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WHC History |
World
Haiku Club and World Haiku Festival
Founded
in 1998, the World Haiku Club has planned, organized and now runs the World
Haiku Festival 2000 which is in its finale, the London Mark II Conference of May
2001. The Festival began with the "Prologue to WHF2000" in 1998 with
various haiku-related events and in 2000, it ushered various programs "for
real", first with the launch of our website and mailing lists on the
Internet on 1 January. It culminated in the six-day London - Oxford Conference
of August 2000, a resounding success. In May 2001, following the "Epilogue
to World Haiku Festival 2000 & Advent of JAPAN 2001",
events of the WHC will be held under the banner of the "World Haiku
Festival".
With
the two main themes, "Challenging Conventions" and "Charting Our
Future", the WHC/WHF started something new in the world haiku scene.
Participation in the WHC activities is on an individual basis, though the Club
is supported by numerous organizations and haiku movements.
World
Haiku Review
The
World Haiku Review is the organ of the World Haiku Club for its members and for
those who share our aims and aspirations in all corners of the earth. As such,
is comprehensive in coverage and large-scale in size, embodying WHC's
philosophy. This publication is based on a completely new concept in aims,
scale and scope and initially issued on the Internet.
Contemporary
haiku is enjoying unprecedented prosperity and popularity. However, it is also
in a state of flux and confusion. World Haiku Review will address all key issues
of haiku today in addition to providing an ideal outlet for members' oeuvre. In
so doing, the magazine will carry on the two main themes of the World Haiku
Festival. It will re-examine all these issues in depth and give them critical
reappraisal. It is therefore not the place for the faint-hearted or prejudiced.
It is, however, for all those open-hearted and genuine lovers of haiku. World
Haiku Review will treat readers and contributors fundamentally on an individual
basis, although they will enjoy benefits from WHC's friendly relationships with
numerous haiku and other organisations in the world.
The
new magazine is created to stimulate innovations in haiku and haiku-related
genres, while exploring lasting values and spirit of its long tradition. On all
levels of competence and experience of the member poets, "World Haiku
Review" aims at the highest standards and quality.
Mission
Statement of The World Haiku Club
The World Haiku Club is a non-profit-making organisation,
established for the purpose of creating a world-wide network of haiku poets
through which to help disseminate and develop haiku, and also to raise standards
and quality of the genre. The WHC seeks to establish a synthesis between
tradition and innovation ("fueki-ryuko") as well as a balance between
different schools of thought. Therefore, WHC is a broad church not siding with
any specific organisation nor supporting any single poet. WHC maintains friendly
and co-operative relationships with other like-minded organisations and
individuals, united with them in the common goal of celebrating and developing
the world haiku movement.
The
WHC aims at maintaining free, civil, friendly and creative culture in our search
for permanent poetic values ("fuga-no-makoto"), where the motto is
"the maximum freedom of poetic expression within the framework of minimum
restrictions".
However,
the WHC, as an organisation solely concerned with the creation and appreciation
of haiku and related genres, is non-political, non-religious and non-faction and
aims at avoiding all manners of prejudice. Any movements or propaganda
activities in these areas are not allowed. Also, abuse of any sort is forbidden,
including personal attacks and counter-attacks, blatant self-aggrandisement,
unacceptable bad manners and language, or any form of negative haiku politics.
WHC operates on levels which transcend national, regional or individual
organisation levels.
As
we study, re-examine and uphold the proven values of the past, our main focus is
on the future, stimulating creative experiments, innovations and search for new
horizons in haiku and related genres. In this light, WHC celebrates diversity,
promotes individualism and local initiatives and champions new talent, while at
the same time honouring universal commonality and achievements of the
established poets.
In
this spirit, our driving force is manifested in the two mottoes:
"Challenging Conventions" and "Charting Our Future."
