[Space Cup] Announcement of the Jyunpei Award

The "Space Cup" haiku competition has come to a successful close.
Congratulations to all the award winners.

I was invited to be one of the judges for this event.
I was also given the opportunity to present a personal award, the Jyunpei Award.

As an outsider, it is presumptuous of me to be involved in the judging and even present an award, but I accepted Katchi-san's wish to "bring a fresh breeze to the haiku competition by judging with a musician's sensibility," and I did my very best in the selection process.

In my judging, I imagined the lyrics and selected them based on the criteria offeeling a sense of individuality in how the words and rhythm fit (or deviate from) each other.

I would like to present the Jyunpei Award to the following two haiku.

Do not grieve, forbid it, recite a memorial service for a double suicide

Takashi Chiba

A skylark singing a cheerful trill

Yuki

Chiba-san's haiku left a very strong impression on me because the placement of the punctuation marks forces a specific way of reading it. Since haiku are known for their '5-7-5' rhythm, one tends to naturally read them by dividing them into five, seven, and five syllables. However, the placement of punctuation in this haiku immediately disrupts that 5-7-5 balance. In the world of lyrics, there are works that become memorable because the phrasing shifts against the melody, and when compared to that, I felt this was a truly musical piece.

Yuki-san's haiku is a vivid piece that makes the scene come to life before one's eyes. I was particularly struck by the comparison of the skylark's voice to a trill. It is also wonderful how the expression of this haiku changes depending on where you focus. If you focus on 'good mood,' you can feel the excitement of spring, and if you focus on 'playing,' the way the skylark sings is conveyed both delicately and dynamically. If you focus on the 'rising skylark,' you can picture the bird flying around in the spring blue sky, and if you focus on the 'trill,' it is as if a musical staff becomes visible in the distance. It was a wonderful work that shows various expressions depending on the angle!

I encountered many other wonderful haiku, each with its own merits, but for this occasion, I would like to select the two mentioned above as the recipients of the Junpei Award.

Thank you all so much for participating.

Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude once again to Katchi-san and the entire management staff for giving me this valuable opportunity to judge a haiku competition, which is not something I get to experience very often.