Faris Alrushud Riyadh

A 16-year-old Saudi Arabian boy Ibrahim Fowzan Alkuraya published a book of traditional Japanese poetry in the form of Haiku, regarding Japanese culture and anime as his leading factors to his interest in the poetry.

Speaking to Arab News Japan, Alkuraya said his fascination with the Japanese culture stemmed from his childhood days when he watched anime on the popular pan–Arab TV channel, SpaceToon.

Alkuraya explained that he came across the Japanese short-form poetry, such as Haiku, Tanka, Sedoka and Senryu, which were “easy to learn, hard to master.”

The specific styles of Japanese poems “encapsulate such depth of emotions in so few words,” he added.

His Haiku book took two to three months to publish as he wrote writing poems for various publications and expanded the scope of the book by learning more about Tanka and Sedoka.

Alkuraya told Arab News Japan he compiled a list of poems for Japarabian verses and went through many agencies to publish his book, settling on Google Books as the initial platform for publication.

Alkuraya expressed his surprise at the Ambassador to Japan in Saudi Arabia, Tsukasa Uemura’s love for his poems. Uemura described his work as full of “very fine sensitivity and rich emotions.” A Japanese professor residing in Saudi Arabia offered to forward Alkuraya’s manuscript to the ambassador.

The ambassador decided to write a foreword to the book. Alkuraya said he hopes to study at Harvard university, planning to major in neuroscience as he believes that science is an inherently creative endeavor and he wishes to bring back the arts to the sciences.

The link to his book can be found here.