CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Alain Agboton, Senegal, November 1998
THEME = CULTURE
"Haiku", a type of poem
characteristic of Japanese literature,
has existed for twenty years in Senegal
Haiku was introduced in Senegal through a competition, launched by Mr. Sono Uchida, at that time, Japan's ambassador to Senegal. The Senegalese people knew nothing about Japanese culture but took an interest in this form of poetry, and this interest has never weakened. 1998 is the 20th anniversary of Haiku's introduction into Senegal. To mark the occasion, more than 600 very rich and colourful poems were collected from the four corners of the country. Mr. Uchida, who founded the International Haiku Association (which has about twenty member-associations throughout the world), returned to Senegal for the celebration. He had always felt that Senegal, a country ruled by a poet (President Leopold Sedar Senghor), would provide fertile soil for Haiku.
Dorothy Britton gives the following definition of Haiku: "It's a Japanese poem. It's elaborate and brief...but rich as an ocean".
A haiku poem has three lines, each composed of 5, 7 and 5 syllables, and always includes a "kigo" - a word creating a "poetical feeling for the current season of the year". International haiku poetry appears in many languages. The Japanese diplomat explained: "It's a place where everyone can meet together and ought to contribute towards strengthening peace. In Haiku, "nature does not belong to people, people rather belong to nature and both have to live together in harmony".
Dorothy Britton says: "Haiku provides place for: A universe of suggested ideas; selective admiration of nature; strong emotions about places visited; contemplation; serenity; enchanted images; a search for the absolute; timeless and harmonious serenity. It's also a place for unlimited freedom of imagination and deep meditation on: life's frailty; the temporary nature of things; and especially on that sadness which pervades us when things and people come and go, and which nature expresses so strongly in the passing of the seasons of the year".
Has Senegalese haiku its own way of expressing ideas? According to the chairman of the Friendship Association Senegal- Japan, it's marked by "the contrasts of related images, the passing of time, intuition, liveliness and radiance. It reflects ethnic and regional sensitivities. It's the manifold riches of our native lands, of finding our way "back home". It presents for us the sights, the sounds, the happenings, the joys, the sorrows of daily life, the things we see around us - the old protecting baobab-tree, the going down of the sun and its rising again, the countryside with its multiple facets".
Former President Leopold Sedar Senghor was an enthusiast for Haiku. In 1983, he referred to it as "Japan's poetry lesson to Senegal. Haiku is the world's shortest, but most beautiful form of poetry. Its brevity forces the poet "to choose words carefully, to give every syllable and phrase, beauty and meaning". In both "Japan and Africa, it brings out the very spirit and strength of our languages".
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CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
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