Sayumi
Kamakura was born in Kochi Prefecture, Japan, in 1953. She began composing haiku
while a student at Saitama University and studied haiku under the guidance of
Toshiro Nomura and Sho Hayashi.
In 1983, she
won the Oki Sango Prize. The lyrical style of her haiku drew the attention of
Toru Haga and Tohta Kaneko. In 1998 she established the international haiku quarterly
Ginyu (Troubadour) with Ban'ya Natsuishi, and has been its Editor
since that time.
She is also
a member of the Modern Haiku Association. She has been expressing a woman's view,
captured with fine sensitivity, in her haiku. In 2001, she won the Modern Haiku
Association Prize.
Her published
haiku collections include: Jun (Moisture, 1984), Mizu no
Jujika (Water Cross, 1987), Tenmado Kara (From the
Skylight, 1992), Kamakura Sayumi Kushu (Haiku of Sayumi Kamakura,
1998), Hashireba Haru (Running, It's Spring, 2001). She co-authored
Gengai Haiku Panorama (1994), Gendai Haiku Handbook (1995),
Gendai Haiku Shusei Zen 1 Kan (Contemporary Haiku Anthology in One
Volume, 1996), etc. She also published, in both Japanese and English, A
Singing Blue: 50 Selected Haiku (2000).
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