WHC Mailing Lists

The World Haiku Club sponsors various mailing lists described below. These lists are cyberspace hubs for people to show, appreciate and critique haiku and haiku-related poems. Some are also forums to study, discuss and exchange information on all issues related to haiku, and to learn the ropes of the art of writing haiku through workshops, seminars and schools. Please note that there is a special email forum for young people. 

Subscribe using the email addresses below. You will receive an automated questionnaire from the list. It must be filled out and returned to the list-owner for consideration toward membership.

Please include copy the questionnaire for each WHC group you wish to join to the appropriate list-owner e-mail address.  If you are already a WHC member, please either answer the questionnaire with updates, or make note that you are a member and which list you wish to join.

Please read and study the guidelines on the following page to acquaint yourself with WHC and haiku mailing list practices and netiquette:

Mailing List Guidelines: Click Here

WHCacademia: for the serious study and appreciation of haiku by debating, and kansho:

Subscribe:   
URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCacademia 
List-owner:

WHCbeginners: a sister list of WHChaikuforum designed for beginners, newcomers or anyone who wish to learn the basics of haiku writing and WHC protocol & netiquette:

Subscribe:  [email protected]
URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCbeginners
List-owner:

WHCbeginnersjapan:a sister list of WHCbeginners for Japanese nationals living in Japan and abroad only, who wish to learn how to
write haiku in English. (Posting in a mixture of Japanese and English)

Subscribe:
URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCbeginnersjapan
List-owner:

WHCcharmedcircle: a sister list of WHChaikuforum. Membership by invitation only. Address inquiries to , Chairman, WHC:

WHCcomputer: A practical list helping WHC members to solve computer problems by providing tips and guidance about how to make the most of computer technology:

      Subscribe: 
      URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCcomputer
      List-owner:

WHCessay: for sharing essays/articles/papers on haiku:

      Subscribe: 
      URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCessay 
      List-owner:

WHCgoodcauses: for charity and causes in such activities as haiku as a tool for healing; haiku as practiced at schools for educational purposes; haiku workshop in prisons, hospitals or other charity organisations:

      Subscribe:
      URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCgoodcauses
      List-owner:

WHChaibun: for developing haibun:

      Subscribe: 
      URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHChaibun 
      List-owner:

WHChaikujunior: for encouraging young people to write and share haiku (an adult parent, teacher or guardian needs to subscribe with a letter of permission):

      Subscribe: 
      URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHChaikujunior
      List-owner:

WHChaikuforum: Membership by invitation only. Address inquiries to , Chairman, WHC:

WHChaikumultimedia: for sharing haiga, haiku-art, photo-haiku, music-haiku etc. etc.:

      Subscribe:
      URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHChaikumultimedia
      List-owner:

WHCitalian:  for encouraging and developing haiku and haiku-related genres in Italian:

Subscribe:
URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCitalian/
List owner:

WHCjapan: for bridging the communication gap between Japan and the rest of the world:

      Subscribe: 
      URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCjapan
      List-owner:

WHClovehaiku: a special purpose list for our members and deals with the subject of love, including sexual and erotic love. Membership by invitation only, Address inquiries to , Chairman, WHC:

WHCmarlenemountain: A special list for Marlene Mountain and friends. Membership by Marlene's invitation. Address inquiries to , Chairman, WHC:

WHCneoclassical: specialist fora and dedicated only to neo-classical haiku as defined by WHC. In simplest terms, “classical haiku” means those Japanese haiku poems which follow the strict traditional Japanese haiku rules and other implicit or overt conventions. "Neoclassical" is the haiku outside Japan which is the closest equivalent to Japanese “classical haiku” or its closest development. In terms of the haiku practiced in America it would probably mean the haiku of the Yuki Teikei Association (the closest) plus haiku evolved from what was perceived to be the American equivalent of “classical haiku”.

By tradition, certain topics are held to be unsuitable for haiku in this school of thought:  such as war, atrocities, tragedy, explicit sex, ugliness etc. Theorisation, conceptualisation, abstraction, explanation etc. are also unsuitable.

