HAIKUS FOR HEALING

This is the forty-second bilingual haiku collection originally written by this author and introduces haikus about sufferings and healings of Asians during World War II. The history of East Asia in the first half of the 20th century was marked by tragedies caused by the Japanese acts of aggression. This began with the first Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, which was followed by the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910, and the creation of Manchukuo, Japan's puppet state in Manchuria, in 1932. Subsequently, Japan waged total war with China in 1937-the second Sino-Japanese War-and then the Pacific War of 1941-1945 with the United States (the Allied Powers).
The consequences of the Japanese acts of aggression during the Asia-Pacific War were beyond description. Countless people in East Asia and the Pacific lost their lives and suffered dearly. Specifically, Chinese civilians went through a series of brutality by the Japanese Army as exemplified by the Massacre of Nanjing. In turn, Korean men were conscripted in the Japanese Army or were taken to Japan as forced laborers, while Korean women were used as "comfort women" in the warfront.
The sufferings and wounds of the victims of World War II still deeply resonate in the hearts of the survivors and their kin today. These experiences should not be buried in the vault of history. Reconciliation and healing from these wounds begin with acknowledgement of the truth. Upon recognition of the true facts, one can learn lessons so as not to repeat the same tragedies and move forward.
The essence of haiku is to elevate one's feelings to a more objective and larger perspective. This mental engagement can facilitate embracing empathy for victims of tragedies. This in turn can serve as a healing process for the victims, as well as for one's self.
With this in mind, this haiku collection examines diasporas, wars, and other sufferings that the Asians have gone through in contemporary history and expresses them in a form of concise poetry, with annotations. Specifically, this haiku anthology presents 86 haikus with season words of the four seasons, plus the 'new year,' which counts as a sub-season in the Japanese calendar.