Heiwa: Peace Poetry in English and Japanese

Language Notes
Text: English, Japanese


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Heiwa, which means "peace" in Japanese, is a bilingual poetry anthology. Its 150 poems by 105 authors from America, Brazil, Canada, England, and Japan were chosen from over 300 submissions to an international competition. The rules of the competition allowed the poets to write haiku or tanka in English or Japanese on the theme of peace. The winning poems were then translated into the other language so as to make the poetry accessible to all. As an example of the range of the poets' exploration of the theme of peace, one of the English haiku poets offered the following meditation, "Sand castles/ becoming/ sand," while one of the Japanese haiku poets illustrated the importance of harmony in Japanese society by observing, "Wishing to be/ a reliable mother - / I shall make sushi."


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