2024 Traffic Culture Exhibition Winning Haiku
First published in the Traffic Culture Exhibition. Due to facility renovations, the 2024 exhibition was not held at Ueno Station in Tokyo, Japan. Instead, the poems appeared in an elaborate virtual exhibition during October 2024, where visitors could move around a gallery to view all the winning haiku (and photographs). Read about this online gallery. The gallery is no longer available, but you can read the poems on the website (scroll down to see the haiku section). For 2024, the following haiku winners were selected from 4,759 entries. See also the winners for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. + +
translations by Emiko Miyashita and Michael Dylan Welch
交通総合文化展2024 俳句入賞作品
Traffic Culture Exhibition 2024 Haiku Winners
Haiku Section | The Japanese Railways, the Fascination of Japan
公益財団法人日本交通文化協会理事長賞 Japan Traffic Culture Association Director General Award
天の川見たしと二人小海線 榧野 実
ama no gawa mitashi to futari kōmisen
two of us taking
the Kōmi Line
to gaze at the Milky Way KAYANO Minoru
小海線は小淵沢（山梨県）から小諸（長野県）まで高原を走る電車。 太陽も月も天の川も近々と見える。夫婦二人で眺めたい、この想いがすばらしい。 楽しかったこと、辛かったこと、人生のさまざまな場面が星空に浮かぶだろう。
The Kōmi Line is a train that runs through the highlands from Kobuchizawa (Yamanashi Prefecture) to Komoro (Nagano Prefecture). You can see the sun, the moon, and the Milky Way up close. It is touching that the author wants to share the scene with his spouse. Various scenes from their life, the good times and the hard times, will float up into the starry sky. —Hasegawa Kai
一席 First Place
改札を出れば菜の花限りなく 請関 邦俊
kaisatsu o dereba nanohana kagirinaku
once I’m through
the ticket gate
endless rapeseed flowers UKEZEKI Kunitoshi
いちめんの菜の花畑の中にある小さな駅舎。改札口が不思議な世界への入り口のよう。
A small station building is in the middle of a field of rapeseed flowers. The ticket gate looks like the entrance to a mysterious world. —Hasegawa Kai
二席 Second Place
鹿(しか)羆(ひぐま)眺めて走る宗谷線 酒井 貢
shika higuma nagamete hashiru sōyasen
watching
deer and brown bears
along the Sōya Line SAKAI Mitsugu (kawase akira)
三席 Third Place (tie)
駅名の読めぬ速さの梅雨の旅 三浦 育子
ekimei no yomenu hayasa no tsuyu no tabi
our speed too fast
to read the station names—
rainy season trip MIURA Ikuko
乗り継ぎてふるさと近し天の川 吉野 新一
noritsugite furusato chikashi ama no gawa
transferring trains
my hometown nears
the Milky Way YOSHINO Shinichi
黒き富士新幹線が翔ぶ如く 峯下 秀幸
kuroki fuji shinkansen ga tobugotoku
dark Mt. Fuji—
the bullet train speeds
like it’s flying HIDEYUKI Mineshita
入選 Selected Winners
ふるさとの祭へ続く鉄路かな 柴田 恭雨
furusato no matsuri e tsuzuku tetsuro kana
stretching away
to my hometown festival
railway tracks SHIBATA Kyōu (SHIBATA Kyōu)
寝台車亡き妻と行くライラック 佐藤 克實
shindaisha naki tsuma to iku rairakku
in the sleeping car
I travel with my late wife
the lilacs SATŌ Katsumi
新しき鉄路の鼓動春野へと 五十嵐 裕治
atarashiki tetsuro no kodō haruno e to
the pulse
of the new railway track
into the spring field IGARASHI Yūji
乗客はひとつの家族ストーブ列車 衣川 洋子
jōkyaku wa hitotsu no Kazoku sutōburessha
all the passengers
become one family—
the stove train KINUGAWA Yōko
杖二つ金婚旅行伊豆の秋 奈良 博𠮷
tsue futatsu kinkonryokō izu no aki
two canes
on our golden wedding anniversary trip
—autumn in Izu NARA Hirokichi
そよぎつつ列車を映す植田かな 信安 淳子
soyogitsutsu ressha o utsusu ueta kana
swaying in the breeze
and reflecting the train . . .
planted rice paddy NOBUYASU Junko
駅舎よりまつすぐ秋に続く道 椿 泰文
ekisha yori massugu aki ni tsuzuku michi
the street
from the station
straight into autumn TSUBAKI Yasufumi
路線図が光り輝く夏休み 重岡 秀俊
rosenzu ga hikarikagayaku natsuyasumi
the route map
shines brightly—
summer vacation SHIGEOKA Hidetoshi (Shige3)
除雪車の羽よりレール現るる 小林 幹夫
josetsusha no hane yori rēru arawaruru
from under the blade
of the snowplow
emerging rails KOBAYASHI Mikio (MIYAGISHI Hago)
ひと夏の想い出映る車窓かな 岡田 眞也
hitonatsu no omoide utsuru shasō kana
reflecting memories
from the whole summer
a train window OKADA Shinya
(pen names in parentheses)