, has 35 inhabitants but more than 350 scarecrows.[4]

In the United Kingdom, where the use of scarecrows as a protector of crops dates from time immemorial and where dialects were rife, there are a wide range of alternative names…”

It’s especially iconic during this part of Autumn, when the days shorten and harvest festivals climax.

(I know, I know… shameless self-promotion. What can I say? ;))

Doesn’t the scarecrow foreshadow the spooky celebrations of halloween? It’s certainly an icon of Autumn. So let’s celebrate it, shall we?

Write the haikai poem of your choice (haiku, senryu, haibun, tanka, haiga, renga, etc.) that alludes to the scarecrow (kakashi).

As always:

Here’s how the challenge works:

1. write the haikai poem of your choice.
2. post the link of your post to Mister Linky.
3. pingback by posting the link to the challenge on your site.
4. read and comment on other contributors’ posts.

celebrate the scarecrow, haijin!