Gouge

This article is about the Japanese poetic form. For haiku poetry written in
English, see Haiku in English. For other uses, see Haiku (disambiguation.
Haiku ( haikai !erse" listen (help#info (no separate plural form is a
!ery short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three $ualities%
# The essence of haiku is &cutting& (kiru.'() This is often represented by
the *u+taposition of two images or ideas and a kire*i (&cutting word& between
them,',) a kind of !erbal punctuation mark which signals the moment of
separation and colors the manner in which the *u+taposed elements are
related.
# Traditional haiku consist of (- on (also known as morae, in three
phrases of ., - and . on respecti!ely.'/)
# 0 kigo (seasonal reference, usually drawn from a sai*iki, an e+tensi!e
but de1ned list of such words.
2odern Japanese haiku ( gendai3haiku" are increasingly unlikely to
follow the tradition of (- on or to take nature as their sub*ect, but the use of
*u+taposition continues to be honored in both traditional and modern haiku.
'4) There is a common, although relati!ely recent, perception that the images
*u+taposed must be directly obser!ed e!eryday ob*ects or occurrences.'.)
5n Japanese, haiku are traditionally printed in a single !ertical line while haiku
in English often appear in three lines to parallel the three phrases of Japanese
haiku.'6)
7re!iously called hokku, haiku was gi!en its current name by the Japanese
writer 2asaoka 8hiki at the end of the (9th century.
:ontents
'hide)
# ( 8yllables or on in haiku
# , ;igo
# / ;ire*i
# 4 E+amples
# . <rigin and de!elopment
o ..( From renga to renku to haiku
o .., =ash>
o ../ =uson
o ..4 5ssa
o ... 8hiki
o ..6 Haibun
o ..- Haiga
o ..? ;uhi
# 6 Haiku mo!ement in the @est
o 6.( =lyth
o 6., Aasuda
o 6./ Henderson
o 6.4 :ontemporary English3language haiku
# - @orldwide
# ? Famous writers
o ?.( 7re38hiki period
o ?., 8hiki and later
# 9 8ee also
# (B Ceferences
# (( =ibliography
# (, E+ternal links
8yllables or on in haiku'edit)
2ain article% <n (Japanese prosody
5n comparison with English !erse typically characteriDed by syllabic meter,
Japanese !erse counts sound units known as &on& or morae. Traditional haiku
consist of (- on, in three phrases of 1!e, se!en and 1!e on respecti!ely.
0mong contemporary poems teikei ( 1+ed form haiku continue to use the
.3-3. pattern while *iyuritsu ( free form haiku do not.'citation
needed)<ne of the e+amples below illustrates that traditional haiku masters
were not always constrained by the .3-3. pattern.
0lthough the word &on& is sometimes translated as &syllable,& one on is
counted for a short syllable, two for an elongated !owel, diphthong, or
doubled consonant, and one for an &n& at the end of a syllable. Thus, the
word &haibun,& though counted as two syllables in English, is counted as four
on in Japanese (ha3i3bu3nE and the word &on& itself, which English3speakers
would !iew as a single syllable, comprises two on% the short !owel o and the
moraic nasal nF . This is illustrated by the 5ssa haiku below, which contains (-
on but only (. syllables. :on!ersely, some sounds, such as &kyo& ( can
be percei!ed as two syllables in English but are a single on in Japanese.
The word on*i (E &sound symbol& is sometimes used in referring to
Japanese sound units in English'-) although this word is no longer current in
Japanese.'citation needed) 5n Japanese, eachon corresponds to a kana
character (or sometimes digraph and hence *i (or &character& is also
sometimes used as the count unit.'citation needed)
5n (9-/, the Haiku 8ociety of 0merica noted that the norm for writers of haiku
in English was to use (- syllables, but they also noted a trend toward shorter
haiku.'?)
8ome translators of Japanese poetry ha!e noted that about (, syllables in
English appro+imate the duration of (- Japanese on.'9)
;igo'edit)
2ain article% ;igo
0 haiku traditionally contains a kigo, a de1ned word or phrase that
symboliDes or implies the season of the poem, which is drawn from a sai*iki,
an e+tensi!e but de1ned list of such words.
