Haiga Guidelines

     Want to create an excellent haiga? Here are some helpful articles:

 

provided by Michael Dylan Welch, founder of NaHaiWriMo-

 

HAIGA

by Michael Dylan Welch

http://www.graceguts.com/haiga
 

 

LINKING AND LEAPING: A HAIGA PRIMER

by Michael Dylan Welch

http://www.graceguts.com/essays/linking-and-leaping-a-haiga-primer

 

 

provided by Linda Papanicolaou, editor of Haigaonline -

HAI + GA: EXERCISES IN LINKING TEXT AND IMAGE

by Linda Papanicolaou

http://www.haigaonline.com/issue8-2/workshop.html

HAI + GA PART II: RENKU-STYLE LINKING IN HAIGA
BY LINDA PAPANICOLAOU

http://www.haigaonline.com/issue11-1/issue11-1.html

HAI+GA PART III: WRITING IN ITERATIVE OR CAPTIONAL STYLE
by Linda Papanicolaou

http://www.haigaonline.com/issue12-1/issue.html

PUTTING THE "GA" AFTER THE "HAI" 

by Neal Whitman

http://www.haigaonline.com/issue10-2/issue10-2.html

STARLIT MOUNTAIN—HOW WHITE SPACE AND IMAGINATION WORK IN HAIGA by Jeanne Emrich

http://www.haigaonline.com/issue9-1/feature.html

CREATING HAIGA IMAGES: SOME CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT TEXT DESIGN by Ray Rasmussen

http://www.haigaonline.com/issue9-1/feature.html

Spring Festival Challenge on Haigaonline

Haigaonline  (Volume 15 issue 1, Spring 2014)

 This may be viewed under "haiga challenge."

Moon Haiga Challenge on Haigaonline

 

Haigaonline  (Volume 14 issue 2, December 2013)

 This may be viewed under "haiga challenge."

     Next issue's haiga challenge is spring festival. Go for it before the deadline which is at the end of the month!

Spring Rain

Haigaonline (Volume 14 issue 1, March 2013)

This may be viewed under "haiga challenge."

Sunburst

 

Haigaonline (Volume 13 issue 2, December 2012)

This may be viewed under "haiga challenge."

Marshmallow Sunset

 

 

Haigaonline (Volume 13 Issue 1, June 2012)

This may be viewed under "contemporary haiga."

 

Season Word List

     While I was checking out Haigaonline for my next submission, I came across three resources where you can find a season word list. These sites are actually suggested for the next haiga challenge, but these might prove helpful in writing your haiku.

     The World Haiku Club's World Kigo Database     
     "The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words" at Renku Home
     Yuki Teikei Haiku Society

     A Dictionary of Haiku by Jane Reichhold might also be useful to you. She has arranged a list of poems, not alphabetically, but by seasons. By checking this out, you can find out what words or phrases correspond to a certain season.

     By the way, Haigaonline is now accepting only one haiga from each contributor. Luckily, the editor informed me that she was pleased to include one of my haiga for their next issue. The haiga is another collaborative effort with my brother, Perry. In June, I'll be posting it for sure. :-)   

Music of Heaven

 

 

 

Haigaonline (Vol. 12 Issue 2, December 2011)

This may be viewed under "contemporary haiga."

 

     It wasn't something that I was expecting or waiting for. It was something that happened when I actually just wanted to be by myself. A flock of birds suddenly started chirping non-stop. The birds were hopping from one branch to another. It was a beautiful experience! I didn't care what kind of birds they were, nor what color of wings they had. What mattered at that time was that their songs made my heart sing. Like the haiku master Kobayashi Issa, I have also heard the music of heaven. Here is one of Issa's prose translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa.

     It was widedly rumored that certain persons had heard celestial music coming down from heaven around two o'clock in the morning on New Year's Day. And they say it has been heard every eighth night since. Some told me in all seriousness that they actually heard the music at such and such place on such and such a night. Others dismissed it as simply a prank played by the wanton wind. I, for one, was inclined to take the idea seriously, but could neither accept it as completely true or reject it as absolutely impossible. For heaven and earth are filled with strange and mysterious powers, and we have all heard of the dancing maidens, and the "sweet dew" that came from above. It is not possible that courtiers in the halls of heaven may have been rejoicing to see the world at peace and called for music-- and if we could not hear it, is it not probable that it was our sinful natures that prevented us? In any event, I found myself intrigued, and invited a group of friends to come to my humble cottage on the nineteenth day of March. We all listened intently, from early evening on, but we heard nothing until the first sunbeams touched the far end of the eastern sky. Then all at once we heard a voice-- we heard music-- coming from the plum tree near my window.

Only birds

sing the music of heaven

in this world.

 

The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa  

Edited by Robert Hass  

 

Black and White Challenge

 Haigaonline (Vol. 12 Issue 2, December 2011)
This may be viewed under "contemporary haiga."

     When I found out that Haigaonline was accepting submissions for their black and white challenge, I was excited. I have this black and white photo which means so much to me. The actual challenge for me was to come up with a haiku that was strong enough to make the absence of color on the image significant.

     If you'd like to learn more about black and white haiga, read Jim Swift's article, Black and White Photography, which can be found under haiga workshop in the December 2011 issue of Haigaonline. I suggest that you check out featured artists. I'm sure you'll be inspired by the exquisite works of an'ya and Ron C. Moss.