Arima Akito () 1930

A world-class nuclear physicist and major haiku poet, D r. Arima Akito was born in Japan on September 13, 1930. He graduated from Tokyo University in 1953, got his PhD there in 1958, and from 1989 to 1993 served as the university’s president. He was president of Japan’s Institute of Physical and Chemical Research from 1993 to 1998 and was his country’s Minister of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture from 1998 to 2000. He has been a member of the upper house of the Japanese Diet (equivalent to the U.S. Senate) since 1998.

Dr. Arima’s haiku mentor was Yamaguchi Seison (1892–1988). He joined Seison’s haiku group when he was twenty years old. Because of his scientific profession he has traveled widely and many of his haiku reflect his experiences from around the world. His haiku collection Ten’i (Providence) received the Haiku Poets Association Prize for 1987. He started his own haiku group Ten’i in 1990. In 1995, Dr. Arima played a role in arranging for a delegation of important Japanese haiku poets to go to Chicago to take part in the first joint conference of the Japan-based Haiku International Association and the Haiku Society of America. He is presently honorary president of the HIA, has chaired the Masaoka Shiki International Haiku Prize selection commitee, and in other ways has helped to encourage the reading and writing of haiku throughout the world.

The ballpark mentioned in the poem is Kshien Stadium near Osaka where the Japan high school baseball finals are held each year. It is also the home of the Central League’s Hanshin Tigers.

 

 

Kshien Stadium:

at the same moment a swallow

and a cool breeze

kshien isshun tsubame to ryf to