OFFICIAL VISITS: 'Japanese Poet Honoured in Kew Gardens.' ' A Japanese poet is commemorated...

OFFICIAL VISITS: 'Japanese Poet Honoured in Kew Gardens.' ' A Japanese poet is commemorated at England's Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in a ceremony reinforcing cultural links between Britain and Japan. A 1½ tonne granite block, presented to Kew by the poetry group'Tamaokai', was unveiled by Mrs Haruko Takagi (right) in memory of her dather, Kyoshi Takahama (1874-1959) whose poems about Kew Gardens are popular in Japan. Mrs Takagi, who is president of Tamamokai, is pictured beside the memorial stone with her daughter-in-law, Mrs Izumi Takagi; Professor J P M Brenan (background), Director of Kew Gardens, and Minister Shozo Kadota, the Japanese Consul-General, who proposed a toast to Anglo-Japanese friendship. The stone is inscribed with some of the poet's words and stands close to the Japanese gateway presented to the Royal Botanic Gardens following the Anglo-Japanese Exhibition in 1910. It is a replica of a famous Japanese gateway, Chokushi-Mon or'The Gateway of the Imperial Messager.' Casks of sake were broached to celebrate the occasion attended by more than 100 members of the poetry group which was founded under Kyoshi's guidance in 1930. Kyoshi Takahama is considered to be one of the greatest writers in the 1000 year history of Haiku poetry - the shortest of traditional Japanese poetic forms. He also developed a new style of illustrative prose which significantly affected later developments in the Japanese novel.'