;igo are often in the form of metonyms'citation needed) and can be diGcult
for those who lack Japanese cultural references to spot.'citation needed) The
=ash> e+amples below include &kawaDu&, &frog& implying spring, and
&shigure&, a rain shower in late autumn or early winter. ;igo are not always
included in non3Japanese haiku or by modern writers of Japanese &free3form&
haiku.'citation needed)
;ire*i'edit)
2ain article% ;ire*i
5n Japanese haiku a kire*i, or cutting word, typically appears at the end of one
of the !erseHs three phrases. 0 kire*i 1lls a role somewhat analogous to a
caesura in classical western poetry or to a !olta in sonnets. Iepending on
which cutting word is chosen, and its position within the !erse, it may brieJy
cut the stream of thought, suggesting a parallel between the preceding and
following phrases, or it may pro!ide a digni1ed ending, concluding the !erse
with a heightened sense of closure.'(B)
The fundamental aesthetic $uality of both hokku and haiku is that it is
internally suGcient, independent of conte+t, and will bear consideration as a
complete work.'citation needed) The kire*i lends the !erse structural support,
'(() allowing it to stand as an independent poem.'(,)'(/) The use of kire*i
distinguishes haiku and hokku from second and subse$uent !erses of renku
which, although they may employ semantic and syntactic dis*uncture, e!en
to the point of occasionally end3stopping a phrase with a sh>*oshi (
sentence ending particle, do not generally employ kire*i.'citation needed)
5n English, since kire*i ha!e no direct e$ui!alent, poets sometimes use
punctuation such as a dash or ellipsis, or an implied break to create a
*u+taposition intended to prompt the reader to reJect on the relationship
between the two parts.
The kire*i in the =ash> e+amples &old pond& and &the wind of 2t Fu*i& are both
&ya& (. Keither the remaining =ash> e+ample nor the 5ssa e+ample contain
a kire*i although they do both balance a fragment in the 1rst 1!e on against a
phrase in the remaining (, on (it may not be apparent from the English
translation of the 5ssa that the 1rst 1!e on mean &EdoHs rain&.
E+amples'edit)
The best3known Japanese haiku'(4) is =ash>Hs &old pond&%

!"#$%"&# (transliterated into (- hiragana

furuike ya kawaDu tobikomu miDu no oto (transliterated into roma*i
This separates into on as%
fu3ru3i3ke ya (.
ka3wa3Du to3bi3ko3mu (-
mi3Du no o3to (.
Translated%'(.)
old pond . . .
a frog leaps in
waterLs sound
0n alternate translation, which preser!es the syllable counts in English at the
cost of taking greater liberty with the sense%'(6)
at the age old pond
a frog leaps into water
a deep resonance
0nother haiku by =ash>%
'()*+,-./0(12
34()*5,$%/0(167
hatsu shigure saru mo komino wo hoshige nari'(-)
This separates into on as%
ha3tsu shi3gu3re (.
sa3ru mo ko3mi3no wo (-
ho3shi3ge na3ri (.
Translated%
the 1rst cold shower
e!en the monkey seems to want
a little coat of straw
This haiku by =ash> illustrates that he was not always constrained to a .3-3.
on pattern. 5t contains (? on in the pattern 63-3. (&>& or &&8& is treated as
two on.
9:;<=>?@ABC
DE&8F=>?GH%1
fu*i no kaDe ya >gi ni nosete Edo miyage'(?)
This separates into &on& as%
fu3*i no ka3De ya (6
o3o3gi ni no3se3te (-
e3do mi3ya3ge (.
Translated%
the wind of 2t. Fu*i
5H!e brought on my fanM
a gift from Edo
This haiku by 5ssa'(9) illustrates that (- Japanese on do not always e$uate to
(- English syllables (&nan& counts as two on and &nonda& as three.
@AIJKLMNOP
GHQR6MSTMN0##FU
edo no ame nan goku nonda hototogisu
This separates into &on& as,
e3do no a3me (.
na3n go3ku no3n3da (-
ho3to3to3gi3su (.
