Poet Profile

Kuniharu Shimizu

Born in Tenri, Nara, Japan in 1949, Kuniharu Shimizu moved to Hawaii at the age of 15. He returned to Japan in 1972 upon receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Hawaii. He continues to successfully pursue his creative efforts in the arts, which include graphic, editorial, and monument design as well as exhibition planning. In 2000, he started the website project See Haiku Here. This is a worldwide exhibition of Haiga (illustrated haiku) accomplished through the collaborative efforts of over 260 international haijin. He writes haibun and also short stories, one of which appeared on Red Leaves, a bilingual literary book published in Australia. He is currently one of the advisors to The World Haiku Association and Judge of the WHA Monthly Haiga Contest.

Awards and Other Honors: The Purchase Award at Artist of Hawaii Exhibition (Purchased for the permanent collection of the Academy of Art in Honolulu); First Place in Ichiretu-kai Scholarship Foundation Logo Mark Contest; First Place in Japan Toy Association Logo Mark Contest; Editor's Choice Runner-up, The Heron's Nest V;6 (2003); Special Mention, The Heron's Nest Valentine Awards (2003 and 2004); Second Prize in "Best of 2003"(Mainichi Daily News); Special Prize at the Mongolian Spring Festival Haiku Contest in Tokyo (April 2007); and Merit Based Scholarship Publishing through the Cole Foundation for The Arts in The Baker’s Dozen – Volume III.

Books Published: Four haiga ebooks: water, wind, light, and life (SHH Press, May, 2010); Baker’s Dozen Volume III (AuthorHouse, October 21, 2010); Oku no Hosomichi haiga ebook (SHH Press, November 2010).

stone garden―
this morning the islands
float on snow

Push and throw
wrestling on the grass,
horse in heavenly land smiles

Kenyan stars glitter
in the sky
in children’s eyes

Drawing circles,
finally one deformed enough
to be the earth

Wetting my color-faded
aloha shirts,
April waves

Country road
I quietly cross
the Equator

Credits: "stone garden" - Editors' choice runner up, The Heron's Nest V:6 (2003) ; Special Mention, The Heron’s Nest Valentine Awards (2004); "Kenyan stars glitter" - Mainichi Daily News; Second Prize, “Best of 2003"; "Wetting my color-faded" - Honorable Mention, the 8th Mainichi Haiku Contest; "Push and throw" - Special Prize at the Mongolian Spring Festival Haiku Contest in Tokyo (April 2007); "Drawing circles" - World Haiku 3 (2007); "Country road" - Haiku Friends 2 (2007).