Takatsuki City Ami Karin, a first-year high school student living in Takatsuki City, reports to the mayor that she won the top prize in the New Haiku Contest.

[Takatsuki City] Takatsuki City resident and first-year high school student, Amika Rin, reports to the mayor about winning the top prize in the New Haiku Contest. ​ Image
URL: Takatsuki City Press Release: October 29, 2025 Ami Karin, a first-year high school student living in Takatsuki City, reports to the mayor about winning the top prize in the New Haiku Contest. Selected from approximately 1.85 million haiku entries
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On Wednesday, October 29, 2025, Ami Karin, a first-year high school student living in Takatsuki City, visited City Hall to report to Mayor Takeshi Hamada that she had won the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award in the New Haiku Contest, topping the approximately 1.85 million entries. New haiku is a form of poetry that expresses feelings and thoughts in a free format unconstrained by seasonal words or fixed forms, with the aim of making haiku, a traditional Japanese culture, more accessible to a wider audience. Since 1989, Ito En, Ltd. has held a contest every year to showcase the expressiveness and sensibility of its new haiku. Ami’s interest in haiku began when she was in the second grade of elementary school and had to write a haiku as part of her homework. Since then, she has continued to create haiku every day and has entered various haiku contests. She has accumulated numerous accomplishments, including being selected for the 26th NHK National Haiku Competition and coming second in the 28th Haiku Koshien National High School Haiku
Championship. She has also continued to actively participate in activities, appearing on television programs. As he deepened his exploration of haiku, Ami became interested in the Ito En Oi Ocha New Haiku Award, which has the largest number of entries in Japan, and has been submitting every year since his first year of junior high school. The winning entries were announced in October 2025, and from among approximately 1.85 million poems, Ami’s haiku, “Frozen Stars and Work That Won’t Become a Mark in History,” was selected for the highest award, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award. This haiku evokes memories of people and work that have made great contributions throughout history but have not been passed down to future generations, and expresses those sad feelings by entrusting them to the frozen stars that shine in the icy winter night sky. Ami, who visited City Hall on the day, expressed his joy at receiving the award, saying, “I received this award because I have continued to write haiku with my friends. I would like to share this joy with everyone.” Mayor Hamada praised Ami for the award, saying, “Congratulations. I look forward to your continued success in the future.”