Neoclassical haiku may include:

FORM (prosody) 

5-7-5: The most important thing to do seems to me to be something which may never have been said before: i.e. to seek the equivalent rhythm to the Japanese 5-7-5, mobilising all necessary linguistic characteristics in a target language for this particular purpose, such as syllables, intonation, word length and number of words. Another important point may be to use some fixed forms as standards, having any deviations as exceptions. These could be 3-5-3, 4-6-4 or any other forms based on certain rationale. The crucial point for “neo-classical haiku” is that forms are fixed.

kidai or kigo: seasonal topics or words can and should be those suitable for the climate of the region in the world where a particular poet lives or is travelling. New kidai and kigo should be invented and determined for this purpose. Saijiki (kigo directory with example haiku) should be encouraged to be compiled in different local areas of similar climate. Muki or no-season words, should be accepted as an exception.

kireji: this issue seems to be well taken care of. The only thing which is never mentioned is that the most important function of kireji in Japanese haikai was to make a hokku to stand alone as in renku it is the only stanza which does not have mae-ku (or previous stanza to which the new stanza should be linked). This aspect therefore has not been followed outside Japan.

Topics relating to nature

Humans taken as part of nature: Because of misconceived definition of senryu and its separation from haiku on the wrong basis, this aspect has been misunderstood and needs to be reconsidered.

Human activities, customs and emotions in relation to nature: As Japanese activities are different, local equivalent must be found such as Wimbledon Match or Thanks-giving Day.

Limited membership. Address inquiries to , Chairman, WHC:

Subscribe:
URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHChaikuneoclassical/
List-owner:

WHCnewsletter: WHC's communication channel for announcing news and events to the membership:

      Subscribe: 
      URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCnewsletter
   List-owner:

WHCpoetrybridge: a special list to bridge the gap between haiku poets and non-haiku poets, having haiku as the common denominator:

Subscribe: URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCpoetrybridge
List-owner:

WHCrenku: a renku forum for neo-classical renku. By invitation only at this time. Address inquiries to , Chairman, WHC:

WHCrussian: WHC's Russian language mailing list.

      Subscribe:  [email protected] 
      URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCrussian
   List-owner: [email protected]

WHCschools: for learning different schools of haiku. As teachers are available. Please read more about WHCschools at the haiku schools page on this site before application.

      Subscribe: 
      URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCschools
   List-owner:

WHCsenryu: a purpose-built list to experiment creating a totally new genre and see if it can stand in its own right as newly-defined senryu:

      Subscribe:
      URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCsenryu
   List-owner:

WHCshortverses: for short forms of poetry of Asian origin other than haiku and senryu, such as tanka and sijo:

      Subscribe:
      URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCshortverses
   List-owner

WHCspanish: for encouraging and developing haiku and haiku-related genres in Spanish from Spain to South America:

      Subscribe:
      URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCspanish
   List-owner:
WHCtakashi: an important list to provide a unique opportunity to
non-Japanese poets to be taught by a leading Japanese haiku master, Takashi Hoshino of the traditional Japanese haiku school:

      Subscribe: 
      URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCtakashi
   List-owner:

WHCvanguard: for exploring and developing all manners of progressive and "hard" haiku, embracing all kinds of vers libre, and those haiku forms which are not "yuki-teikei":

      Subscribe:
      URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCvanguard
   List-owner:

WHCworkshop: WHC's mailing list for any kind of Japanese poetry (haiku, tanka, haibun, senryu, etc., to be used in a workshop manner; members may suggest ideas for workshopping together to improve works, understanding & knowledge of these forms. Workshops may include, but are not limited to "kansho" (appreciation of a poem), translations, histories, discussions, readings, etc. In addition, members may C&C each other's works.

      Subscribe:
      URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WHCworkshop
   List-owner:

Note: In order to participate in WHC's private mailing lists you should first register as a user on YahooGroups. Once registered, you may access any of the WHC YahooGroups homepages. PLEASE register yourself on YahooGroups homepage with a Yahoo ID and Password and learn to navigate the YahooGroups pages and your mailing list account's homepages -- even if you are currently subscribed to one or more list. This is important, as YahooGroups offers many online features for your list memberships AND it is essential to manage your accounts (lists to which you belong).