Sawaki, Kin'ichi

▪ 2002

      Japanese haiku poet (b. Oct. 6, 1919, Toyama, Japan—d. Nov. 5, 2001, Tokyo, Japan), was one of the preeminent Japanese haijin during the second half of the 20th century; he served as president of the Haiku Poets Association from 1987 to 1993. Sawaki founded Kaze (“Wind”), an influential journal for new-style haiku, in 1946. His last haiku collection was Ayako no te (2000; “Ayako's Hand”). Hakucho (1995; “White Swan”) won the 1996 Iida Dakotsu Prize, and his book of essays, Showa haiku no seishun (1996; “Springtime of Showa Era Haiku”), received the Haiku Poets Association Criticism Prize in the same year.

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