
Photo: Catarina Axelsson/MFA
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!