World haiku Festival 2000_A Gateway to World Haiku in the 21st Century

WORLD HAIKU CLUB ESSAY COMPETITION

[World Haiku Festival 2000 Homepage] [World Haiku Club] []

Essays of high quality are sought but they are not for academic use. Please have cultured general audience in mind in terms of your writing style and presentation.

How to enter the World Haiku Essay Competition: instructions
 

  • The deadline: Postmark date Saturday 13 May 2000.
  • You must submit your essay by sending it in a floppy disc plus a hard copy by post. (Please do not use fax or e-mail) It must be IBM compatible (Microsoft Word). If you have not these facilities, please have it done commercially or by your friend.
  • Essays must be in English which is the official language of World Haiku Festival 2000.
  • Please attach a synopsis of about 500 words to the main text which should not be longer than 6000 words.
  • A new work is preferred and will be given priority. If you are submitting an essay which you have already presented at other conferences or which has been published, not only must you clear all the copyright issues before submitting but also you have to revise it so that it will have something new.
  • Essays reflecting our guidelines (below) will be given preference. Especially, if your essay has something new to say, giving a critical view on some key issues, challenging established doctrines and conventions and/or presenting views which are thought-provoking, it will be awarded higher marks. Also, if your essay contributes to enhancing the purposes of World Haiku Festival 2000 and points to the (right) directions for the future of world haiku, it will be regarded highly. Academic excellence will of course be an advantage but that is not the primary merit. Rather, we will place emphasis on originality, newness, insight, quality of critical views, problem-solving stance and comprehensive, ecumenical vista.
Guidelines on Speeches, Essays and Debates
for World Haiku Festival 2000

General: Where are we now and where do we go from here?

The general theme is "World Haiku for the 21st Century - Binding People's Hearts and Minds Together Through Haiku". Sounds outlandish, grandiose but signifying nothing? (It might if you allow it to be so.) The debate of HAIKU2000 will try to be as new, critical, challenging and thought-provoking as is currently possible in order to reassess what has gone before and to search for future directions. It, therefore, should also be positive, constructive and inspiring. HAIKU2000 will be a forum for creative discussion and not for coarse invectives. Nor will it be an academic conference as such though scholars will be among the participants. Haiku will be looked at as a 'world' literary and cultural phenomenon. HAIKU2000 will try to be a case of new bottles into which participants will put new wine. Best essays and papers are eligible for inclusion in the commemorative publication of world haiku essays (subject to editorial amendments).
Back to basics: Old arguments and a new frontier of haiku
=What is haiku, after all is said and done? Is it really poetry? If not, what is it and what is poetry in the first place? If it is, what makes it poetry? And what makes haiku haiku? Who is the arbiter of all these? Why not create a new definition?
Haiku, Past, Present and Future: Are time present and time past both present in time future?
=Historical review in order to evaluate our present and to know where we are going from here.

="fueki ryuko" (unchanging truth and new ideas, the old and new) How much are we compliant with this?

Japanese haiku and world haiku: Does (real and good) haiku belong only to Japan, or to the global village?
=Does non-Japanese language haiku make sense? Should it follow Japanese tradition and rules, or its own new practice? Has it not created its own rules and practices to which haijin are bound?

=What contributions do non-Japanese haiku poems make? New values not known in Japan. Future trends & guiding spirit.

Haiku in different languages (cultures): Which are the best words in best order?
=Haiku in Chinese, Urdu, Arabic, European languages etc. and their suitability and difficulties: common and diverse.

=What linguistically does it add to traditional Japanese haiku?

Translation of haiku: What is the end-product if translation of haiku is not possible?
=So, it is not impossible, after all? Practical and fundamental difficulties: transmitting different cultures, perceptions and sensibilities. Practical know-how of haiku translation. Goethe's formulae. Sorting out all existing arguments.

=If it's not possible, what exactly are the "translations" we already have? What are we to do with them?

Kigo: Is this an insoluble problem after all?
=Have we exhausted this argument, or have we just begun? Have we not misled ourselves while being busy talking about this issue?

=Towards more constructive direction: to seek a way forward to deal with kigo question in a meaningful and workable way.. A third way: beyond futile entrenchment of kigo fundamentalism and kogo-phobia.

Haiku and other literary and art forms: What are in common to them all and what are different?
=Senryu, Tanka, Haibun and Renku etc.

=Music, paintings, performances, plays etc. including traditional Japanese arts

Free haiku, avant-garde haiku and abstract haiku: The world after yuki teikei. What new values?
=Evaluating their achievements so far. What happens to them and their future?

=Are philosophy, Zen-obsession, conceptualisation, mysticism and theorisation enemies of true haiku?

=Question of "conservatism", "progressive", "freedom", "creativity" and "individualism" in haiku.

Haiku and computer: Is computer a mere tool, or a creative hot-bed?
=Haiku and the Internet: a web of sites to promote haiku

=Computer-aided analysis of haiku principles and poetics

[World Haiku Festival 2000 Homepage] [World Haiku Club] []

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