Portland Japanese Garden

Oregon's Poet Laureate, Lawsen Fusao Inada, sat down in the Garden to reflect on his childhood experiences in World War II internment camps. This talk became part of the Lehrer NewsHour's series on poetry for PBS. Inada walks the stones of the Japanese American Historical Plaza, discussing its inscriptions from Japanese-American poets. Read a transcript and see the video here:

Oregon Poet Laureate Inada Reflects on Internment

The PBS website also offers an exclusive video of Mr. Inada reading his work in front of the Garden's Heavenly Falls, accompanied by guitarist Toshi Onizuka:

Poetry Reading by Lawson Fusao Inada

Over the past few months, the Garden has received over 1,000 entries in our 2007 Haiku Contest. This contest was open to participants from around the world and was featured at the Garden, on the Garden's web site, and at the United States Botanic Garden during their Terrace Garden Exhibition.

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2007 Portland Japanese Garden Haiku Contest, as follows:

First Prize morning pond— the fog drifts into a pair of swans —Rebecca Lilly Second Prize asparagus spears pushing through grass a garter snake's stripes —Barbara Snow Third Prize trumpet flower —the deepening hummm of summer —Ernest J Berry

© Jostein Hauge istockphoto.com

© Tjasa Maticic istockphoto.com

Honorable Mentions Early autumn— still woven through my white quilt your black hair —S. L. Lheureux morning star first bloom in the jasmine —Francine Banwarth Pushing upriver, pulling the fog behind it tugboat, chug-chugging —Pru McDonald

Our sincere thanks go to all those who participated in the contest over the past several months. Please watch our website and newsletter for announcements of future contests.

We also want to extend a warm thank you to Margaret Chula for serving as our official content judge and for working tirelessly to read through the myriad of haiku entries.
Margaret Chula has been writing haiku for more than twenty-five years. She has published five collections, including Grinding my ink, a Haiku Society of America Merit Book Award winner. Over the last fifteen years, she has given presentations at the Japanese Garden on Japanese culture. You can find her books in our Gift Store and online at www.japanesegarden.com/shop .

"It was a great pleasure to read so many haiku from around the world. Each one offered a very personal glimpse into nature. Congratulations to the winners for your poignant, well-crafted haiku. Your choices of images and unusual juxtapositions are outstanding. Whether you are an accomplished haiku poet or just beginning to explore this form, I encourage all of you to take the time to enjoy the different seasons and to encapsulate these moments into a haiku." — Margaret Chula

The Portland Japanese Garden is holding a nationwide haiku contest for any and all participants. The contest started as part of the Portland Japanese Garden's terrace exhibition at the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, DC, where visitors to the exhibition are invited to enter by writing their own haiku and mailing or emailing them to the Garden. The Garden has now extended the contest to its members, visitors, and the general public in order to spark creativity and bring awareness to this 300-hundred-year-old art form.

One of the most popular forms of poetry today, haiku is the essence of simplicity. Written in three lines with a total of 17 syllables or less, a haiku should be brief enough to be read in one breath. Haiku poems are about nature and experiences in our everyday lives. They contain a seasonal word (or phrase), such as "summer breeze" in the following haiku by Margaret Chula.

summer breeze
stones in the dry garden
flow without moving

Anyone wishing to enter the contest is welcome to submit their haiku to the Portland Japanese Garden by completing the online haiku entry form at www.japanesegarden.com/culture/haiku or mailing their haiku to Portland Japanese Garden, PO Box 3847, Portland, Oregon 97208.

The first-prize winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to the online Garden Gift Store and two runners-up winners will receive $50 gift certificates. Samples of haiku and full instructions can be found at www.japanesegarden.com/culture/haiku. The contest runs from July 21 through October 8, 2007.

Over 500 wishes have been made

Over the past few weeks more than 500 visitors to the Portland Japanese Garden have added their personal hopes and dreams to our Wish Tree, which was initiated during the Tanabata Festival on July 7.

Inspired by Yoko Ono's "Imagine Peace" project, the little tree on the veranda in front of the Pavilion will be there throughout the summer for everyone to write a wish for peace and hang it from its branches—a practice similar to tying fortunes on the branches of trees at Shinto shrines in Japan. The Wish Tree will remain on the veranda until October 1, when the wishes will be sent to Yoko Ono to be included in the Peace Tower she is building in Iceland. Drop by and leave your message of peace the next time you are in the Garden!

From the Yoko Ono Website:

"As a child in Japan, I used to go to a temple and write out a wish on a piece of thin paper and tie it around the branch of a tree. Trees in temple courtyards were always filled with people's wish knots, which looked like white flowers blossoming from afar."

A peace obelisk by Yoko Ono will be erected in Reykjavík, Iceland. The obelisk, from 10 to 15 meters long, is an illuminated column of glass, full of wishes of peace from people all over the world. On the outside there are two engraved lines of poetry. One of the passages, "A dream you dream together is reality", is written by Yoko Ono herself, the other, "Imagine all the people, living life in peace" is from John Lennon's song Imagine. The passages will be translated into numerous languages.

Links:

• Wish Tree information from Yoko Ono's web site

The following haiku have been chosen as noteworthy entries among the many we received in the first few weeks of the contest:

Mountain and field,
land and sea flock together-
Japanese garden

—Vasile Moldovan

a winding bridge hides in iris
a child's delighted squeal
koi at play

—Betty Doran

water spider artists
concentric circles
on a rippling pond

—Marilynn Block

Sudden spring storm
blossoms scatter then settle
softening the path

Gentle reflections
of a morning sun—the shift
of occluding clouds

—Linda Jensen

The patter of rain
Beyond the threshold, a weaving
of blossoms

The zig and the zag
of the summer butterfly
Rustle of the wind

Rhythms of the wind
high in the birches; whistle
of a distant train

—Peter Kendall

Haiku are short poems of three lines that record the essence of a moment in which nature is linked to human nature. They are written in the present tense, as if they are happening now. Most haiku contain a kigo, or seasonal reference, such as 'cherry blossoms' to indicate that it is spring. Traditionally, Japanese haiku are written in three vertical lines of five, seven, and five syllables for a total of seventeen syllables. In English, haiku is written in three horizontal lines. It is not necessary to follow the strict 5-7-5 syllable count because the two languages have completely different rhythms. Rather, it is essential that haiku be brief, telling the reader what, where, and when in a few well-chosen words. You should be able to read a haiku in one breath.

More important is the haiku moment, the "aha" that occurs when an everyday event is seen with a new awareness and understanding. Using simple words and images, the haiku poet reveals the relationship between seemingly unrelated things:

All at once
peony blossoms drop
clap of thunder

"Peony" indicates that it is the rainy season, between spring and summer. The surprise comes in the final line with the clap of thunder. The juxtaposition of the delicate peony blossoms with the crack of thunder creates both a tension and a humorous synchronicity.

Haiku are expressions of awareness. They can be serious or humorous. Emotions, however, are always suggested rather than stated. With the right images, haiku allow the reader to supply the details so he or she can have a personal experience. This sparseness is much like a Japanese painting, where a few brush strokes can portray a whole world. At their best, haiku reveal a moment of intuitive understanding of the greatness, beauty and sadness of life.

— Margaret Chula