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Report of HNA Boston 2001

HNA (Haiku North America) is a series of conferences held every other year and is not a physical organisation like HSA. It has now become an institution. However, it refuses to become stale. Every time a new conference is held in a new venue, it explores new horizons. In this sense, HNA Boston of this year was especially interesting and had a resounding success. The World Haiku Club, in good relation with HNA, asked the chief organiser of HNA Boston, Raffael de Gruttola, if he would like to give us his personal account of the memorable conference.

 

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HNA 2001 Boston
June 28th to July 1st 2001

Raffael de Gruttola


Our goal for HNA 2001 in Boston was to present different aspects of the Japanese poetic forms and how they have been used in the States. We also wanted to provide a forum for discussion and presentations with the performing arts of dance, music and video, as well as ample exhibits such as bonsai, suiseki, original shikishi boards, and haiga. We therefore chose as a theme "Haiku and Beyond."

The program therefore had workshops entitled: The Healing Power of Haiku; the Alchemy of Brotherhood: A multimedia celebration of Japanese short forms; a student haiku contest; Haiku for Harp; A Delicacy of Air (a dance with haibun); a video film of a renga to which dance, music, and acting was presented; Ninjutsu Dances from Japan; a Lecture and slide presentation on Haiga by Dr. Haruo Shirane at the Museum of Fine Arts ; an original renku performance with piano, voice, and dancer; musical setting of haiku with electronic music and screen manipulations; Haiku and Visual Art; numerous readings by different haiku groups from around the country; as well as other readings and slide presentations accompanied by a shakuhachi flute and a koto player; Haiku and Cybersites; a slide presentation of Basho's Narrow Road by a Boston Composer who hiked the path and took many slides; and other musical performances, ginko walks, and celebratory readings.

Because we were located close to museums and galleries we were able to use these sites for presentations and exhibits as well as an original Noh comedy and tea ceremonies at the Kaji Aso Studio.

We ran concurrent workshops so people could choose what they wanted to do each hour from a broad range of options, whether it was regular to concrete haiku, tanka, haibun, haiga, or attend renku sessions.

We had over 150 people attend and got support from local agencies as well as the Japanese Consulate in Boston, The Japan Foundation of New York City, local Cultural Councils, and our main sponsor State Street Corporation. We had visitors from Canada, England, Japan, Croatia, and Romania.

The keynote speakers were William Higginson, Dr. Haruo Shirane, and Hiroaki Sato. The Japanese Consul in Boston also came and gave a heart warming talk to open our session. The themes for the keynotes were where are we going with haiku in the states as well as where has it diverged from past practices, and an exploration of different trends in haiga to mention just a few.

There were also over 25 book publishers who exhibited and a silent auction was conducted as well as a haiga workshop for visual artists.

Although we had a bit of a heat wave in Boston for a couple of days, the atmosphere was lively and the conversation engaging. Many poets from the World Haiku Club lists were present. As one person remarked, "It was a great opportunity for pollination of haiku and the related haikai arts.

30/11/01

 See Dave Russo's Photos of HNA on the North Carolina Haiku Society Webiste

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