Ban’ya Natsuishi, master of contemporary haiku and trailblazer at home on the overflowing haiku mountain of life, offers the world - Hybrid Paradise, a collection of his recent, liberating work. In 2009, I wrote a review in a book for him, The Poetical Achievements of Ban’ya Natsuishi, understanding the honour of casting my views on such outstanding haiku. Again, I am thrilled to be involved in the process of expounding works of this incredible author, who has been a great influence in forging ahead with my own style of muki-haiku (seasonless poem technique)! Hybrid Paradise contains a vast array of haiku, from life’s illusions during the golden experiences of life’s challenges—the sometimes exhilarating yet blurring of memories in our final days, to infinity, and the consciousness of elements. Throughout these pages, Ban’ya provides flashes of brilliance that bring us to the present moment by considering fresh leaves a reminder of a lost book, bridging time by guiding the reader to the past, future potential, and current renewed state of form… the recycling of God’s materials. One can only admire the acuity and playfulness of Ban’ya’s mind for example in The Patriarch on the Seashore, Chapter 2, when he denotes the natural transition of life as ‘an elopement of grandparents’, giving an empowering edge to the often unexpected cross-over into the unknown, in the cycle of life and death. Elopements are usually regarded in the realm of free-will and decision-making, secret in nature, normally romantic in appeal. Ban’ya offers an invitation to remind all of us that at unknown and destined times we eventually ‘escape’ from life, abscond from the scorching sun we must endure in life challenges, and even the graveyard itself will return to the earth from which all matter originates.

Sayumi Kamakura was born in Kochi Prefecture, Japan, 1953. She began composing haiku while a student at Saitama University and studied haiku under the guidance of Toshiro Nomura and Sho Hayashi. In 1988, she won the Oki Sango Prize. The lyrical style of her haiku attracted attention, and in 1998 she established the haiku magazine "Ginyu" with Ban'ya Natsuishi, and has been its Editor since that time. She has attended international haiku or poetry festivals held in Japan, Slovenia, Portugal and Bulgaria. 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(Run to Spring, 2001), She co-authored Gendai 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). Her haiku has been translated into English, Greek, Russian, Bulgarian, Portuguese and Korean. She is a member and Treasurer of the World Haiku Association.