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Sonia
Christina Coman |
The British haiku poet and
translator, R.H. Blyth, taught English at the Fourth High School in Kanazawa
(Kanazawa University). In "History of Haiku" ( pub. 1964, Hokuseido,
Jp.) wrote:
Haiku should be the chief subject
in primary and secondary schools in every country in the world.
Sonia Christina Coman, a 7th grade
Romanian school girl agrees. Already a well-established poet of haiku and tanka
in several languages, she has taken it upon herself to make the first step
toward that end in her country, with the help of the World Haiku Club. Recently,
Sonia had been asked to appear on a national television show, in which she spoke
about her experience in writing haiku. Sonia has written the following account
for the feature, "Haiku in Education" as a personal report of her
experiences and aspirations.
Introducing
Haiku to Romanian Elementary Schools:
A Proposal
by Sonia Cristina Coman
Constanza, Romania
Haiku poetry comes from Japan. It
is therefore my great pleasure to congratulate the Japanese people on the birth
of Princess Toshi no Miya, Aiko! On the occasion of learning this
wonderful news, I wish to share three haiku poems which I have composed to
dedicate to the little princess:
Amaterasu
blessing the Japanese flag --
birth of Toshi no Miya
Amaterasu
and a huge kiku ningyo--
birth of Aiko
Princess Aiko--
we all
love you too
I am a 7th-grade schoolgirl at an
art school in Constantza, Romania. I also study universal literature with
special interest in Japanese literature at the PRO College in Bucharest.
One day, I received a telephone call from the Romanian national television, PRO
TV. I was invited to appear on the talk-show of Mr. Adrian Paunescu, one
of the best and most celebrated Romanian poets. The show was broadcast live,
airing on Monday, December 3, 2001.
The PRO TV operator explained to
me that I had been chosen for this talk-show because of their recognition of my
achievements, and also because of my being a student of the Pro College. The
subject of the talk-show would be the role of the young generation in Romania's
future. I liked the sound of it and accepted the invitation with alacrity.
For some time now, I have been
involved in the world haiku movement. I believe that, like any other art, one
should start learning haiku early. I therefore made the decision of introducing
world haiku to the Romanian schools for the first time in our history. Having
been appointed World Haiku Ambassador by the World Haiku Club, I have some
responsibility to do my part for the world haiku movement and felt that I should
take the first steps in this direction as soon as possible.
Obtaining approval, I had
suggested this idea to Mr. Susumu Takiguchi, Managing Editor, World Haiku Review
& Chairman, The World Haiku Club. He liked my idea, and encouraged me to try
and put it into practice. Obviously, it would take anyone a long time to develop
and accomplish this task but one must make a start. The talk show gave me a
golden opportunity to do just that...
The big day came and I was in the
PRO TV studio. Mr. Adrian Paunescu first asked what was what was the origin of
my passion for haiku. I replied that when I was seven years old, I started
writing very brief and concentrated, or condensed poems which resembled
haiku. At that time I was working on a graphics project which I intended to
enter in a competition in Tokyo, Japan. My father showed] me a book which had
sumi-e and haiku poems. This was a haiku magazine called Albatross.
The Editor of the magazine is Mr. Ion Codrescu, who is also President of
the Constantza Haiku Society. I took to haiku straightaway, and Mr. Codrescu
became my first haiku teacher.
I love Japan and I know a little
bit about Zen. The moment when I decided to write haiku may well have been quite
a satori. Thus it was that I started writing haiku, tanka, renku and
participating in the workshops of the Constanza Haiku Society as well as in
international haiku contests and conferences around the world. Since that time,
my life has changed. I have learned to be more attentive to the life around me,
the beauty of the world and the joy we derive from living in it. Haiku makes us
realise that each small element of nature is very important. Haiku has helped
me, for instance, to discover the beauty of a the eyes of a deer, a sunrise, or
dewdrops on a fresh white rose.
The next question was how I became
World Haiku Ambassador. I answered that when attending the World Haiku Festival
2000, held in London and Oxford for six days in August 2000, I was given the
title by its Chairman, Mr. Susumu Takiguchi. It was during the ceremony at the
Japanese Embassy in London. I had had a beautiful time at this memorable
Conference, and so, from the talk show, I was very happy to tell my fellow
countrymen in Romania about the World Haiku Club and its online magazine World
Haiku Review and their main architects, Mr. Takiguchi and Ms Debi Bender. (When
I later watched the whole video at home, I saw beside my name, my title of
Ambassador of World Haiku clearly written on the screen!)
The next question seemed only too
natural. Mr. Paunescu requested of me to present a favourite haiku, illustrating
the essence of haiku. This was not easy but, I decided to read the following
poem of Kobayashi Issa:
The world is dew-like
Only dew-like
And still...
