Haiga, December 2012

December 2012

Haiga

A short introduction to Haiga:

It is pleasing to see some of the haiku-related genres develop gradually, even if the development is also accompanied by misconceptions and failures. Haiga is one of them. This is also the field where consequences of such misconceptions and examples of failures abound. This is partly because haiga allows experiments of all sorts to be done freely and easily by anyone without any viable rules and standards. It is good and bad. Or to be more precise, it is rarely good and mostly bad. It is good because it encourages innovations and experiments which could result in works of newness and originality. It is bad because, well, who wants bad art or culture? (For more serious discussion readers might like to read Susumu Takiguchi's article on the subject.)

Adelaide B. Shaw is well-known as a seasoned haijin. In this issue some examples of her haiga are presented to show the healthy and steady development of this delightful genre.