Haiku by Students at AIU ( Part 4 )

 

CRESI (Center for Regional Sustainability Initiatives) at AIU (Akita International University)（国際教養大学）held AIU HAIKU CONTEST and gave workshops on haiku in English as well as in Japanese in 2009.

Professor Kirby Record at AIU gave workshops on haiku in English, where participants including students and citizens studied about how to write haiku in English and translated Japanese haiku sent to the contest into Japanese with him.

He also played a role as the selector for English haiku at the contest.

 

 

I post some haiku written by AIU students, who won prizes at AIU Haiku Contest.

The first haiku was written by Ms. Mei Hashimoto（橋本芽衣）, a graduate student at AIU. She won Honorable Mention, English Section and translated it into Japanese.

 

In the grey eyes

Full of memories

On a small chair

 

イスにかけ瞳に浮かぶ思い出が

 

Isu ni kake  hitomi ni ukabu  omoide ga

 

The selector, Professor Kirby Record, gave the following comment to this haiku:

This haiku for the most part conveys its feeling through an objectively stated imagery and allows the reader to participate in the experience by constructing the scene in his own way. That is one of the essential qualities of a real haiku.  Though an element of the poet’s interpretation is evident in the “full of memories,” it is balanced by the final line of “on a small chair.”  It reminds me a little of the sentiment in Yeats’ little poem that begins “when I am old and grey and full of sleep/ and nodding by the fire, take down this book.”  One might question its ungrammatical and semantic deviance, but to me this is the part of charm and effectiveness of the feeling.  We need to conjure in our imaginations a person who has the grey eyes, the memories and sits on the small chair.  Could this be a grandmother, perhaps, whom the speaker evokes?  We don’t know but we can always imagine, and that is the power and delight of haiku.

Ms. Mei Hashimoto won Notable Mention, Japanese Section for University Students too.

 

帰り道たれる稲穂の赤黄金 

 

Kaerimichi  tareru inaho no  aka kogane

Back to home 

Rice ears heading down

Reddish Gold Sky

 

Next, I post haiku by Ms. Yukari Sakamoto（阪本縁）, a graduate student at AIU.

She received three awards, First Prize, Honorable Mention and Notable Mention, Japanese Haiku for University Students.

Haiku of First Prize is this:

 

ラベンダー蜂と私の異空間

 

Rabendah  hachi to watashi no  ikuukan

 

the bee and I

in the world of lavender

each in our own space      

                                                  Kirby Record

 

 

Haiku of Honorable Mention is this:

新緑の中を駆け抜け登校す

 

Shinryoku no  naka o kakenuke  toukou su

 

I’m riding

through such fresh spring green

to school

Kirby Record

 

 

Haiku of Notable Mention is this:

 

朝露にじゃがいもの花煌めいて

 

Asatsuyu ni  jagaimo no hana  kiramei te

 

Potatoes:

Of those flowers

Glistening with morning dew

 

Hidenori Hiruta（蛭田秀法）, attended the workshops and sent haiku to the contest.

My haiku won Notable Mention.

 

Rogetsu’s hometown

sending haiku all over

autumn festival

 

秋祭り露月のホーム句を送る

 

Akimatsuri  Rogetsu no houmu  ku o okuru

  

Professor Kirby Record gave his comment to this haiku as follows:

I chose this haiku/senryu because it links the world of Rogetsu’s haiku to autumn festivals, including AIU’s.  Ishii Rogetsu（石井露月） was one of the respected haiku poets after the death of Masaoka Shiki（正岡子規）, and was born in the Yuwa（雄和） area, Akita, and to whom this haiku contest is dedicated.  The haiku among those referred to in this haiku include those being recognized today at the AIU festival.  So even now the spirit of Rogetsu’s haiku is present and living among us.

 

― Hidenori Hiruta