(Translated by Ms Mihaela Codrescu)
Mr. Paunescu and other
guests of the talk-show were deeply impressed by the beauty of this haiku and by
its resonance. I felt that this poem had a special place in the mind and soul of
Issa. Mr. Paunescu asked me to read it again, which I did. After
that, we were joined by twin brothers from Iasi, another cultural centre
of Romania. They were only six years old, and talked about their computer
activities, demonstrating some of them. I questioned
the twins which they thought was the better world: our human world or the
virtual electronic world? Their answer surprised me. They chose the virtual
world without hesitation, which, in their opinion, was a lot better.
Next came the climax of the
talk-show. Namely, we had a conversation with the Romanian Minister of
Education, Ms Ecaterina Andronescu, who had interrupted her busy schedule at the
Ministry to talk to us. She told us that she had stopped her work to listen
to our talk-show and was interested in my interventions for haiku in our
schools.
I proposed to her that she
might consider introducing haiku in elementary schools. The Minister listened to
me attentively, showing her obvious interest, and asked me to elaborate why I
was making this proposal. I explained that haiku represents an ephemeral
moment, which usually is not even observed, and that this moment is captured by
the haiku poet and expressed in three lines: a capsule of time. I went on to
mention that the poetical moment, in this way, becomes eternal. Moreover,
I continued, haiku could make children more sensitive and more attentive
to the world around them. I emphasised that their creativity and
poetical sense would be stimulated by writing and reading haiku. I even ventured
to maintain that through haiku, teenagers might find a solution to their
existential problems . I also made the point that through
haiku and renku (linked-verse, people of different nations and civilisations
could come to know each other and establish cultural relationships, a good way
of discovering this wonderful world in which we live.
The Minister seemed impressed by
my explanation, for she told me that I would surely be successful in
accomplishing what I had set out to achieve. As this was a very successful
conversation, perhaps I might be forgiven to think I have already taken he first
step in introducing haiku to Romanian schools. Mr. Paunescu requested that we
should all formulate a phrase for the benefit of our audience at the end of the
broadcast. I thought that one of my haiku poems might be appropriate for that
purpose. Therefore, I finished with the following poem:
working day-
red poppies crushed
by a wood cart
("Special Award" Itoen
1999, "Oh-I, Ocha", Tokyo, Japan)
This haiku was much
appreciated. Mr. Paunescu said that this was an extraordinary poem and
that he would publish it in his review, The
Flame. I gave him an outline, some papers on haiku, and a
message written by Mr. Takiguchi. He was very interested and impressed by all I
had told him and all he read.
A proverb goes: Strike the iron
while it's hot. So, having had the confirmation from the Education Minister, I
can now send her a letter with some documents about haiku which it is
hoped would facilitate my request. Better still, I should go to Bucharest
again to visit the Ministry of Education to present personally all these
materials to her. It is my sincere desire to accomplish this mission because
haiku deserves to be promoted at schools in Romania. I feel I am on the same
wave-length with the Education Minister, who is a wonderful as well as powerful
woman in Romania.
I wrote to [Mr. Takiguchi, telling
him all about these things because he is a haiku master and one of
the principal supporters of promoting world haiku in Romanian schools for the
first time in our history.
To be more specific, I
regard my role in this project to be diplomatic, as World Haiku
Ambassador. In that capacity, I wish to try and convince the Education Minister,
so that she would actually implement the introduction of haiku into the
curriculum of the Romanian school system.
There is a prospect that I could
ask for co-operation from the World Haiku Club. I know that the World Haiku Club
has a mailing list for children called WHChaikujunior, and another list called
Hibiscus School, which is for people to learn a specific, traditional school of
haiku. Through these lists and other activities, the World Haiku Club may wish
to help us by providing teaching materials and other aids for the benefit of
Romanian children of different age-groups.
I wish to ask Mr. Takiguchi to
discuss this matter with me so that Romania could secure his willingness and
commitment to help by providing teaching materials and other assistance in
disseminating world haiku at our schools. I will also ask him to help me in
terms of my presentation of my proposal to the Education Minister. I intend to
tell the Minister about Mr. Takiguchi's haiku activities and his wonderful
personality. I am sure that this will help the Minister to understand how
developed the world haiku movement is and what fine people are writing haiku all
over the world!
I love haiku and I want to
introduce it in Romania, starting with children, so that it would become part
of the lives of Romanian people, just as it is part of the lives of so
many people in all corners of the world. If I could do it with the help of Mr.
Takiguchi and the World Haiku Club, it would be a great honour for me and I
could not feel happier. If, or when, this project of mine would end in success,
I would like to contact other nations and part with my knowledge and experience
as World Haiku Ambassador.
UNESCO
World Poetry Day project
Editor's
Choice: Haiku
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