Genjuan Haibun Contest Deadline

Genjuan Haibun Contest Deadline


Haibun is one of the most rewarding of the haiku arts, both for writer and reader. The deadline for entries to this year’s Genjuan Haibun Contest is coming up fast – January 31st. The Office is apparently lenient with entries received a few days after that date, but only a few days! Please note that the Contest Office is now in Kansai, not Tokyo. This is still Japan’s only haibun contest.

Nobuyuki Yuasa has announced that he wishes to retire from judging next year, but that he is very much looking forward to reading this year’s entries! Awarded pieces will appear in a book we intend to publish later this year. This is an international contest, and we welcome your participation, whatever country you may live in. Entry is free.


Stephen Henry Gill


Guidelines for 2014


Subject: Free.

Style: No restrictions, but special attention must be paid to honour the spirit of haikai.

Length: In total, between 15 to 40 lines (at one line = 80 spaces; a 3-line haiku counts as 3 lines).

Haiku/Title: At least one haiku (no formal restrictions) should be included and each piece should be given a title, however short.

Format: Print on one sheet of A4-size paper (and use the reverse if long) and write at the bottom your name (and your pen name, if you have one) together with your address, telephone number, and email address. Your privacy will be strictly protected, and the judges will not see your names until the result has been decided.

Deadline: All entries should reach the following address between 1 October 2013 and 31 January 2014. Please send your entries to:

Ms. Eiko Mori, 2-11-23-206 Jokoji, Amagasaki-shi, Hyogo-ken 660-0811, Japan.

Entries received after this date might not be accepted. Kindly avoid sending by express and using extra-large envelopes. Best write your home address on your envelope, too.

Entry Fee: None.

Restrictions: Entrants can send up to three entries, but two is what we normally expect. They should be unpublished. As we cannot return your entries after screening, please retain your own copies.

Questions: All queries should be sent to the address above or by email to moriemori55@yahoo.co.jp Email Ms. Mori 2 weeks after sending your entries if you wish to have an acknowledgement of receipt.

Judges: Nobuyuki Yuasa, Stephen Henry Gill, Hisashi Miyazaki

Special Request: The authors of the decorated works will later be requested to send us their works by email. In this, we expect your cooperation.

Results: The results and the judges’ comments will be sent to all entrants in spring. The prizes and the certificates of merit will be sent to the winners by early summer.