Bulgarian poet Vladislav Hristov wins grand prize at prestigious Basho Memorial English Haiku Contest

The competition is organized by the Matsuo Basho Memorial Museum in the city of Iga, Japan

published on 10/16/25 1:30 PM

Vladislav Hristov

Photo: Boyana Petrova

Bulgarian poet and haiku author Vladislav Hristov has won the grand prize in the 79th Basho Memorial English Haiku Contest organized by the Matsuo Basho Memorial Museum in the city of Iga, Japan.

For the first time, a Bulgarian has received the prestigious award, which is dedicated to the father of the haiku genre, Matsuo Basho. The competition has been held for 79 years and attracts thousands of participants from all over the world.

The Matsuo Basho Memorial Museum in Iga, Japan

The prize won is comparable to the Nobel Prize for this genre, reports BNR-Radio Plovdiv. The judge of the competition is Hidetake Kawaraji, a professor from Kyoto University.

Vladislav Hristov who lives in Bulgaria's second-biggest city Plovdiv won the competition with his highly impactful lyrical work:

"End of the War -

Tombstones

Without Shadows."

"Three years ago I was nominated for the same award, but now I have already won the grand prize. This is truly a great honor. The competition is organized by the Matsuo Basho Memorial Museum, and the place is a center for poets from all over the world," said Vladislav Hristov in an interview for BNR-Radio Plovdiv.

In addition to Hristov, three more Bulgarian authors are among the 15 distinguished haiku masters in the competition.

"Bulgarian haiku is becoming more and more recognizable. In recent years, more and more Bulgarian names have appeared in world haiku publications and in world haiku competitions, which is a sign that the worldview of our Bulgarian authors is close to the Eastern one," the poet adds.

Over the years, Vladislav Hristov has won several other Japanese competitions, including that of the Basho-an Museum in Tokyo.

Vladislav Hristov becomes first Bulgarian poet to win haiku award of Tokyo's Basho Museum

All distinguished haiku verses can be found HERE.

The competition, organized by the Matsuo Basho Memorial Museum, is open to the public. Each participant can submit up to ten haiku. According to Vladislav Hristov, in recent years the genre has become increasingly social and reflects the topics that concern modern society, from the pandemic to wars around the world.

Edited by Ivo Ivanov
English: R. Petkova

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