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Haiku News
- WHF2002
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Important
Announcement
WHF 2002
with
Basho Journey & Kamakura Option
&
R.H.
Blyth Haiku Award
At Yuwa Town, Akita, Japan
September This Year!
Dear Kuyu,
The World Haiku Club is pleased to announce an exciting haiku event, the World
Haiku Festival 2002 which will be taking place at Yuwa Town, Akita of Northern
Japan for three days in late September this year. Please enter these dates into
your diary now, book your flights and start saving!
FOLLOWING WHF2000
The WHF2002 will follow the very successful World Haiku Festival 2000 which was
held in London and Oxford in August 2000, and various other subsequent events,
most notably the Epilogue to WHF2000 & Advent of JAPAN2001 of May 2001. It
is planned that WHF2002 will be dovetailed by another exciting event, the Main
Basho Journey (for about seven days leading up to the Festival) with its two
optional extensions (centring on Kamakura and Kyoto respectively).
WHC and Yuwa Town are the joint organisers of WHF2002, with the involvement of
Akita Prefectural Government and local haiku and educational bodies. WHF2002 is
supported by many organisations as well as by leading individual haiku poets.
GUEST OF HONOUR
James W. Hackett, Honorary President of WHC, will be the Guest of Honour,
accompanied by Patricia, his wife, and he will deliver the key-note address.
There are important and attractive speakers lined up, including some of your
friends, such as Kiyoko Uda, Ikuyo Yoshimura, Professor Katsushi Wada, Bruce
Ross and Professor Masahisa Fukuda. Overseas participation is by invitation and
by application according to certain criteria pertaining to WHF2002 objectives
(see application form) co-ordinated exclusively at the Headquarters of WHC, and
will be limited at this moment to 25 people (but could be enlarged if needs be).
DETAILS
& APPLICATION (CLICK HERE TO GO TO WHC PAGES)
http://www.netpro.ne.jp/~aminet/pages/whf2002details_application.htm
COMPETITIONS
There will be competitions of short verses, including haiku written in English
or English translation open to everyone in the world. Japanese haiku will be
judges by fourteen eminent haijin, including Tota Kaneko and Teiko Inahata. To
commemorate the WHF2002, a new annual award has been created at WHC, called the
"R. H. Blyth Award", and its first selections will be done to coincide
with the Festival. Other awards are also being considered, one in particular in
conjunction with another organisation.
OUTLINE SCHEDULE
Day One, Friday 20 September, will be the all-day Akita Yuwa International Haiku
Conference on the theme of "In Honour of Rogetsu, Shiki, Basho & R. H.
Blyth". This will be divided into the main English-speaking platform with
translation, Japanese only auxiliary platform and last but not least the
children's platform. The Conference will be followed in the evening by the
special Mayor's Reception for Overseas Representatives (and non-Japanese
residents in Japan) and Town's Guests. Ishii (surname) Rogetsu was born in Yuwa
and devoted himself to the town's early development, as a doctor, haiku poet,
educational leader and a benefactor. He was one of the most senior disciples of
Shiki and WHF2002 will be devoted to the 130 anniversary of his birth as well as
the centenary of the death of Shiki. Basho represents the entire history of
haiku and Blyth will be formally celebrated at a world haiku conference for his
great contribution to the dissemination and development of world haiku outside
Japan.
Day Two, Saturday 21 September, will be all-day ginko excursions to Rogetsu's
birth/work/final resting place, Takao-san Hills (a scenic place), Mount Chokai-san
and Kisagata where Basho visited. In the evening, there will be a grand
reception where overseas visitors, domestic participants and audience will
mingle with local dignitaries, guests and families.
Day Three, Sunday 22 September, will be the Rogetsu Short Verses Competition
(see detailed guidelines) and its award ceremony with important awards and
prizes, including the first R. H. Blyth Award. The competition is divided into
domestic and overseas parts and the latter will be administered by WHC. In both
cases, judges are appointed from among top haijin, including (surnames first)
Kaneko Tota, Yamazaki Hisao, Inahata Teiko and Okayasu Hitoyoshi, as well as
internationally famous haijin. This will be followed by a haiku symposium
conducted by Professor Katsushi Wada (expert on Shiki), Ms Kiyoko Uda (a
renowned Japanese haiku poet) and Susumu Takiguchi (Chairman of the World Haiku
Club).
