Haiku Society

What is Haiku?

Haiku is a form of traditional Japanese poetry that involves a 17-syllable verse form comprised of three metric units of 5,7, and 5 morae, which correspond to English syllables. In traditional Japanese methodology, the haiku is not only a poetic form of expression but also a manner of understanding the world. The brevity of haiku sometimes mistaken for simplicity, is meant to capture the world and existence in a single moment. It can be considered the form in which an epiphany is expressed. The deep sense of the transient nature of all existence present in haiku is rooted in its close associations with the religion of Buddhism and the Japanese concept of Yugen, a term for beauty that implies mystery, profundity, and a trace of sadness referred to as sabi.

Haiku derives from tanka, a form of poetry practiced in the Japanese court during the 9th through 12th centuries. Tanka was comprised of a five line structure with 5-7-5-7-7 morae and considered religious or courtly themes. It became common practice for different authors to compose one long renga by each contributing linked tanka passages. This could sometimes add up to hundreds of connected tanka. Haiku comes from the starting verse of the tanka called the hokku. Hokku was an extremely important part of the tanka and hokku authors often earned the reverence of their fellow poets. As the 19th century approached, the work of Masaoka Shiki led to the disengagement and individualization of the hokku as a separate work of poetry from the tanka, giving rise to our term, haiku. Hokku also contained kigo, words referring to nature that place the renga in an explicit season or place. Haiku also use kigo in order to evoke specific associations to images, often natural phenomenon identifiable with a certain season. The kigo are used to identify the questions of when and where pertaining to the haiku. Although haiku often includes images of nature, it strives to convey the significance of the poet�s experience, his thoughts and feelings, in accordance with the object or event. Haiku that do not refer to nature are called senryu. Haiku have no titles and are always written in the present tense to communicate an immediacy of thought. Although the simplicity of haiku skews metaphors and other literary tools western tradition is accustomed to employing, the juxtaposition of two or more related or contrasting images is a method used to broaden the rigidity of an image and allow the reader�s mind to wonder unconventionally. This also creates a light feeling to haiku that is airy and sometimes humorous. This airiness A kireji, or cutting word, is used to separate the juxtaposition images in a haiku in traditional Japanese. In English, caesura is used to achieve a similar effect.

Haiku gained momentum and developed rapidly during Japan�s Edo-period, from 1600-1868, thanks to the work of Bashok, Buson and Issa, the great masters of hokku. The three men spent their lives in true Japanese poet-wanderer fashion, taking in the country through direct experience. Their work, especially that of Bashok�s, considered the father of haiku, has greatly influenced how haiku is written today.

Contemporary audiences have elevated the haiku to one of the most popular forms of poetry throughout the world. Many haiku societies have emerged across the globe, fascinated by the simple mystery of the form. Some poets stick strictly to the traditional Japanese form while others have tailored the haiku to fit their language and their lives, sometimes using artificial images rather than natural ones. Although the phonetics of Japanese and English differ, there are English poets who write in strict haiku form. While a 2-2-2- or 2-3-2 line form and 11 syllable pattern are widely accepted as equivalents of the traditional Japanese form, the �strict form� of English haiku, first used in the 1950�s, is the three line 5-7-5 form. As the Western world began to write more and more haiku, it realized the inherent differences in the expression of the two languages. This led to the development of �free form� haiku which alters from the established syllable and line count

The natural feel of the rhythm and melody of the haiku are extremely important. Haiku is about the stripping away of excess in order to attain the goal of truth; simple and raw. The tiny quality of the haiku form, in comparison to longer and more complicated forms, makes every word, every position of stresses and every silence important to the overall meaning. However, the haiku must, above all, flow musically and naturally from the poet, a brief interlude of calm in the chaos of the world.