Happy New Year 2026
The Year of the Horse
午年や天馬も祝ふお正月
umadosi ya tenma mo iwau o-shōgatsu
The Year of the Horse
Heavenly horse celebrates too
New Year’s Day
It’s been seven years since I started writing haiku about the zodiac animals. This year’s zodiac animal is the horse. I was born in 1942, the Year of the Horse, so I’m a lucky horse year man this year. Looking back on my memories of horses, I remember being deeply moved by a snow horse. I opened an album from 12 years ago and looked for photos of the snow horse. I also remember the title “Heavenly Horse.”
The three photos I found are shown below.
From February 15th to 16th, 2014, I participated in a haiku walk at the Yokote Kamakura Festival in Akita Prefecture, organized by the Japanese haiku group “Ten’I (Providence),” led by Dr. Akito Arima (1930-2020).
We composed haiku and held a haiku meeting after viewing kamakura in the 15th evening and theKamakura Festival in the 16th morning.
The zodiac sign for 2014 was the horse, and Dr. Arima was born in 1930, the Year of the Horse, so he was a lucky horse year man that year. Me too.
That heavenly snow horse melted away and gone, but the marvelous snow horse image remains in my mind even today after 12 years.
秋田国際俳句ネットワーク
蛭田 秀法
Hidenori Hiruta
Akita International Haiku Network
Akita International Haiku Network 