There was a fantastic article in The L.A. Times a few weeks back about the role of poetry in the history of a particular samurai line. The article's dramatic opening describes the saving of the Hosokawa samurai clan from certain defeat in battle. The samurai leader Yusai Hosokawa was deemed such a valuable poet that the emperor stopped the battle and saved a highly artistic samurai clan in the process.
Here is the article:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-samurai19-2009jul19,0,3632270.story
Below is my craft project for the museum. It will be posted on the Asian Art Museum's website (scroll towards the bottom) in a few weeks.
This above haiku project is fun to do with children for Poetry Month in May.
Here is a great children haiku book for reference:
Haiku Picturebook for Children
I know there are other good children haiku books out there, but I really like this one because the illustrations are great and it has both the Japanese and the English translations.