Translated%
how many gallons
of EdoHs rain did you drink"
cuckoo
<rigin and de!elopment'edit)
From renga to renku to haiku'edit)
2ain articles% Cenga and Cenku
Hokku is the opening stanDa of an orthodo+ collaborati!e linked poem, or
renga, and of its later deri!ati!e, renku (or haikai no renga. =y the time of
2atsuo =ash> ((644N(694, the hokku had begun to appear as an
independent poem, and was also incorporated in haibun (a combination of
prose and hokku, and haiga (a combination of painting with hokku. 5n the
late (9th century, 2asaoka 8hiki ((?6-N(9B, renamed the standalone hokku
to haiku.',B) The latter term is now generally applied retrospecti!ely to all
hokku appearing independently of renku or renga, irrespecti!e of when they
were written, and the use of the term hokku to describe a stand3alone poem
is considered obsolete.',()
=ash>'edit)
2ain articles% 2atsuo =ash> and Hokku
5n the (-th century, two masters arose who ele!ated haikai and ga!e it a new
popularity. They were 2atsuo =ash> ((644N(694 and Oeshima <nitsura (*a
((66(N(-/?. Hokku is the 1rst !erse of the collaborati!e haikai or renku, but
its position as the opening !erse made it the most important, setting the tone
for the whole composition. E!en though hokku had sometimes appeared
indi!idually, they were always understood in the conte+t of renku.',,) The
=ash> school promoted standalone hokku by including many in their
anthologies, thus gi!ing birth to what is now called &haiku&. =ash> also used
his hokku as tor$ue points within his short prose sketches and longer tra!el
diaries. This sub3genre of haikai is known as haibun. His best3known work,<ku
no Hosomichi, or Karrow Coads to the 5nterior, is counted as one of the
classics of Japanese literature',/) and has been translated into English
e+tensi!ely.
=ash> was dei1ed by both the imperial go!ernment and 8hinto religious
head$uarters one hundred years after his death because he raised the haikai
genre from a playful game of wit to sublime poetry. He continues to be
re!ered as a saint of poetry in Japan, and is the one name from classical
Japanese literature that is familiar throughout the world.',4)
=uson'edit)
2ain article% Aosa =uson

Gra!e of Aosa =uson
The ne+t famous style of haikai to arise was that of Aosa =uson ((-(6N(-?/
and others such as ;it>, called the Tenmei style after the Tenmei Era ((-?(N
(-?9 in which it was created.
=uson is recogniDed as one of the greatest masters of haiga (an art form
where painting is combined with haiku or haikai prose. His aPection for
painting can be seen in the painterly style of his haiku.',.)
5ssa'edit)
2ain article% ;obayashi 5ssa
Ko new popular style followed =uson. Howe!er, a !ery indi!idualistic, and at
the same time humanistic, approach to writing haiku was demonstrated by
the poet;obayashi 5ssa ((-6/N(?,-, whose miserable childhood, po!erty,
sad life, and de!otion to the 7ure Qand sect of =uddhism are e!ident in his
poetry. 5ssa made the genre immediately accessible to wider audiences.
8hiki'edit)
2ain article% 2asaoka 8hiki
2asaoka 8hiki ((?6-N(9B, was a reformer and moderniDer. 0 proli1c writer,
e!en though chronically ill during a signi1cant part of his life, 8hiki disliked
the HstereotypeH haikai writers of the (9th century who were known by the
deprecatory term tsukinami, meaning HmonthlyH, after the monthly or twice3
monthly haikai gatherings of the end of the (?th century (in regard to this
period of haikai, it came to mean HtriteH and HhackneyedH. 8hiki also criticiDed
=ash>.'citation needed) Qike the Japanese intellectual world in general at that
time, 8hiki was strongly inJuenced by @estern culture. He fa!ored the
painterly style of =uson and particularly the European concept of plein3air
painting, which he adapted to create a style of haiku as a kind of nature
sketch in words, an approach called shasei (VW, literally Hsketching from
lifeH. He populariDed his !iews by !erse columns and essays in newspapers.
Hokku up to the time of 8hiki, e!en when appearing independently, were
written in the conte+t of renku.',,) 8hiki formally separated his new style of
!erse from the conte+t of collaborati!e poetry. =eing agnostic,',6) he also
separated it from the inJuence of =uddhism. Further, he discarded the term
&hokku& and proposed the term haiku as an abbre!iation of the phrase &haikai
no ku& meaning a !erse of haikai,',-) although the term predates 8hiki by
some two centuries, when it was used to mean any !erse of haikai.'citation
needed) 8ince then, &haiku& has been the term usually applied in both
Japanese and English to all independent haiku, irrespecti!e of their date of
composition. 8hikiHs re!isionism dealt a se!ere blow to renku and sur!i!ing
haikai schools. The term &hokku& is now used chieJy in its original sense of
the opening !erse of a renku, and rarely to distinguish haiku written before
8hikiHs time.'citation needed)
Haibun'edit)
2ain article% Haibun
Haibun is a combination of prose and haiku, often autobiographical or written
in the form of a tra!el *ournal.
