Brooks Books Haiku

Three Books of Haiga by Kuniharu Shimizu:

Shimizu, Kuniharu. See Haiku Here: Kuniharu Shimizu Haiga. SHH Press, 2015.

Shimizu, Kuniharu. See Haiku Here: Matsuo Basho + Kuniharu Shimizu. SHH Press, 2015.

Shimizu, Kuniharu. See Haiku Here: Yosa Buson + Kuniharu Shimizu. SHH Press, 2015.

Brooks Book Review

Kuniharu Shimizu has been creating and sharing his colorful haiga since 2000 on his web blog, See Haiku Here.

Now he has collected several of his works into beautiful collections. The first three books feature (1) haiga including his own haiku, (2) haiga from Basho's travel journals (including translations from "Narrow Road to the Deep North" by Donald Keene, and (3) haiga from Buson's haiku.

Kuni employs a wide range of art techniques—collage, computer generated illustration, drawings and photography—all integrated into a short, colorful immediate interpretation and response to the haiku.

My joy in reading and viewing his "see haiku here" website and books is simply his playfulness . . . capturing and intuitively responding to the inner spirit of the haiku. I enjoy SEEing how Kuni sees the haiku through art. I also enjoy how the new haiga becomes a new aesthetic experience for the receiver of his artistic gifts.

I highly recommend you frequent Kuni's web site AND buy a copy of these colorful collections of his contemporary computer haiga.

Randy Brooks
December 1, 2015

Shimizu, Kuniharu. See Haiku Here: Kuniharu Shimizu Haiga. SHH Press, 2015.

Book size: A5 (148mm x 210mm)
Content: My haiku + haiga, my haibun. 40 color plates
Language: English and Japanese
Date of publication: Oct. 2015

This book is not available from Brooks Books, so please send overseas orders to:

Price (postage included): 10 USD  or  9 EUR

Paypal account: seehaikuhere@gmail.com
Write "Kuni book", and your postal address

Or, you can put the cash in an envelop and send it to:

Mr. Kuniharu Shimizu
365 Mishima-cho, Tenri
Nara, Japan 632-0015

Shimizu, Kuniharu. See Haiku Here: Matsuo Basho + Kuniharu Shimizu. SHH Press, 2015.

Book size: A5 (148mm x 210mm)
Content: Basho's haiku from "The narrow road to the deep north", "Nozarashi Kiko" and "Oi no Kobumi" are made into haiga. There are 69 color plates.
Language: English and Japanese
Date of publication: Oct. 2015

This book is not available from Brooks Books, so please send overseas orders to:

Price(postage included): 12 USD  or  10 EUR

Paypal account: seehaikuhere@gmail.com
Write "Basho book", and your postal address

Or, you can put the cash in an envelop and send it to:

Mr. Kuniharu Shimizu
365 Mishima-cho, Tenri
Nara, Japan 632-0015

Shimizu, Kuniharu. See Haiku Here: Yosa Buson + Kuniharu Shimizu. SHH Press, 2015.

Book size: A5 (148mm x 210mm)
Content: Buson's haiku are made into haiga. There are 45 color plates.
Language: English and Japanese
Date of publication: Nov. 2015

This book is not available from Brooks Books, so please send overseas orders to:

Price (postage included): 10 USD  or  9 EUR

Paypal account: seehaikuhere@gmail.com
Write "Buson book", and your postal address

Or, you can put the cash in an envelop and send it to:

Mr. Kuniharu Shimizu
365 Mishima-cho, Tenri
Nara, Japan 632-0015

BIO

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.

Resides: Tenri, Nara, Japan
E-mail: seehaikuhere (at) gmail (dot) com
Website: http://seehaikuhere.blogspot.com/

Sample Haiga

Posted on See Haiku Here October 22, 2015

Posted on See Haiku Here September 15, 2015

Kuni noted that "On the web, I happened to find the image of Basho's calligraphy,
the one with the famous old pond haiku. I digitized it and added it
to my haiga of the same haiku. Here it is."

If you would like your book or magazine or web site featuring haiku to be featured at this web site, send a review copy or contact information to: Brooks Books, 6 Madera Court, Taylorville, IL 62568