These haiku were written when I revisited the Haruna Lake and shrine last month.half frozen lake
calmly the snow falls
over discarded boats
When the War was close to the end, the older children from our elementary school in
Tokyo were ordered to be evacuated to an old hamlet near the Haruna Shrine (near Ikaho
Spa) Gumma Prefecture. I was a 3rd grader and was the youngest to accompany the group.
Did I feel homesick? No, I thought I was on a summer camp or something and enjoyed my
humble life studying with my classmates and collecting raspberries, chestnuts and many
colorful leaves as food and playthings.
There were several tea houses and guest houses near the large torii gate of the Haruna
Shrine. We were quartered in some of these houses, and in the morning, cleaned the pass-
age going up to the main shrine with bamboo brooms. The precinct was deep in the tall
cedar trees of the mountains. We could soon make heaps of fallen dry cedar leaves, and
one day a priest came and handed to each of us children a sacred tablet of the guardian
gods in a beautiful silk brocade bag.
Haruna is the place of my childhood memories. I stayed there for only three months with
my brother, my school teachers and friends. I have only good memories there, and I really
enjoyed my visit after a very long time. I hope that there won't be any more wars or dis-
asters anywhere in the world.
to "a cat stepping out" by Mikiko Iida