Haiga'edit)
2ain article% Haiga
Haiga is a style of Japanese painting based on the aesthetics of haikai, and
usually including a haiku. Today, haiga artists combine haiku with paintings,
photographs and other art.
;uhi'edit)
The car!ing of famous haiku on natural stone to make poem monuments
known as kuhi (X has been a popular practice for many centuries. The city
of 2atsuyama has more than two hundred kuhi.
Haiku mo!ement in the @est'edit)
The earliest westerner known to ha!e written haiku was the Iutchman
Hendrik IoeP ((-64N(?/-, who was the Iutch commissioner in the Ie*ima
trading post in Kagasaki, during the 1rst years of the (9th century.',?) <ne of
his haiku%',9)
inaDuma no
kaina wo karan
kusamakura lend me your arms,
fast as thunderbolts,
for a pillow on my *ourney.
0lthough there were further attempts outside Japan to imitate the &hokku& in
the early ,Bth century, there was little understanding of its principles.
'citation needed) Early @estern scholars such as=asil Hall :hamberlain
((?.BN(9/. and @illiam George 0ston were mostly dismissi!e of hokkuHs
poetic !alue. <ne of the 1rst ad!ocates of English3language hokku was the
Japanese poetAone Koguchi. 5n &0 7roposal to 0merican 7oets,& published in
the Ceader magaDine in February (9B4, Koguchi ga!e a brief outline of the
hokku and some of his own English ePorts, ending with the e+hortation,
&7ray, you try Japanese Hokku, my 0merican poetsM& 0t about the same time
the poet 8adakichi Hartmann was publishing original English3language hokku,
as well as other Japanese forms in both English and French.
5n France, haiku was introduced by 7aul3Qouis :ouchoud around (9B6.
:ouchoudHs articles were read by early 5magist theoretician F. 8. Flint, who
passed on :ouchoudHs (somewhat idiosyncratic ideas to other members of
the proto35magist 7oetsH :lub such as EDra 7ound. 0my Qowell made a trip to
Qondon to meet 7ound and 1nd out about haiku. 8he returned to the Onited
8tates where she worked to interest others in this &new& form. Haiku
subse$uently had a considerable inJuence on 5magists in the (9(Bs, notably
7oundHs &5n a 8tation of the 2etro& of (9(/, but, notwithstanding se!eral
ePorts by Aone Koguchi to e+plain &the hokku spirit,& there was as yet little
understanding of the form and its history.'citation needed)
=lyth'edit)
2ain article% Ceginald Horace =lyth
C.H. =lyth was an Englishman who li!ed in Japan. He produced a series of
works on Ren, haiku, senryS, and on other forms of Japanese and 0sian
literature. 5n (949, with the publication in Japan of the 1rst !olume of Haiku,
the four3!olume work by =lyth, haiku were introduced to the post3war English3
speaking world. This four3!olume series ((949N., described haiku from the
pre3modern period up to and including 8hiki. =lythHs History of Haiku ((964 in
two !olumes is regarded as a classical study of haiku. Today =lyth is best
known as a ma*or interpreter of haiku to English speakers. His works ha!e
stimulated the writing of haiku in English.
Aasuda'edit)
2ain article% ;enneth Aasuda
The Japanese30merican scholar and translator ;enneth Aasuda published The
Japanese Haiku% 5ts Essential Kature, History, and 7ossibilities in English, with
8elected E+amples in (9.-. The book includes both translations from
Japanese and original poems of his own in English, which had pre!iously
appeared in his book titled 0 7epper37od% :lassic Japanese 7oems together
with <riginal Haiku. 5n these books Aasuda presented a critical theory about
haiku, to which he added comments on haiku poetry by early ,Bth3century
poets and critics. His translations apply a .N-N. syllable count in English, with
the 1rst and third lines end3rhymed. Aasuda considered that haiku translated
into English should utiliDe all of the poetic resources of the language.'citation
needed) AasudaHs theory also includes the concept of a &haiku moment&
based in personal e+perience, and pro!ides the moti!e for writing a haiku. His
notion of the haiku moment has resonated with haiku writers in Korth
0merica, e!en though the notion is not widely promoted in Japanese haiku.
