Haiku

Haiku is one of the most important forms of traditional Japanese poetry.

Haiku started out as a popular activity during the 9th to 12th centuries in Japan called “tanka.”

It was a progressive poem, where one person would write the first three lines with a 5-7-5 structure, and the next person would add to it a section with a 7-7 structure.

The chain would continue in this fashion. So if you wanted some old examples of haiku poems, you could read the first verse of a “tanka” from the 9th century.

The first verse was called a “hokku” and set the mood for the rest of the verses. Sometimes there were hundreds of verses and authors of the “hokku” were often admired for their skill. In the 19th century, the “hokku” took on a life of its own and began to be written and read as an individual poem. The word “haiku” is derived from “hokku.”

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MORAS

• A haiku poem consists of three lines, with the first and last line having 5 moras, and the middle line having 7.
• A mora is like a syllable but it is merely a sound unit. The two are not actually identical. Since the moras do not translate well into English, it has been adapted and syllables are used as moras.

Haiku is, today, a 17-syllable verse form consisting of three metrical units of 5, 7, and 5 syllables.

Basho Matsuo

• An old silent pond… A frog jumps into the pond,splash! Silence again.
• 1700

Yosa Buson

• Light of the moon Moves west, flowers’ shadows Creep eastward.
• late 1700s

Kobayaski Issa

• Everything I touch with tenderness, alas, pricks like a bramble.
• late 1700s, early 1800s

Natsume Soseki

• The crow has flown away: swaying in the evening sun, a leafless tree
• 1867-1916

EVALUATION

• Poem follows 5-7-5 syllable Haiku pattern
• Haiku format is very attractive and easy to read
• Poem includes vivid imagery
• The topic of the poem is clearly related to nature
• Illustrations are extremely creative and appropriate

HAIKU ART

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