Three years have passed since we founded the Akita International Haiku Network on May 1, 2009.
At the same time we published the yearly pamphlet 『詩の国秋田 : Akita – the Land of Poetry』 on August 31, 2009.
Here is its front cover page, in which the article by President Mineo Nakajima （中嶋嶺雄）at Akita International University（国際教養大学）is shown.
In this article Dr. Nakajima presented haiku he wrote during his stay in Nara, when he went on a school trip in his junior high school days.
猿沢の灯の涼しさを宿にいて
嶺雄
Donald Keene, the ex- member of the President’s Advisory Board at AIU, kindly contributed his Japanese translation for Matsuo Basho’s haiku from ‘The Narrow Road to Oku ‘ by Matsuo Basho （『おくのほそ道』松尾芭蕉）.
象潟や雨に西施がねぶの花
Kisakata ―
Seishi sleeping in the rain,
Wet mimosa blossoms.
Donald Keene
Here is a photo of Donald Keene taken at the final lecture at Columbia University on April 26, 2011 by Atsuko Teramoto (寺本敦子撮影).
His Japanese name is 鬼怒鳴門．
AIU President Mineo Nakajima （中嶋嶺雄）, who is one of the most important founders of the Akita International Haiku Network, is eminent as Ph.D., Sociology, The University of Tokyo, M.A., International Relations, The University of Tokyo, and B.A., China Studies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
You will see what Dr. Nakajima has been doing as AIU President on the Internet at http://www.aiu.ac.jp.
Dr. Nakajima has also a clear understanding of haiku and feels a great love for haiku.
This is partly because his late father, Seiyo Nakajima （中嶋晴陽）, was one of the haiku poets in Japan.
In 1990, Dr. Nakajima compiled a book of haiku by his father, titled Seiyo Kushu (晴陽句集).
Let me show you its front cover page and the last haiku by Seiyo Nakajima.
Dr. Nakajima has written articles or essays on haiku for haiku journals or the newspapers, and has appeared in NHK TV program on haiku these days.
He also contributed the article of congratulations on the first issue of the yearly pamphlet by the Akita International Haiku Network.
Last of all, we sincerely hope that haiku will spread out to the world more because of its brevity and its coexistence with nature.
The next posting ‘『詩の国秋田』にちなんで（２）－有馬朗人先生との出会い－’ appears on August 24.
― Hidenori Hiruta
Akita International Haiku Network 