今住んでいるまち、大好きなまち、想像のまち…。たくさんの「まち」へ、皆さんの作品を通して、旅することができました。また、新型コロナウイルス感染拡大のために一変した「まち」、オリンピックを控えた「まち」といった、時代を捉えた作品も貴重だと感じました。そして、どの作品も、今の時代に、今の年齢で向き合って生まれたもの、だと言えます。そんなふうに俳句の意味と価値を実感しながら選句するひとときは、わたしにとって、とても幸せな時間でした。次回も楽しみにご応募をお待ちしています。

The town where I live, my town which I love, a town in my imagination ...I was able to travel to many towns through the children's works. Drawings that captured the times were also precious, such as towns that changed due to COVID-19 and cities hosting the Olympics. It can be said that every work was created by facing the present as children. It was a happy time for me to select the works, while experiencing the meaning and value of haiku. I look forward to the next contest.

応募作品は全般に、身近な町の美しい風景や楽しい場面、心に残る情景を具体的に取り上げて素直な言葉で表現したものが多く、町の様子や雰囲気がよく伝わりました。筆者がかつてよく知っていた町の風景も多く、懐かしく感じました。また、熱帯や亜熱帯の町で作られた俳句でも、季節感のある俳句が多く見られ、自然に向けて心が開かれていることを感じました。
自分の住む町の風物や自然に目を向けてこうした俳句を作ると、大人になってもその町のことを忘れることはありません。心に映った光景を詠んだ俳句作品は、作者にとっての宝物となるでしょう。

The haikus submitted for this contest mostly describe beautiful sceneries, pleasant places and impressive moments in the town where the composer lives. They are expressed in clear words and phrases, focusing on the specific aspect of each town. Those scenes are so well written in the haikus I could easily understand those places in the haikus. Most of those places are familiar to me as a traveler or a temporary resident. Also, it should be noticed that the composers were aware of the natural surroundings and the season of the year of their town, even though the season may not be so vivid in the tropical and subtropical regions. Making haiku entails paying attention to the things of your town as well as its surrounding nature. You will cherish the memory long after you grow up as one or your treasures.

今回のテーマは「まち」。日本や海外のさまざまな地で過ごしている子どもたちのたくさんの「わたしのまち」に出会うことが出来ました。
後ろには山、前には海、真ん中は高いビル群というまちで暮らす子、オートバイの列が通りを埋め尽くすエネルギッシュな喧騒のまちに住む子、亜熱帯気候のスコールに出会う子、夏の木々の緑や晩秋の枯葉の風景に心動かす子、大都会の夕焼けの美しさを描く子、冬の寒さのなか家族と心温まる夕べを過ごす子、カラフルなお祭りに心躍らす子、などなど、すべてを挙げることが出来ないのが残念ですが、世界のあちこちから多種多彩なレポートが集まりました。
色彩豊かな絵と率直で飾らないハイクのレポートからは、子どもたちの日常生活の経験、驚き、楽しさ、感動、が読み取れます。
日本、アジア、欧州、中米、とそれぞれ気候も文化も風土も異なる地で、コロナ禍での行動制限を受けながらも、自然体で「わたしのまち」の日々を過ごしている子どもたちの感性とエネルギーがしっかり伝わってきました。
この豊かな感受性を持つ子どもたちに明るい未来が開けますように、世界を覆っているコロナ禍の一日も早い収束を切に願っています。

The theme of the 17th contest was "Towns." We were able to visit the "towns" of many children who lived in various places across Japan and the world.
We are sorry that we could not include everyone: children who lived in towns with tall buildings situated between mountains and the sea; in energetic and bustling towns with streets filled with motorbikes; in towns that experience subtropical squalls; and children who were moved by verdant trees in summer and falling leaves in late autumn; who drew beautiful sunsets of their city; who spent a heartwarming time with their family during a cold winter night; who were excited over colorful festivals, and so on, but we were so pleased to receive a wide variety of reports from alll over the world.
The colorful drawings and candid reports revealed the experiences, surprises, fun and emotions in the children's daily lives. They expressed the children's sensitivity and energy as they spent each day in their "towns"in Japan, Asia, Europe, and Central America, all with different climates, cultures, and natural environments, being their usual selves despite COVID-19 restrictions.
We sincerely hope that the pandemic, which has spread around the world, will end soon so that a bright future will unfold for children, who are rich in sensitivity.

「まち」をテーマに行われたコンテストでは、海外の日本人学校から寄せられた異国情緒たっぷりの作品が多く見られた。どの作品からも自分たちが住んでいる町を誇らしげに見ている様子が伝わってきた。立派なタワーやビル、都市交通、市場の賑わいや色とりどりの屋根や石畳。中にはコロナ禍で閑散とした町の様子を詠んでいるものもあった。
世界中で都市化が進む中、町っ子として育つ大勢の子どもたちに、俳句を作ることで、空や風や雨、樹木や花や果実など人が作ったのではない「自ら在る物（自然）」が見せる季節感を感じ取って貰いたいと思った。人が作ったビルやトラム等と上手にそれらを組み合わせている作品を素晴らしいと感じた。今後も季節感のある作品を選ばせていただこうと思っている。

In the contest held under the theme of “town,” there were many exotic works submitted from Japanese schools overseas. All entries showed how proud they are of the cities where they reside. The poems featured magnificent towers and buildings, urban transportation, bustling markets, colorful roof tiles and cobblestones. Some of the poems are about deserted towns due to the Corona virus.
As urbanization progresses all over the world, I hope that many children growing up in towns will be able to touch seasonality by writing haiku. The sky, wind, rain, trees, flowers, fruits, and other wonders that are not the creation of man but exist on their own will provide such opportunities daily. I think it is wonderful to see works that skillfully combine these elements with manmade buildings and streetcars. I will continue to select works with a sense of seasonality based on this idea: haiku is all about catching a moment in an ever-changing world.