- Autumn Loneliness: The Letters of Kiyoshi and Kiyoko Tokutomi,
July-December, 1967,
translated by Tei Scott Matsushita and Patricia J. Machmiller, was
published this autumn. The Tokutomis were the founders of the
Yuki Teikei Haiku Society. The book
contains 300 letters of those exchanged between
Kiyoshi and Kiyoko during a very difficult period in their lives. In 1967
Kiyoshi had just lost his hearing due to medication he was taking for
tuberculosis. He traveled to Japan for a long hospital stay to undergo
treatment that would attempt to recover his hearing. Kiyoko remained in the
U.S. in San Jose’s Japantown with their 10-year-old daughter, Yukiko. The letters reveal their deeply respectful and loving relationship, how they
dealt with grief and disappointment—individually and together—and the empathetic and steadfast way they supported each other during
difficult times. The reader will gain insight into the character and thinking
of the couple who would become leaders in the English haiku world. The 360 page book has a selection of pictures of the Tokutomis in their early years.
This soft-cover volume sells for $27.50. Please send your check, made out to Yuki Teikei Haiku Society, to Jean Hale, 5135 Cribari Place, San Jose, CA 95135.
- Deeper into the Seasons: Four Haiku Workshops -- Noted haiku poet Patricia Macmiller is leading four day-long haiku workshops in 2009, one workshop in
each season. These workshops are for haiku writers who wish to deepen their
haiku practice and gain insight into how the kigo, the seasonal reference,
enhances the haiku. The workshop experience is designed help participants delve into their
experiences of the each season and reveal unconscious associations. The workshop process starts with a discussion of relevant, local kigo.
Walks and writing sessions supplement the discussions. Participants have reported that the workshops are greatly rewarding. The remaining workshop will be on the following
date: Autumn: Sunday, November 8,
2009. Detailed information on the workshops is available.
- Each year the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society holds along-weekend retreat at Asilomar Seashore and Conference Center on the Monterey Peninsula, a beautiful natural
setting on the Pacific Ocean. The 2009 retreat was Thursday, October 1 through Sunday, October 4 and featured
Ebba Story, a long-time haiku
writer, editor of the “Challenge Kigo” column in GEPPO, and editor of Mariposa.
Ebba lead participants in a writing workshop and craft lecture on the
theme of “Re-membering Feelings through Haiku".
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The Yuki Teikei events calendar for 2009 is available. It shows our monthly meetings which include observances of Tanabata, moon viewing, and year-end holidays, as well as other special events.
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