Draft:Sayumi Kamakura

Sayumi Kamakura
Sayumi Kamakura (Japanese: 鎌倉佐弓; born January 24, 1953) is the pseudonym of the Japanese poet Sayumi Inui (Japanese: 乾佐弓 ). She was born in Kochi Prefecture and currently lives in Fujimi, Japan.

Biography
Sayumi Kamakura attended Saitama Prefectural Urawa Daiichi Girls' High School and graduated from the Faculty of Education at Saitama University. She is a former public elementary school teacher in Saitama Prefecture. Her husband is the haiku poet Banya Natsuishi, and her older sister is the poet Chiwa Kamakura. Her notable haiku include “It’s dazzling: waiting for the cineraria to bloom” and “If you walk to the mailbox, it’s two minutes, if you run, it’s spring.” Described as lively and youthful, her haiku have been published in Japanese textbooks and included in middle and high school curricula. She has one daughter, the haiku poet Saki Inui.

Career
Sayumi Kamukura studied under Toshiro Nomura and was a member of the haiku circle Oki from 1975 to 1988. Together with Banya Natsuishi, she established and has edited for the quarterly international haiku magazine Ginyu since 1998. She serves as the treasurer of the World Haiku Association and selects haiku for the Saitama edition of the Asahi Daily and Saitama Daily. She is a judge in the haiku category for Saitama Daily’s Saitama Literary Award. Kamukura has recited her haiku at numerous overseas poetry festivals. Kamukura has led the monthly haiku circle Jun in Fujimi City since September 2012. Translated into English by James Shea, her haiku collection Applause for a Cloud will be published by Black Ocean in 2025.

Works
Published domestically:


 * Moisture ( Bokuyōsha, 1984)
 * Cross in the Water ( Bokuyōsha, 1987)
 * From the Skylight (Yū Shorin, 1992)
 * Selected Haiku of Sayumi Kamakura (Modern Haiku Library, Sunagoya Shobō, 1998)
 * A Singing Blue: 50 Haiku (Shichigatsudō, 2000)
 * If You Run, It’s Spring (Tōkyō Shiki Shuppan, 2001)
 * La La La the Sea (Chūsekisha, 2011)
 * Co-authored with Banya Natsuishi, Haiku Vertical and Horizontal (Chūsekisha, 2010)
 * Collected Haiku of Sayumi Kamakura (Chūsekisha, 2016)

Published overseas:
 * A Crown of Roses (2007)
 * Co-authored with Banya Natsuishi Modern Japanese Haiku (2012)
 * Seven Sunsets / Siete atardeceres (2013)
 * 500 Haiku of Sayumi Kamakura (2019)
 * Applause for a Cloud (forthcoming 2025)

Awards

 * 1988 Oki Sango Award
 * 2001 Contemporary Haiku Association Award
 * 2006 Azusakura International Poetry Award[6] [7]