home | contact | guides | booking
Haiku poems composed during the Mountains of Central Japan Tour September 2006
Bright, breeze-blown blossoms
A bobbing swirl of colors
Children in their hats
(voted winner)
Japanese translation of winning haiku
Trip's done; Sweet sorrow!
I'm not sure which feels it more
My heart, or my knees
A light rain greets us
Morning in Kanazawa
Fine kettle of fish
Bob Williams
Yarisawa Lodge
Infectious giggles at night
Sardine-can humor
(dedicated to Irene)
(It may be scary
But crossing the ladders
Is really alright)
(Let's walk again
With friends
Hike Japan )
Chie Kawahara
Birds calling somewhere
Just above the traffic flow
Cannot fly away
Menu - pork and beef
Empty fields, no animals
Does Nissan make them?
Tranquil garden. Peace
Shattered by constant drilling
Man breaks what he makes
James Leonard
Noticed on the trail
Celestial tic-tac-toe
Mingled ‘x' and ‘o'
Fast water flowing
Through the forested valley
Glints with autumn sun
Rust-colored wet rocks
After the water's swift course
Remaining in place
Kurt Hurley
Calm contemplation
Garden of tranquillity
Totally absorbed
Japanese cuisine
Fish, fish, and more bloody fish
Pass it on to Kurt
Karaoke night
Bob warms up his vocal chords
Kurt slips out the door
Irene Ellis
Onwards and upwards
Besides the Yarisawa
Tumbling her waters
Yarisawa Hut
We arrive with light fading
Too late for a bath!
Stone caged in wire
Hiking trail or barrier?
Or maybe it's a bath
Sue Doyle
Rain on stone gardens
Seas of well-raked harmony
Footprints washed away
Adam Heffill
Delicate grasses
Spider waits in gossamer
Shimmering in dew
Sardines in bunk beds
Book shelves full of walking boots
Clever use of space
It seems in Japan
Cleanliness is next to God
In many guises
Halcyon Leonard
Cypress tree spreads wide
Aged limbs held up by poles
My fate too, perhaps
(at Kenrokuen)
A square-holed pillar
Do I dare to eat a peach
Nirvana with bruise
( Temple )
Silent in stone basin
The water lilies deep and still
No frog here today
(Samurai house)
Sue Williams
A little brown frog
Leaves the cool emperor's tomb
Where is it going?
Little yellow hats
Bobbing along above the rice. Laughter
As they stop and play
Azure days dissolve
Into silver nights. Mountain
Home of the star crow
Bob Heffill