Diary of a madman

A single paulownia leaf sunlit as it falls to the ground.

Takahama Kyoshi was a Japanese poet active during the Shōwa period of Japan. He was the editor of the haiku magazine Hototogisu (previously edited by Shiki), where he promoted a more traditional style of haiku, as opposed to other popular schools which did not follow the pattern of seventeen syllables at that time.

Kyoshi also highlighted the symbolic function of the kigo (seasonal reference), even though the more modern trends were already tending towards seasonless haiku.

Haiku by Takahama Kyoshi

Picture by Gayatri Malhotra

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.

on New Year's Day tall as a sleeping man... the clouds

As customary, the first haiku of the year is by Kobayashi Issa.

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 Atsadawut Chaiseeha

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 quiet cabin; hunting milkcaps, I was soon lost among the pines

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 Michele Purin

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.

“Don’t pick it!” then picks and gives to me a garden plum

Tan Taigi was a haiku poet of the Edo period. He was a wanderer for most of his life and admired by Yosa Buson for his ability to transcend his eclectic and unconventional lifestyle with sublime poetry.

haiku by Tan Taigi  (translation by Richard Tice)

Picture by Markus Spiske

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.

an autumn nightfall the skeleton of a huge fish drawn back by the sea.

Saitō Sanki (1900 – 1962) was a dentist who discovered his passion for haiku poetry in his mid-thirties, when his colleagues at the hospital in Soto Kanda convinced him to write a haiku for a collection. Later, he became one of the most important exponents of wartime haiku: he was imprisoned in 1940 during the government’s World War II persecution of controversial artists, and was officially forbidden to write until the end of the war.

haiku by Saitō Sanki

Picture by John Jason

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.

the harp player moves under cover market day

kjmunro cultivates poetry on the traditional territories of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation & the Ta'an Kwäch'än Council in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. She founded & facilitates ‘solstice haiku', a monthly haiku discussion group in Whitehorse, & manages a weekly blog feature for The Haiku Foundation called Haiku Dialogue. She is the recipient of the 2023 Borealis Prize – The Commissioner of Yukon Award for Literary Contribution, her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, & her debut poetry collection is contractions (Red Moon Press, 2019).

haiku by kjmunro

Picture by Indira Tjokorda

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.

alf-asleep eyes open to a dreamlike world of blossoms

Natsume Seibi (1749-1816) was the son of a wealthy Edo rice broker and was acquainted with a number of other famous poets, including Oshima Ryota and Kobayashi Issa. In addition to his poetry, Seibi left behind a number of fine examples of haikai prose. 

Haiku by Natsume Seibi

Picture by Pascal Bullan

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.

Winter waterfall a rock untouched by sunrise or sunset

Setsuko Nozawa (1920–1995) was a poet from Yokohama. Inspired by the works of Bashō and Rinka Ōno, she started writing haiku in the 1930s, joined the magazine Shakunage in 1939, and later moved to Hama in 1946. Later in life, she dedicated herself fully to poetry and ikebana, and in 1971 she founded the haiku magazine Ran, later directed by Kōzaburō Wada.

Haiku by Setsuko Nozawa

Picture by Go Stephen Walker

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.

just inside the fence to prohibited grounds wild violets

Shida Yaba (1663-1740) was a Haiku poet born in Fukui Prefecture. One of Bashō’s most famous Ten Disciples, he was also the editor of the poetry anthology Sumidawara (Charcoal sack, 1694).

Haiku by Shida Yaba

Picture by Flower Four

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.