This booklet reports the results of what the sponsors, the
British Haiku Society, intend to be the inaugural holding
of an annual English-language haibun contest. In addition
to the five place-winning entries, it contains a foreword,
judges comments, a list of titles and authors of additional
commended haibun (though not the works themselves) and information
about the second holding of the contest (in-hand deadline
of March 31, 2003).
The
fifty-three haibun entered for the 2002 contest were screened
by Ken Jones, and about half of them were forwarded to Nobuyuki
Yuasa for final selection. Professor Yuasa, for whom the
contest is named, is a John Donne scholar and editor/translator
of the Penguin Classics version of Bashôs Oku-no-hosomichi
(Narrow Road to the Deep North).
There
is good news and bad news about this contest. Whatever a
contest can do to stimulate interest in reading and writing
haibun is all to the good. However, as the foreword notes,
there is no other regular contest for (English-language)
haibun on this scale. Thus, this contest has significant
potential for shaping the direction of the genre, at least
until other contests are organized. Those responsible have
taken immediate steps to realize this potential. The instructions
for next years contest contain both a maximum length
of 1,500 words (a practical requirement if one hopes to
give appropriate attention to a large number of entries)
and a minimum length of 200 words. The latter is a refinement
of the first years requirements, added by the organizers
and based upon an aesthetic judgment articulated by Yuasa
in his adjudication notes. I found some entries too
short. I admit that classical Japanese writers have some
very short haibun, but in a contest such as this, short
haibun have some disadvantage because they often give an
impression of lacking volume and impact. While it
is interesting to know what the judge is looking for, the
imposition of a standard that prevents contestants from
attempting to move him with a stunningly effective haibun
of less than 200 words seems unnecessary.
Other
aesthetic points are either stated or implied in the work
selected, the format requirements or the commentary. Of
particular interest is the following, also from Yuasa. One
element of traditional Japanese haibun is understatement
which leaves open space in its structure.
I often
felt that the Western haibun had a tendency to be overcrowded.
Japanese haibun are like watercolours, but Western haibun,
at least at present, tend to be like oil paintings.
The
five prize-winning haibun, in ranked order, are Apart-Together
by David Walker, Raspados by Michael McClintock,
Snowdrops in the Dark of a Dream by David Cobb,
Sensei by Margaret Chula, and Terminal
IslandFurusato by Janeth H. Ewald. Authors of
additional commended works include Pearl Elizabeth Dell,
Doreen King, Michael McClintock (for three titles), Sheila
Windsor and Jane Wittle.
An
excerpt from Michael McClintocks Raspados:
the languid hour after dinner, tired from the worlds
canning, the worlds stitching machines, the lathes
and hot lights and liquid metals, the smell of grease
and ozone, cement and tar, deaf from the buzzing saws,
deaf from the hammering presses, deaf from drills endlessly
drilling, ceaselessly laboring for that foot in the ass
muggy
night...
the childs moon drawing
taped to the fridge
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