James W. Hackett (born James William Hackett, August 6, 1929, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.; died November 8, 2015, Haiku, Hawaii, U.S.A.), American Zen scholar and haiku poet. Discovered haiku and Zen in 1954. Became the preeminent American haiku poet in 1964 after R. H. Blyth appended some of Hackett’s work to his History of Haiku, Hackett won the Japan Air Lines haiku contest, and his Haiku Poetry Vols. 1–4 was published in Japan. Subsequently published a series of monograph collections and an influential ars poetica. Selector for the British Haiku Society’s James W Hackett International Haiku Award. Last resided in the town of Haiku, Maui, Hawaii.

Japan Air Lines sponsored a haiku contest for poets in the United States in 1964. This was the first and by far the largest competition outside Japan; some 41,000 entries were received in 17 contests arranged by local radio stations. Prominent Zen specialist Alan Watts was the contest judge. Watts selected one National Winner and eighty-three semifinalists, whose winning haiku were published by JAL in a booklet, Haiku ’64. The 1964 JAL contest is commonly believed to have been the catalytic event in American haiku.