Result of the Japan-EU English Haiku Contest
Within two weeks, 523 haikuists (182 from Japan, and 341 from the EU) put pen to paper and entered the Japan-EU contest writing with enthusiasm, vigour, keen wit, and unique viewpoints about Japan and the EU relations. Among those haiku, a haiku from Romania won the grand prize. Other honorable mentions haiku are as below. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you once again for participating to this event.
1. Grand Prize
Unfolding a map
the cherry petals connect
Europe and Japan
Eduard Tara (Romania)
[Comment by the judge]
Sitting under a cherry tree with a fellow traveler the haikuist ponders the world map. Cherry blossoms hint at an adventurous path they should take.
2. Honorable mentions (with comments from the judge)
Moon gazing down
Fuji now, in a while
the Mont Blanc
Boudewijn Walraven (The Netherlands)
(comment)
The haikuist admires Mount Fuji in Japan, with a view from an airplane perhaps. In his mind's eye he imagines the moon moving around the earth until it rests atop Mont Blanc in Europe. The haikuist is able to hold an image of Japan while dreaming about Europe.
Autumn in Kyoto
Was brought to my mind
By the splash of burgundy
Pavel Gromov (Lithuania)
(comment)
This delicious haiku laps up the autumn sunset. The haikuist embellishes the deep shades of red and russet on the maple trees that surround Kyoto. The haikuist dreams of Japan while enjoying an everyday pleasure in the EU.
3. Other honorable mentions
Hot spring in Europe is not
warm enough for Japanese
(Kazuko Tase, Japan)
At night under the midnight sun
a boat is coming
to the stone house
(Chieko Kubo, Japan)
Rain drops falling
inside and outside
silence is melting on the Seine
(Akiko Shigenari, Japan)
To enter EU
I have no passport
But my shadow goes in
(Marino Fukuyama, Japan)
Meeting again -
the cherry tree I planted
ten years ago
(Minako Noma, Japan)
Columbus pointing his finger
Beyond the horizon
Where Japan lies
(Sachiko Usuki, Japan)
A hedgehog is lost
In Japan and EU. Are
You looking for him?
(Justina Razumaite, Lithuania)
light taste of a Riesling wine
you and I
in a houseboat
(Junko Saeki, Japan)
Sea and Sardinia
Kafka on the shore
all in my carpet bag
(Aki Takimoto, Japan)
a pilgrim from Czech
walking up the stone steps
summer green gale
(Nanae Tamura, Japan)
Violet eyes gaze at
Thousand coloured paper cranes
Gilding in a wind.
(Jovita Kliukaite, Lithuania)
a sunny day of spring
toddler tries on for size
father's judo belt
(ARTŪRAS ŠILANSKAS, Lithuania)
Cicadas drone.
Me with Lonely Planet
in my backpack.
(Kornelijus Platelis, Lithuania)
Europeans too
Fill their travel pillows
With fallen blossom
(Norman Darlington, Ireland)
A dream of Ueno
haunts the water of the Thames,
flecked with pink blossom.
(Lucy Carey, UK)
the zen
of Umami
in a marmite sandwitch
(Helen Buckingham, UK)
a new day -
the rising sun
spreading
(John McDonald, UK)
snow outside the door -
the open vowels
of her dialect
(Jamie Edgecombe, UK)
Echo of passing by
In a Brussels courtyard
Sakura blossom
(Toivo Johannes Cairns, Finland)
frozen full moon night
the northern lights runs over me
gains you in Kioto
(Irene Merilahti, Finland)
At traffic junction
A cherry tree blossoming
here in Helsinki
(Kaisa Kangas, Finland)
Yawning in her yukata
Not enough sleep
in the land of midnight sun
(Anita Sjörgen, Sweden)
On her ninth birthday
A soaring tower
Mistaken for the Eiffle
(Miguel Gambell Barroso, Sweden)
Rainfall -
even the moon fell
into the puddle
(Lars Granström, Sweden)
Last snowball
in spring dusk ...
roe deer's tail
(Daniel Gahnertz, Sweden)
Japanese garden -
my first Sumi-e
a Westphalian oak
(Martina Heinisch, Germany)
warm soup -
with a spoon I catch the letters
of my Japanese girlfriend
(Heike Gewi, Germany)
A ladybug
passing Japan-EU Summit:
Colors of time.
(Beate Conrad, Germany)
If only once more
Kyoto and Poet's Lane -
Blossoming cherries
(Riitta Rossilahti, Finland)
Neighbourliness-
the crysanthemums bring forward
Picasso's "Blue Dove"
(Vasile Moldovan, Romania)
I Whisk
a simple ceremony -
tea, the water of Danube
(Michal Molnar, Slovakia)
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