HAIKU monuments in flower-filled Dogo park are favorite meeting spots for local poets. Often these Haikuists will sit in a circle and recite poems they have written, or for inspiration, slowly read famous HAIKU written in stone. A few steps from the park is a large museum dedicated to the works of Masoka Shiki. Nearby the museum there are traditional udong noodle shops where poets also sometimes gather to compose HAIKU such as this one which captures the feelings of a hot summer day:
Running to Dogo
Those buzzing cicadas
Arrive before me
This October 7th to 10th, 3,000 friends and language teacher colleagues are coming to Dogo and Matusuyama University for a Japan Association of Language Teachers conference. They will stay in the Dogo Hot Spring hotels or others close to Matsuyama University. The four day conference annually attracts over 2,500 language teachers - including poets and literature professors - that want to attend over 400 presentations, workshops and pleanary sessions. They will also enjoy an outdoor 20th anniversary party complete with Japanese Taiko drums and hopefully a clear moon. We're looking forward to the hotsprings, outdoor sky baths and swimming pools in the hotels. The hot springs will be a special treat for the conference attendees from the main islands of Japan: Okinawa, Chugoku, Kyushu, Shikoku, Hokkaido as well as from 14 countries in Asia and America, England and Australia. One friend upon return from a trip to our mutual hometown of Toronto Canada - after a long summer vacation - is going to detour to Matsuyama before heading up to his job in Sapporo. Matsuyama is a perfect choice: with a world-class convention center, 2 universities and Dogo hotels and social activities just minutes from an international airport.
During the conference, my dream is to compose a HAIKU while relaxing in an outdoor hotspring - perhaps a Dogo skybath. Perhaps HAIKU enthusiasts from the world over can come to Dogo and Matsuyama University this October. Haikuists would find a weekend in Dogo composing HAIKU, strolling by the monuments in their Dogo hotel kimonos and soaking in rejuvenating waters a perfect vacation. The view from the skybaths is so sensational, this HAIKU written 100 years ago by Masaoka Shiki will come alive for you:
Looking down I see
cool in the moonlight
4,000 houses
mioroseba tsuki ni suzushi ya yonsenken
Just last week a colleague coming in from the island of Kyushu to make a presentation on computers and attend a HAIKU salon meeting asked to see Dogo Hot Spring. We visited the Water of the Gods baths, drank tea and sat down in the famous Botchan room. After his long overnight trip, my friend was so rejuvenated that after his presentation he was still able to pass the evening away in a nearby Dogo seafood restaurant and one of the many karaoke and one shot bars that line the narrow streets.
Thank you Dogo Hot Spring and Matsuyama University,
David McMurray
Matsuyama University Teacher of English and HAIKU
National President of the Japan Association of Language Teachers
5-2 Dogo Ichiman, Matsuyama, Ehime 790 Japan fax: (0899)31-9561