Mitsuaki Kojima

　Students and professors of English at universities have been busy composing haiku this semester. The next haiku was composed by professor Stuart Walker in Hokkaido, who along with his colleagues organized a haiku contest at Sapporo International University that culminated in 10 winners selected by judges from overseas and by the students.

Fall hike
shuffling through dead leaves
crisp kick

　Yousuke Tanifuji in Sapporo struck a romantic note among his classmates, while Ayano Fukuda in Tomakomai won the attention of the judges with an unexpected third line.

Autumnal leaves
red cheeks
hand in hand

My friend, the snowman
catches sunlight
his hat on the ground

　Asahi University professor Ikuyo Yoshimura is hosting the Second Haiku Pacific Rim conference in Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture. From Nov. 19 to 21 lectures and workshops on haiku in English will be offered at the Oku no Hosomichi Haiku Journal Memorial Museum.
　Yoshimura is being assisted by her students of interactive arts and members of the Evergreen Haiku society who published this poem by their leader in their 2003 anthology.

With her thick lips
she eats a bunch of grapes_
national holiday

　There will also be a haiku speech titled ``It Can Take a Lifetime to Compose Haiku'' among hundreds of other presentations offered at the 30th Annual International JALT conference on Language Teaching and Learning at Tezukayama University, Gakuenmae campus in Nara from Nov. 19 to 21.
　At Tezukayama Gakuin University in Osaka, students taking part in an adult extension program taught by professor Peter Duppenthaler continue to craft fine haiku, such as the next one by Teruko Omoto.

Typhoon gone
blue morning glory
left alone

　This next autumnal-themed haiku with an intriguing point of view is by Dr. Michael Corr in Nagoya who also teaches haiku.

Tea begun
bubbles reach the size
of crab eyes

　His students, Yuji Sasaki of Nagoya City University and Yasuhiro Tazaki at Nagoya University, respectively, penned the following haiku that emulate their teacher's creativity.

Storm of my
beatification
white morn clouds

When cicadas die
the chirps of later insects
come

Want to try composing haiku ?

Back numbers

Send haiku for the last days of autumn to David McMurray at the Asahi Haikuist Network, International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun, 5-3-2 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-8011.