Takaha Shugy () 1930

Born in Yamagata Prefecture on October 5, 1930, Takaha Shugy grew up in Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, and began writing haiku when he was fifteen years old. He graduated from Chou University, concentrating on literature and the law. Takaha started studying with the haiku master Yamaguchi Seishi in 1948 and then with Akimoto Fujio beginning in 1954. He formed his own haiku group, Kari (Hunting), in 1978, and became president of the Association of Haiku Poets (Haijin Kykai) in 2002. He is an adviser to the Haiku International Association (Kokusai Haiku Kry Kykai) and a director of the Japan Writers’ Association. He has published more than a dozen volumes of haiku in Japanese (two with English translations) and many anthologies and books of essays. Takaha’s first book of haiku was Tanj (Birth) published in 1965. For it, he was awarded the Haijin Ky kai Sho (the Association of Haiku Poets Prize) and the Minister of Education’s Young Poets Award. A professional poet, he makes his living by teaching, judging, and creating haiku. It has been estimated that as judge and editor, he reads on average about 30,000 haiku a month.

night game

the black pitcher’s

invincible

nait no kokujin-tshu uchi-kuzusezu

 

 

night game

the grass so thick and smooth

I want to step on it

nait no shiba no chimitsu wo fumi-takere