Henderson'edit)
2ain article% Harold G. Henderson
5n (9.?, 0n 5ntroduction to Haiku% 0n 0nthology of 7oems and 7oets from
=ashT to 8hiki by Harold G. Henderson was published by Ioubleday 0nchor
=ooks. This book was a re!ision of HendersonHs earlier book titled The
=amboo =room (Houghton 2iUin, (9/4. 0fter @orld @ar 55, Henderson and
=lyth worked for the 0merican <ccupation in Japan and for the 5mperial
Household, respecti!ely, and their shared appreciation of haiku helped form a
bond between the two.
Henderson translated e!ery hokku and haiku into a rhymed tercet (a3b3a,
whereas the Japanese originals ne!er used rhyme. Onlike Aasuda, howe!er,
he recogniDed that (- syllables in English are generally longer than the (- on
of a traditional Japanese haiku. =ecause the normal modes of English poetry
depend on accentual meter rather than on syllabics, Henderson chose to
emphasiDe the order of e!ents and images in the originals.'citation needed)
Ke!ertheless, many of HendersonHs translations were in the 1!e3se!en31!e
pattern.
:ontemporary English3language haiku'edit)
2ain article% Haiku in English
Today, haiku are written in many languages, but most poets outside of Japan
are concentrated in the English3speaking countries and in the =alkans.
'citation needed)
5t is impossible to single out any current style or format or sub*ect matter as
de1niti!e. 8ome of the more common practices in English are%
# Ose of three (or fewer lines of (- or fewer syllablesE
# Ose of a season word (kigoE
# Ose of a cut (sometimes indicated by a punctuation mark paralleling
the Japanese use of kire*i, to implicitly contrast and compare two e!ents,
images, or situations.
@hile the traditional Japanese haiku has focused on nature and the place of
humans in it, some modern haiku poets, both in Japan and the @est, consider
a broader range of sub*ect matter suitable, including urban conte+ts.
The loosening of traditional standards has resulted in the term &haiku& being
wrongly applied to brief English3language poems such as &mathemaku& and
other kinds of pseudohaiku. 8ome sources claim that this is *usti1ed by the
blurring of de1nitional boundaries in Japan.'/B)
@orldwide'edit)
5n the early ,(st century, there is a thri!ing community of haiku poets
worldwide, mainly communicating through national and regional societies
and *ournals in Japan, in the English3speaking countries (including 5ndia, in
Korthern Europe (mainly 8weden, Germany, France, =elgium and the
Ketherlands, in central and southeast Europe (mainly :roatia, 8lo!enia,
8erbia, =ulgaria,7oland and Comania, and in Cussia. Haiku *ournals published
in southeast Europe include Qetni Vasi (8lo!enia, Wrabac (:roatia, Haiku
Ko!ine (8erbia, and 0lbatros (Comania.'/()
The president of the European :ouncil, Herman Wan Compuy, is a notable
hai*in and known as XHaiku Herman.Y He published a book of haiku in 0pril
,B(B.'/,)'//)'/4)
5n the early ,Bth century, Kobel laureate Cabindranath Tagore composed
haiku in =engali. He also translated some from Japanese. 5n Gu*arati,
Reenabhai Catan*i Iesai H8neharashmiH populariDed haiku'/.) and remains a
popular haiku writer.'/6) 5n February ,BB?, the @orld Haiku Festi!al was held
in =angalore, gathering hai*in (Y, haiku poets from all o!er 5ndia and
=angladesh, as well as from Europe and the Onited 8tates.'citation needed)
5n 8outh 0sia, some other poets also write Haiku from time to time, most
notably including the 7akistani poet <mer Tarin, who is also acti!e in the
mo!ement for global nuclear disarmament and some of his ZHiroshima HaikuL
ha!e been read at !arious peace conferences in Japan and the O;.
8ome groups, such as the Haiku 5nternational 0ssociation, try to promote
e+changes between Japanese and foreign haiku poets.