Quotations
Reflecting the Spirit of The World Haiku Festival
"The
Conference resolved: -
to
join in the international haiku movement in order to enhance the quality and
standards of haiku and to increase effective communications among haiku poets
throughout the world;
to
respect and encourage diversity, individuality and regional initiatives;
to
co-operate through specific events and activities with other haiku organisations,
movements and individuals in order to put these aims into practice." (The
WHF2000 Conference Manifesto)
"…
to those who respect and identify with Basho’s devotion to the natural world,
divorcing haiku (and ourselves) from the reality and myriad wonders of natural
Creation is a travesty, and worse. Ecological science has shown that the myopic
anthropocentrism which has dominated Western culture for millennia is a
dangerously limited view: one which humanity must grow from, if life on Earth is
to survive." (J. W. Hackett)
"The
present anthology [KNOTS] is without doubt an important step on the way towards
a new, different haiku. Its contributions to the renovation of this form lies in
the originality of inspiration, strong personalities of both women and men who
express the parts of themselves in this book, in their sharp talent provoking a
slight loss of balance which shakes every certainty, every indifference, every
conformity." (Alain Kervern)
"Remember
that the richness of haiku begins within the individual, combining a love of
life and a love of literature with the experience of this moment. But it does
not end there. Rather, haiku goes on to offer some microcosm of that combination
of inner life and momentary experience of others through sharing the poem. And
that sharing requires the best work we can do with the words of our own
language, and the work of translators to make as much as possible of that poem
available even beyond the borders of our own language." (William J.
Higginson)
See
full statement of W. J. Higginson for WHF2000.
"Poetry
is like a free bird that knows no boundary, like seeds that are carried along by
the wind, that grow, bloom and bear fruit where they find good soil without
asking anyone’s permission" (Ion Codrescu)
"We
are united in the common goal of celebration and development of international
haiku movement" (Declaration by the Global Haiku Festival and the World
Haiku Festival 2000)
"Some
devoted poets of the world have yearned for haiku, this short poem that is at
the forefront of world poetry and offers the highest level of completeness.
Haiku provides a means for these poets to break free of this situation. The only
way we can return haiku or poetry to the common people is by responding to the
wishes of these poets." (the Matsuyama Declaration)
"A
way forward, which is our challenge in this new century, is to try and expand
our imagination and open our hearts. That way, we can reach out to the sense and
sensibility of haiku poets around the world. What is good in the Japanese haiku
tradition can thus be combined with the new poetic values being generated in
other haiku nations." (Susumu Takiguchi)
The
World Haiku Club, The WHF2000 London-Oxford Conference Manifesto, 25-30
August 2000
James
W. Hackett, The Twaddle of An Oxonian - Haiku Poems & Essays, 2000,
Foreword
Alain
Kervern, KNOTS - The Anthology of Southeastern European Haiku Poetry,
1999, pp. 216-217
William J.
Higginson, Personal
Message to the World Haiku Festival 2000 London-Oxford Conference, 25-30 August
2000.
Ion
Codrescu, Rules of Form and Freedom of Spirit in Haiku, a key-note speech
at the World Haiku Festival 2000
The
Matsuyama Declaration, the Matsuyama Declaration, 1999, p. 88
The
Global Haiku Festival & the World Haiku Festival 2000, the GHF, Decatur,
Illinois, April 2000
Susumu
Takiguchi, The Twaddle of An Oxonian - Haiku Poems & Essays, 2000, p.
146
For
more information, contact WHC at to Susumu Takiguchi at:
WHC.takiguchi@susumu.freeserve.co.uk
To
apply to join a mailing list of the World Haiku Club, visit the World Haiku
Club's mailing list page for URLs to the YahooGroups WHC homepages. When you
select "join" you will receive an questionnaire for application. WHC
is a private club with moderated lists; automatic acceptance is not insured.
World
Haiku Club website:
http://www.worldhaikuclub.org
Apply
to join the World Haiku
Club by becoming a member of one of WHC's mailing lists. Go to the
"mailing lists" page:
worldhaikuclub.org
