About

Welcome to Kokako!

Kōkako is a biannual free international online journal of haiku, tanka, haibun and haiga based in Aotearoa New Zealand with issues in April and September.

Our Team:

Editor-in-chief, webmaster, layout and design:  Graham Bates

Haiku editors:  Celia Hope, Elaine Riddell

Tanka editor:  Anne Curran

Haibun editor:  Graham Bates

Haiga editor:  Graham Bates, with Ron C. Moss as guest editor for KK41

The History of Kokako

Kokako grew out of the journal Spin, renamed in 2004 by the late Bernard Gadd, who co-edited the first issue with Patricia. At that time, the submissions mainly came from New Zealand poets. Today, the majority of contributors come from a variety of overseas countries.

Patricia has co-edited all issues, the first with Bernard Gadd (2004), then with Owen Bullock (2005-2009), Joanna Preston (2009-2012). Margaret Beverland has been co-editor since Kokako 17.

The name Kokako is that of a  species of wattle bird, that in the early 1900’s was found in considerable numbers across both islands. The North Island and South Island birds were differentiated by the colour of their wattles, blue in the North, orange in the South. Due to predation by introduced mammals, the numbers rapidly declined. The South Island kokako is now assumed to be extinct. The North Island bird survives in areas of bush where predators such as stoat, ship rats, feral cats and possums are trapped by our Department of Conversation staff with the assistance of many dedicated volunteers.

There are now approximately 1900 pairs of birds, and over the last 22 years their conservation status has risen from ‘threatened to at risk’ to ‘in recovery’. They have a life span of 25 years, pair for 10-15 years, rarely fly further than 100 meters, and live on a diet of leaves, fern fronds, flowers, fruit, with insects being fed to the young for extra protein. They are the largest of the surviving New Zealand songbirds, with a weight of around 230 grams.

We may never know why Bernard Gadd chose the kokako as the emblem of the journal. Perhaps it is the Japanese sound of the bird’s name, kō-ka-ko. Perhaps it is because kōkako have an extraordinary haunting song and are more likely to be heard than to be seen, a quality that can be likened to that of a haiku with resonance – what is not there is as important as what is there.