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ENTRY FOR 2026 HAIKU COMPETITION NOW STARTS!

The 31st International “Kusamakura” Haiku Competition in Kumamoto

International “Kusamakura” Haiku Competition started in 1996 as a memory of the first centennial anniversary of Natsume Soseki’s arrival in Kumamoto as an English teacher of the Fifth High School. This Competition is one of very few international Haiku competitions in Japan and has been continued for thirty-one years.

Last year we had two trials for the 30th anniversary. For the first the grand prize winner of the foreign language section was invited to Kumamoto within the limited amount of \500,000 with presenting Fukuda-Reiju Prize. Dr. Fukuda Reiju is an honorable citizen of Kumamoto, who studied at Edinburgh in 1893 at the age of 20 to gain the Degree of Medical Doctor. Later he did great social and medical contributions to Kumamoto, bridging the East and the West.

And for the second we published a special issue of Selected Prize-Winning Haiku in which you can see all the important prize-winning haiku of the 30 years’ Competitions. The special issue is listed at the bottom of this page and it can be downloaded.

Now we start accepting the entry to the 31st international “Kusamakura” Haiku Competition. Fukuda-Reiju Prize will be continued to this year and the Grand Prize winner will be invited to Kumamoto.

We are looking forward to having many applicants and wonderful haiku poems from all over the world.

 

Application Guidelines

Entries must be submitted via the homepage.
Each applicant can enter up to two haiku poems.
Entries are only possible in English, Chinese and Spanish.
Each applicant can enter in different language, but a haiku of the same content and meaning will not be accepted.
In case we can’t contact with the prize winner by e-mail, the award will be cancelled.

Please enter from the button at the bottom of page 3.

 

KUSAMAKURA HAIKU COMPETITION : RULES FOR SUBMISSION

All submissions to the “Kusamakura” Haiku Competition must be original and must not have been previously published. Any plagiarized and imitative haiku shall not be accepted. Any submissions to this Haiku Competition must not be sent to any other publications including online ones. Also they must not appear in any published forms such as magazines, journals, blogs, personal websites, etc., before the end of the “Kusamakura” Haiku Competition Awarding Ceremony.

 

Last Updated June 1, 2026