Symbolism of Japan
4 July 2012
TANAKA Akio
Haiku is the traditional Japanese literature since the Meiji Period some 140 years ago, the ancestor of which was called Haikai that was began in the Muromachi Period some 500 years ago.
I have made Haiku since age 20s. My Haiku's teacher is SAEKI Shoichi, one of the modern Haiku writers in Japan. SAEKI's teacher is probably ISHIDA Hakyo, famous Haiku writer in the Showa Period. Thus the tradition of the literature has been inherited to me.
One of my youth age's Haiku, at Tokyo, February 1970, is the following.
Pantagurafu
Tsumetai sukima de
Hakkosu
Pantograph
At the coldest clink
Radiates light for me