2018 Traffic Culture Exhibition Winning Haiku

      translations by Emiko Miyashita and Michael Dylan Welch

First published in the Traffic Culture Exhibition, held 18–23 October 2018 at Ueno Station in Tokyo, Japan, and in the associated results book and on the website (scroll down to see the haiku section). See also the 2019 Haiku Winners and 2020 Haiku Winners.       +


交通総合文化展 2018 選評
 Traffic Culture Exhibition 2018 Haiku Winners





Haiku Section   |   The Japanese Railways, the Fascination of Japan

Judge’s Haiku

to a fantasy
called hometown
my homecoming                                                             HASEGAWA Kai

Japan Traffic Culture Association Chairman Award

Kyoto Station
a person with a backpack
summer clouds                                                               OZEKI Arata

“Summer clouds are emerging against the blue sky over Kyoto Station. A person carrying a backpack is now passing through the grand concourse that penetrates the station. This haiku hints at a new encounter in Kyoto.” —Hasegawa Kai


First Place

from the overhead rack
I take down my memories
summer’s end                                                                 NISHIDE Kazuyo

“The task of taking one’s luggage down from the overhead rack is like taking down one’s memories. The luggage must be fully packed with the memories of summer.” —Hasegawa Kai

Second Place

resting its wings
on a human being
a red dragonfly                                                               SHIBUYA Fumie

Third Place (tie)

jumping onto a streetcar
to its heartbeat
Hiroshima Day                                                               ISHIKAWA Kiyoshi (ISHIKAWA Touma)

after a lapse of fifteen years
viewing from the sky
Mt. Fuji in summer                                                        NARITA Noriko (Hanako)

here and there
swallows’ nests
a station of love                                                            HASHIMOTO Yuko

Selected Winners

going back to
my second hometown
Bon Festival                                                                  YABUKI Hiromi

at New Year
the railroads sing, too
traveling by myself                                                       IIDA Masahisa

first day of summer
taking the Tsubasa train
my friend has come                                                      SHIMAZAKI Hatsu

summer train
viewing the familiar sea
and going back                                                             KOSAKA Takuo

the full moon
so near
at a village station                                                       SUGASAWA Masami

burning sky
I change trains over and over
to reach the sea                                                           FUJIMOTO Haruka (FUJIMOTO Syunpu)

a day to leave for Tokyo
our parting
under the blazing sky                                                   SAKAI Toshihiko (SAKAI Sorachi)

mother and daughter’s
last cherry blossoms
the Kintaikyō Bridge                                                     SHIMOE Etsuko

to see the chrysanthemums
in Shuzenji Temple
I stop over                                                                    ARAI Chiyoko

for gifts
three ekiben boxes
Bon Festival homecoming                                           KAWASUE Kyoma

Arata Ozeki’s “Kyoto Station” Chairman Award poem