Thank you for all the contributions to the haiku and senryu competion. We received several hundred of them. After careful review and discussions at the Embassy, the employees took a vote and decided that the winning haiku is:

 

Smoke from a chimney

Waits for your return

I add another log

(written by Koshimitsu Atsuko)

 

Congratulations! If you contact the Embassy we will provide you with a round trip to Sweden.

 

Other haiku that received votes were:

 

Remains of the cold war

On a small island

Summer in the Baltic Sea

(written by Fujimoto Kaoru)

 

A summer straw hat

I try to wear it

like Garbo did

(written by Itoh Yuka)

 

Clouds float

FUWA-FUWA MOKO-MOKO

Like a semla

(written by Jinno Miki)

 

aurora Polaris

light of the mystery

gift of sun

(written by Motoishi Rika)

 

Spread my wings

in the middle of

the aurora

(written by Miyagawa Natsu)

 

at Skogskyrkogården

the voice of the wind

sunshine streaming through

green tiny leaves

(written by Hirata Yuka)

 

shy Swedes

hard-shell look

once you break it

soft inside

(written by Hirata Yuka)

 

Swedish summer

jump in a lake

chattering of teeth

bloodless lips

(written by Hirata Yuka)

 

these warm sunlit days

wondering how to conceal

my dragon tattoo

(written by Marie Shimane)

 

calm and beautiful

Stockholm until it blasts off

midsummer mayhem

(written by Paul Holman Faust, Jr.)

 

Sleeping

in the spring grass

at full length

(written by Shigemoto Yasuhiko)

 

I stand listening to

the passage of time

Gamla stan in fall

(written by Yuhna Yayohi)

 

A green breeze in woods

waymarks led to Uppsala

in my peaceful dream

(written by Kinoshita Naoko)

 

The Baltic Sea wakes

from a deep sleep, waves of May

washing the seashore

(written by Kinoshita Naoko)

 

A Swedish log house

on my way to the station,

fragrance of coffee

(written by Kinoshita Hajime)

 

When I fell asleep in a bus, the driver told me it was my stop

(written by Iwakiri Chisato)

 

at Skansen

brightened in summer sunshine

a weathercock

(written by Nakajima Kumiko)

 

Young, old, men, women

All dancing round the flower pole

Laughs echo in the blue sky

(written by Maruyama Mie)

 

A baby swinging

in his father’s arm

an anemone floating

(written by Sagi Kazutoshi)

 

Opening the window

And the cortège song

Makes me mad

(written by Sagi Kazutoshi)

 

Early summer breeze

through the alleys of Stockholm

shoulder to shoulder

(written by Shimizu Kyoko)

 

Birches in green leaves –

the lake reflects the shadow

of the white palace

(written bu Shimizu Kyoko)

 

Reindeer on the road

Soon hidden by the birch trees

A brief eye contact

(written by Johan Unga)

 

Glistening three crowns

Reflecting in the water

Seagulls cross the sky

(written by Johan Unga)

 

A sanctuary

Away from expectations

A house in the woods

(written by Louise Bylund)

 

Hammarskjöld

a rainbow bridge

over the world

(written by Okanishi Nobue)

 

There were also many other good haiku and senryu, and to chose among them was difficult. However, the number of votes were limited and we could only select a few.

Thank you all very much!