Naviar Haiku

In the sky, the sound of a mountain stream — blossoming cherries.

Yatsuka Ishihara (1919–1998) was a Japanese poet and co-founder of the journal Aki 秋 with Akira Matsuzawa. He also served as an advisor to the Modern Haiku Association (Gendai Haiku Kyōkai) and the Association of Haiku Poets (Haijin Kyōkai).

Haiku by Yatsuka Ishihara

Picture by asagi

Join The Naviar Haiku Music Challenge

This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.

You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.

wind from the sea butterflies in embankment weeds never resting

A wandering poet and ascetic Zen priest, Santōka was a disciple of Ogiwara Seisensui, one of the first poets to discard the traditional use of the 5-7-5 structure in haiku.

Santōka’s poetry emphasizes the necessity of sabi (solitude) in order to achieve spiritual enlightenment and serenity.

Haiku by Santoka Taneda

Picture by Ankith Choudhary

Join The Naviar Haiku Music Challenge

This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.

You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.

A white ship moves to the heart of a lake - an autumn breeze

Sawaki Kinichi (1919–2001) was a Japanese poet and essayist from Toyama. He founded the haiku journal Kaze 風 in 1946 and later was president of the Haijin Kyōkai. Sawaki was among the leading proponents of shakaisei haiku (“social haiku”), a postwar movement that aimed to connect haiku with contemporary social and cultural change. He was married to famous poet Hosomi Ayako.

Haiku by Sawaki Kinichi

Picture by Juan Manuel Sanchez

Join The Naviar Haiku Music Challenge

This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.

You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.

practice — no end in sight just this

halF unusuaL (Darren Bourne) is "an evolving space inspired by play in the spirit of ‘hai’ (meaning “fun” or “unusual” in the word haiku). Here, improvisation connects the unexpected, mining the boundary between music and non-music to shape sound worlds that feel oddly familiar in their oddity."

You can find Darren’s music on Soundcloud and Youtube, and check out his website to find out more about his publications and merchandise.

Haiku by Darren Bourne

Picture by Jp Valery

Join The Naviar Haiku Music Challenge

This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.

You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.

a sound of something! the scarecrow has fallen down on its own.

Nozawa Bonchō was a haikai poet and disciple of Basho who worked as a doctor in Kyoto. Later in life Bonchō distanced himself from Basho’s school and was imprisoned for a crime. He died in 1714.

Haiku by Nozawa Bonchō

Picture by Pourya Gohari

Join The Naviar Haiku Music Challenge

This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.

You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.

October dawn the flicker of lights at the river mouth

Here's another beautiful haiku by Martin Lucas. I found this one in a blog post by poet Matthew Paul.

Martin Lucas (1962 – 2014) was an important figure in English-language haiku for over two decades, as a poet, essayist, critic and editor. He was the founder and editor of the haiku magazine Presence.

Haiku by Martin Lucas

Picture by Erik van Dijk

Join The Naviar Haiku Music Challenge

This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.

You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.

a moment before sunrise – ice singing beneath the swans’ feet

Martin Lucas (1962 – 2014) was an important figure in English-language haiku for over two decades, as a poet, essayist, critic and editor. He was the founder and editor of the haiku magazine Presence.

Haiku by Martin Lucas

Picture by Joyce Hankins

Join The Naviar Haiku Music Challenge

This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.

You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.

idyllic nights and quiet days: spring rains.

Miura Chora (1729-1780) was a Japanese poet from Toba (present-day Mie Prefecture). Early in his career, he came into contact with the Teimon School, and bonded with the great Yosa Buson. An admirer of Matsuo Bashō, he strived for a return to the simple tones and spirit of the latter's poetics, criticizing the vulgarization of haiku of his era and advocating the so-called "return" to a Bashō's style.

Haiku by Miura Chora

Picture by Liana S

Join The Naviar Haiku Music Challenge

This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.

You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.

Migrating alone Solitary sandpiper Against a headwind

This haiku by John Wright is part of the Stay Cool project - a collaboration between Naviar Records and Red Earth Ecology that aims to promote techniques for Japanese-inspired prose and foster international collaboration.

John Wright is a musician and electronic music producer in Detroit who has been a frequent participant in the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge. Inspired by his involvement with Naviar Records projects, he has published haiku poems on his blog - https://write.as/thgirwnhoj/

Haiku and picture by John Wright

Join The Naviar Haiku Music Challenge

This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.

