Finland boasts a long literary tradition, beginning with late-Bronze-Age oral poetry. The first mention of Japanese poetry forms in Finnish literature occurred in 1904, and the first anthology of Japanese poetry in translation appeared in Swedish—Finland’s second language—in 1925, followed in 1930 by an anthology in Finnish. About the same time, the influence of modernist and imagist poets began to be felt, and for decades to follow, prominent Finnish poets explored and experimented with Japanese short-form poetry in both classical formats and as free-form poetry. With the advent of the Internet and desktop publishing, the number of poets writing haiku burgeoned. A haiku club was formed in 2000, and a first haiku magazine appeared in 2013.

Niklas Salmi (born June 4, 1988, Helsinki, Finland). Poet, translator, copywriter. His first poetry collection, Siipimobiili, mainly haiku (2013), was shortlisted for the Runo-Kaarina Prize. Salmi has taught Japanese poetry at the University of Helsinki and is currently writing his doctoral dissertation on Bashō’s Oku no hosomichi. He is the author of the Haikupedia article “Haiku in Finland.” Resides in Helsinki.