< Study with Junior fligh School Students >Ko-nan Junior High School, where I teach haiku, is located on the outskirts of Mt.Rokko(Kobe) and overlooking the town of Ashiya with the open sea far beyond. The school is surrounded by a most exciting naturaI environment with seasonal changes of mountain landscape from cherry blossoms followed by fresh and green leaves in springtime to coloured leaves in the fall. thus presenting the mountains in sleep, smile and colour. Once a week I walk an ascending I)ath to the school to teach haiku in a Special educational curriculumn. Along the Way, I enjoy scenes of the season and can hardly resist poetic sentiment of haiku from welling up. I I suspect that the students are exposed to a similar emotion every day but that they let it fade away unconsciously. It is my hope that in the near future newly admitted students may make a haiku like
Let me introduce comments from a new student: "Totally disappointed ,when assigned to a club least expected. But glad to find that my sentence composition improved through forced exercise on haiku making. Five haiku are too much for homework. My poetic feelings dry up after three, and the last two oftentime end up in mere Statement of vord8 just to meet the requirement." |