In 1934, Hino Sōjō (1901-1956) published Miyako Hotel in Haiku Kenkyu magazine. This sequence of ten haiku poems, supposedly drawn from Hino’s own personal experiences, depicts a couple on their wedding night. The subject matter sparked a polemic over the place of eroticism in modern haiku, and led many poets to question Hino’s status as a poet. The controversy over Miyako Hotel, and numerous other scandals thereafter, would eventually lead to Hino’s expulsion from the Hototogisu haiku magazine circle, which at the time was comprised mainly of the late Shiki Masaoka’s (1867- 1902) followers.

Hino’s ten-poem sequence present views that challenged what poets at the time deemed as modern haiku. For instance the inclusion of eroticism, modernist, and avant-garde tendencies, such as the use of foreign words. Another aspect is the use of fictional elements in haiku versus non-fiction. Allegedly, Hino’s main offense was that he claimed that Miyako Hotel was not based on his most recent honeymoon trip. This presentation offers a close reading of these poems and the critiques made by poets contemporary to Hino, that prompted the controversy around the Miyako Hotel sequence, in order to elucidate the views on haiku from both Hino’s detractors and supporters.