< Invitation to Haiku >

I wonder how you would respond if someone said to you, "Why don't you make a haiku? Would you say "What is haiku?" Perhaps as a senior pupil at the elementary school, you learned basics of haiku in the texts of your national language.

"Well, haiku sounds strange to us young people," some may say.
My sincere message to them is that they will never regret it if they begin to study haiku while young. I know many senior people now enjoying haiku who got exposed to it in extremely early days of life. Some of you may have begun to write haiku before you knew it because someone in the family had done so. I am one of those.

I was brought up in a home where I would overhear haiku poets gathering for haiku-making or the study of "Sarumino", a book of works by Basho(1644-1694), under the guidance of my father. I would also accompany him on Ginko or an outing for observing nature and making haiku. I tried to copy haiku poets in their manners and gestures of haiku composition in the field.

Near the three-story pagoda at the Kiyomizu Temple stood a big cherry tree whose blossoms Were falling very impressively.

Kiyomizu no tou no kiwa yori sakura chiru

Kiyomizu temple near the pagoda cherry bloosoms falling

So I jotted down in my small notebook to retain the description of a factual sight. Then, Imanishi Ichi-jo-ski, a haiku poet and teacher at an elementary school in Kyoto, looked into my note and improved it to read:

Kiyomizu no tou no kiwa yori sakura chiru

Kiyomizu temple near the pagoda falling cherry bloosoms

I was in the fourth grade of an elementary school at that time. I always had a haiku notebook with me, and jotted down scenes and matters that impressed me. Later on I reviewed my notes and compiled haiku poems. I have always been grateful to the favored enviroment of my life, have taken pride and cared for it to date. I could hardly resist my growing desire to share the pleasure of haiku with other people and now say again to you, "Why don't you make some haiku?"

I Would not be fulfilling all my duty if I should only urge you to make haiku and leave you alone wondering, "But how.....?"
In response, I will try to write down what I learned from my experiences in such a way that you may easily understand it.