In 1996, the Kusamakura Haiku Competition was held in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of Natsume Soseki's arrival in Kumamoto. This contest strives to celebrate the novelist and haiku poet Soseki, as well as to bring awareness of "Kumamoto city charm and Haiku" to the international level and further develop Kumamoto's haiku culture. Besides haiku submissions, haiga （haiku pictures） and children's pictures will also be submitted to the competition as images of haiku. In this, the seventh year of the competition, we are focusing on foreign language entries, as we hope that holding a contest with a markedly international character will help to improve exchange with other nations. 　Haiku began in Japan during the 17th century. Haiku are short, imagistic poems about the things that make people feel connected to nature. In Japanese, haiku traditionally have seventeen short sounds divided into three lines of a 5-7-5 syllable pattern, with the middle line longer than the first and third lines. In Japan, people of all ages and walks of life write haiku and people all over the world are writing haiku in many different languages. Most, though not all, haiku reflect nature or one of the four seasons. The words of haiku should evoke in the reader the emotions felt by the poet, and should not merely describe these emotions. Effective power of poetic device in language comes from simplicity, elegance and concentration in mind. You are suggested not to repeat words or ideas which convey the same meaning or feeling. That is, you should avoid redundancy.