You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.

nobody home one after another the visiting stars

This haiku by m&k is part of the Stay Cool project - a collaboration between Naviar Records and Red Earth Ecology that aims to promote techniques for Japanese-inspired prose and foster international collaboration.

m&k is the nom de plume of Marisa Fazio and Kieran Carroll, who live in Naarm/Melbourne. They usually write separately but sometimes together. The Stay Cool project has prompted their first haiku/senryu collaboration.

Haiku by m&k

Darkness cocoons, Red and yellow slowly creep. Silence disappears.

This haiku by Anne Carpenter is part of the Stay Cool project - a collaboration between Naviar Records and Red Earth Ecology that aims to promote techniques for Japanese-inspired prose and foster international collaboration.

Anne Carpenter has had careers mainly in education and human resource management. She dabbled with arts and crafts in her spare time and, when Anne’s last job before retirement landed her in Wagga Wagga, she attended a writing course that ignited a pre-existing tickle to write.

The Stay Cool project will culminate in an exhibition in the city of Griffith, Australia from 20 April.

Haiku by Anne Carpenter

Picture by Jason Richardson

Join The Naviar Haiku Music Challenge

This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.

You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.

first light - a flock of birds dart in and out of the fig tree

This haiku by Anne Curran is part of the Stay Cool project - a collaboration between Naviar Records and Red Earth Ecology that aims to promote techniques for Japanese-inspired prose and foster international collaboration.

Anne Curran is a striving Japanese short verse poet who resides in Hamilton, New Zealand. She lives with family and extended family in Aotearoa. Her precious cat family keeps her on a strict daily regime.

The Stay Cool project will culminate in an exhibition in the city of Griffith, Australia from 20 April.

Haiku by Anne Curran

Picture by Jason Richardson

Join The Naviar Haiku Music Challenge

This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.

You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.

beyond the talus withering in the valley - a hanging glacier

This haiku by Lisa Germany is part of the Stay Cool project - a collaboration between Naviar Records and Red Earth Ecology that aims to promote techniques for Japanese-inspired prose and foster international collaboration.

Lisa is a multidisciplinary artist whose work begins with walking, preferably in wild places. Rooted in awe and attentive to the natural world, she writes haiku and haibun in the traditional Japanese tradition, seeking moments of beauty in everyday experience.

The Australian living in Arctic Greenland gave a presentation that started the Stay Cool workshops. Her presentation can be viewed at https://youtu.be/aqy5HYAi6Fc or a summary can be read at ree.org.au/2026/02/17/stay-cool-with-lisa-germany/

The Stay Cool project will culminate in an exhibition in the city of Griffith, Australia from 20 April.

Haiku and Picture by Lisa Germany

Join The Naviar Haiku Music Challenge

This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.

You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.

can you hear the stars? shiny trills, thrills in the dark my mind’s orchestra

This haiku by Leanne Wicks is part of the Stay Cool project - a collaboration between Naviar Records and Red Earth Ecology that aims to promote techniques for Japanese-inspired prose and foster international collaboration.

Leanne describes her roles as an ornitheologist and textile artist with Anglo heritage creating in Dabee/Wiradjuri Country in the Capertee Valley, NSW. She sees birding as a daily spiritual routine and interprets the world through connection with birds.

Haiku by Leanne Wicks

Picture by Jason Richardson

Join The Naviar Haiku Music Challenge

This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.

You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.

In the temple hall, sparrows chirping — evening shower.

Kagami Shikō was a Japanese poet, considered one of the ten outstanding disciples (Shōmon jittetsu 蕉門十哲) of Matsuo Bashō. He was in turn the master of the famous poetess Fukuda Chiyo-ni.

Originally from the present-day Gifu Prefecture, Kagami Shikō became a monk at Daichi-ji Temple, and in 1690 he became a pupil of Bashō, later accompanying him on some of his journeys and recording his last will in 1694.

After Basho's death, he kept travelling around Japan, writing several essays on haiku and collections of writings until his death in 1731.

Haiku by Kagami Shikō

Picture by Seele An

Join The Naviar Haiku Music Challenge

This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.

You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.

when you return don't forget my house! departing swallows

Among the four great masters of Japanese haiku, Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828) was the most prolific: during his lifetime he wrote over 20,000 haiku, hundreds of tanka, and several haibun.

Haiku by Kobayashi Issa

Picture by Nadia Hristova

Join The Naviar Haiku Music Challenge

This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.

You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.

slowly gliding — a snail in the grass follows the clouds.

Vincenzo, aka El Wud, is an electronic musician from Naples, Italy.

A regular participant in our haiku music challenge, El Wud uses sound overlaps, causal collisions and cosmic echoes to create evocative soundscapes.

Haiku by El Wud