A Study on Short Poetic Literary Activities and Transnational Narratives among Japanese Immigrants in Canada

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During the academic year of 2022/23 the following research was completed by Jean-Pierre Antonio and Tsuyoshi Amano. Two other members of our research group also contributed; Jacqueline Pearce and Michiko Kihira. Our translation workWe have translated close to 70 haiku from a collection called Akebono, 1949, that was put together by Torao Takeda, after he moved to Quebec. Again, we only have pen names for these haiku. Sometimes the city where the poet resides is given. This collection is from Julie Tamiko Manning.Jacquie Pearce presented our research and translation work at the Seabeck Haiku conference (2022) and Jean-Pierre Antonio gave a presentation for the Public Lecture Series at Suzuka University, on November 19, 2022.We were able to interview two descendants of Canadian Nikkei haiku poets, Denbei Kobayashi and Kinori Oka. Denbei Kobayashi's granddaughter is Sharon Hope. She is one of the last living relatives who had contact with Denbei Kobayashi. He died in 1968. Sharon shared her collection of materials that belonged to Denbei Koabyashi and his wife, who was also a haiku writer. We were able to pice together a clearer picture of their lives in the Interior of British Columbia between the years 1922 - 1968.Masako Stillwell is the daughter of Kinori Oka, a well know haiku writer. Through interviews with Masako Stillwell, and by looking at material kept in the archives of Nikkei Place, the national Japanese cultural center in Burnaby B.C., we found examples of Kinori Oka's haiku in several collections form different internment camp haiku collections.