Another beautiful haiku book today, and this one is unusual because it is a book of haiku and origami, and also art, from the always-wonderful British Museum: Origami and Haiku: Inspired by Japanese Artwork.

book cover of Origami and Haiku showing 4 works of Japanese art in a collage

I am sad to say that the book is apparently out of print (and it shows "out of stock" at the British Museum Store online), but there are many affordable used copies at bookfinder.com. I bought a used copy and it arrived in great shape: all the origami paper was still there too; the book consists of a 32-page book of haiku, origami instructions, and art, and 50 pages of really nice large (9-inch square) origami paper.

The book consists of 2-page spreads with the haiku, origami instructions, and the art; the haiku are by classic Japanese poets like Issa here, Basho, et al.

Japanese painting of grasshopper in flowers, with origami grasshopper and grasshopper haiku

The index in the back of the book provides information about the art itself; there is a nice variety of Japanese art here across these 13 items:

(I tried the QR code there for videos of the actual origami paper-folding but I got an error message; the book is not that old, though – published in 2018 – so I'll try again with a different browser to see if I have better luck! Some of the origami is a bit complex for an amateur like me, and videos really are helpful sometimes.)

No author credit is given, but the publisher is Nosy Crow, which I recognize as a children's book publisher I've seen before, and which I like. Here's their website: Nosy Crow. No more haiku books there, but I found a lovely origami book for children: Blossom Origami.

I used to be really into origami, and doing all this work on haiku has prompted me to take it up again (I got out my big box of origami paper that I had not touched in years and made origami hearts and flowers the other day). So of course I like this idea of pairing haiku and origami together, and adding in the art makes perfect sense too because of the deep connections between haiku and visual arts in Japan.

I am just so happy with the beautiful books I am discovering and all the things I am learning while on this haiku adventure. The haiku workshop for MYFest started out just as an experiment (that's something I love about MYFest; they are so open to experimentation and trying new things)... and now it looks like haiku is turning into a pivotal moment in my creative life! There was a meeting of the Haiku Society of America: Southwest group on Zoom last night (so much fun!), and that was definitely the sense I got from some of the other people there: haiku can find YOU, and you just might be hooked.