PUBLICATIONS
Many other events are planned for local children and local communities either as
part of WHF2002 or coinciding with it. Of especial interest is an exhibition of
Ishii Rogetsu who was a Japanese calligrapher of high reputation (starting on
Tuesday 17 September). Among other proposed projects, a book by Kazuhiro Kudo
will be published on Rogetsu and a stone monument will be erected bearing
Rogetsu's haiku. The WHF2000 & 2002 Anthology and Essays will also be
published to commemorate both of these Festivals. At the same time, it is wished
that a biographical book about Rogetsu will be published in English so that he
will be widely introduced to the whole world, as part of the celebrations of
WHF2002.
BASHO JOURNEY AND MORE
According to the current plan, the Main Basho Journey will start at Nikko and
follow in the footsteps of Basho by "coach", visiting choicest places
such as Shirakawa-no-Seki, Kasajima, Sendai, Tsubo-no-Ishibumi, Matsushima,
Hiraizumi, Shitomae-no-Seki, Obanazawa, Ryushaku-ji, Haguro, Gassan, Yudono,
Mogami River and Sakata, joining the WHF2002 at Yuwa. Not all of these places
will necessarily be included or on the other hand it may be that some other
places could be added. However, on the whole it will be along these basic ideas
and theme.
One option, the Kamakura option, will be open-ended in the sense that
participants will be able to join it as long or as short as their schedule will
allow. This will be prior and leading up to the start of the Main Basho Journey
at Nikko. The plans include ginko to places such as R. H. Blyth's burial temple,
kukai, meeting with local haiku poets and/or excursion to Hakone, Fuji or
Odawara. One day is planned in Tokyo to visit the Basho museum at Fukagawa.
These are being worked out but will be flexible and participation will be on a
voluntary and individual basis (i.e. not pre-organised or spoon-fed).
The other option, the Kyoto option, will be dovetailed straight after WHF2002.
Those who choose to take this option will fly from Akita to Osaka and move to
Kyoto, from where it will be open-ended and on the voluntary basis in the same
sense as the Kamakura option. This will of course include visits to Kyoto
temples/gardens and places where Basho stayed, such as Rakushi-sha. Excursions
are possible to places such as Zeze, Otsu on the shore of Lake Biwa, where Basho
is buried.
IN SHORT
All in all, WHF2002 and its dovetailed Main Basho Journey (with two options)
will be a merry and exciting event and will be organised with the view to trying
to make it an once-in-a-lifetime event for the participants with unforgettable
memories.
Information on WHF2002/Basho Journey in more details, including an indication of
fees and costs, will be announced during the coming days both on various
international haiku mailing lists, as well as on websites
of WHC and of Akita Yuwa. All the applications by overseas participants
(irrespective of their nationalities) and non-Japanese residents in Japan as
well as those main Japanese participants living in Japan (as opposed to general
public) must be made to WHC as these will not be dealt with at Akita Yuwa.
MAY YOUR JOURNEY TO YUWA, AKITA BE A VERY HAPPY ONE, AND I LOOK FORWARD TO
WELCOMING YOU IN THAT BEAUTIFUL PART OF THE WORLD!
DETAILS &
APPLICATION FORM now on WHC
WEBSITE:
http://www.netpro.ne.jp/~aminet/pages/whf2002details_application.htm
Kengin,
Susumu Takiguchi (Mr)
WHC.takiguchi@susumu.freeserve.co.uk
Chairman
The World Haiku Club
(World Haiku Festival)
Managing Editor
World Haiku Review
THE WORLD HAIKU CLUB
Head Office:
Leys Farm, Rousham, Bicester
Oxfordshire OX25 4RA
England
Tel: +44 (0)1869-340261
Fax: +44 (0)1869 340619
E-mail: WHC.takiguchi@susumu.freeserve.co.uk
