Many thanks to Bristol Museums for permission to reproduce the Japanese print images on these webpages.

Haiku at Bristol Museum

Display screen inside old ornate stone room which says 'Haiku: The one breath poetry' with image of traditional painting of Japanese woman

Black man talking on microphone holding a large board and standing in front of display screen with part of a traditional haiku on by an Unknown author

We were delighted to be asked by Bristol Museum & Art Gallery to help with a Haiku event around their exhibition Masters of Japanese Prints: Nature and seasons.

People standing in front of and looking at Japanese prints in a gallery

The event, called Haiku: the one breath poetry took place on Thursday 5th September 2019. It was really well attended. Under the direction of emcee Bertel Martin, we split into two groups. Alan gave a talk on haiku downstairs, whilst upstairs in the exhibition, Karen, and Senior Curator Kate Newnham, gave short talks to the other group, who started to take notes prompted by the Japanese Prints. The groups then swapped over, before a workshopping session all together. There was much sucking of pen ends, gazing and thinking. It was incredible to see everyone so immersed into their thoughts of haiku! We then had short performances from those plucky enough to read their verses.

Person with long hair and red glasses in wheelchair looking at framed Japanese prints on gallery wall

Person writing on a notepad whilst standing in front of framed Japanese prints with information underneath

Shaved head person with glasses looking at Japanese prints on gallery wall

White man with beard sitting talking to a person standing next to him

Prior to the event, we had invited poets worldwide to also offer poems linked to the prints. We had a printed file of these in circulation on the evening - some 600 poems! The breadth of nationalities taking part remotely like this was really inspiring. After the event, the online "poem portal" stayed open for several more days. We're not sure of the absolute total yet, but we appear to have received over 800 poems! In due course, we look forward to announcing how some of them will further be displayed, possibly on the Museum's website.

Man with white/grey hair bending over to look at work being shown to him by a person sitting down with papers in front of them.

Two people smiling at camera from behind a table with sheets of paper on

In the meantime, thanks are due to the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery's technical team, who so carefully set up the equipment in such a large space; to the museum's catering staff who supplied a relaxed and friendly bar for the night; and to events organiser Karen Garvey and her team; and of course to senior curator Kate Newnham, whose enthusiasm and support for Japanese culture in the UK is beyond tremendous.

Finally, thanks to all those who came along. And to all the international poets who added to the occasion enormously by being present poetically.

Row of people writing on paper on clipboards

Small tables with people sitting around them talking with papers and clipboards in front of them

We look forward to announcing further news about the hundreds of poems collected in connection with this event in due course!

The Online Exhibition Continues...

Traditional Japanese print of people with parasols in a line next to trees

The prints at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery are a wonderful resource, and one of the leading regional collections in the UK. Since the end of the 2018-2019 exhibition, they are not currently on public display, but the entire three-part exhibition Masters of Japanese Prints has been made available online. Conservation work has taken place on these pieces, in tandem with preparations for the recent exhibitions, so it really is a very special online resource. Our international poets used this resource when writing poems to submit in connection with this event through our "poem portal".

All three stages of the Masters of Japanese Prints exhibition are available to view here, on the Museum's own website, complete with cultural information for each image.

Traditional Japanese print with bridge in foreground and trees behind, hill to left