2014 Tokutomi Memorial Haiku Contest

The 2014 Kiyoshi & Kiyoko Tokutomi Memorial Haiku Contest

 Send your poems to the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society (YTHS) 2014 Kiyoshi & Kiyoko Tokutomi Memorial Haiku Contest, with submission-in-hand deadline of May 31, 2014.

 Prizes: Authors of the top three haiku win awards of $100, $50, and $25.

This is the longest-running USA-based international haiku contest

The contest honors the traditional Japanese haiku form:

entries are required to have 17 syllables in a 5-7-5 pattern,

with a single kigo (season-denoting phrase), kigo to be from this 2014 contest-specific list:

New Year:      toasting the New Year, first calligraphy

Spring:            apple blossom, lamb

Summer:         early summer rain, fly-fishing

Autumn:          rising moon, chrysanthemum

Winter:            withered garden, wren

 Haiku entries in this contest CAN:

  • Be written by any non-YTHS member as well as by any YTHS member except for the YTHS President and the Contest Chair.
  • Be submitted by mail to YTHS Tokutomi Contest, J. Zimmerman – Contest Chair, P.O. Box 757, Santa Cruz, CA  95061. Send one copy with your name and one without your name.
  • Be submitted by email (instead of mail) to zim@skyhighway.com .

Haiku entries in this contest MUST:

  • Be written in English. No limit on number of entries.
  • Have 17 syllables in a 5-7-5 pattern.
  • Contain only one kigo (season-denoting phrase) chosen from the contest kigo list.
  • Omit all other kigo either explicit (such as spring, summer, autumn, winter) or implicit. (More on this in “When the Moon Can Stand Alone: Single Kigo and the Tokutomi Contest” in the 2013 YTHS anthology Above the Clouds.)
  • Avoid using the chosen contest-list kigo in any non-kigo manner (such as a simile).
  • Be original, unpublished, and not under consideration elsewhere.
  • Be accompanied by concurrent payment of the entry fee; no refunds. For each set of up to three haiku, send $8 if paid by Paypal or $7 if paid by mail. For PayPal send to yukiteikei@msn.com with the subject “2014 Tokutomi Contest entries” as on the Yuki Teikei PayPal transmittal page. For mailed-in payment, send a check or international money order to the address above.

Entries will not be returned. YTHS may print winning poems and commentary in its newsletter, web site, annual anthology, and brochures. The judges and the contest results will be announced in the autumn 2014 at the YTHS Annual Haiku Retreat. Shortly thereafter they will appear at http://youngleaves.org/ .