Haiku Poetry

Haiku: A Brief Overview of the Japanese Poetry Form

Haiku is a form of short poetry that originated in Japan and consists of three phrases with a 5-7-5 pattern of on (phonetic units similar to syllables) and includes a kireji (cutting word) and kigo (seasonal reference).
Haiku was originally an opening part of a larger Japanese poem called renga and was known as hokku before it began to be written as a standalone poem.
The term haiku was given by Masaoka Shiki at the end of the 19th century, and today, haiku is written by authors worldwide, with variations in style and tradition.
Kireji is a cutting word that helps mark rhythmic divisions in haiku, and the use of kireji distinguishes haiku and hokku from second and subsequent verses of renku.
On is a sound unit in Japanese verse, and traditional haiku usually consists of 17 on, with modern poems varying in their adherence to the 5-7-5 pattern.
Kigo is a word or phrase that symbolizes or implies the season of the poem, and it is drawn from a prescriptive list of such words called saijiki.
Matsuo Bashō and Uejima Onitsura elevated haikai and gave it a new popularity in the 17th century, and Bashō is known for using hokku as torque points within his short prose sketches and longer travel diaries, creating a subgenre of haikai called haibun.
Yosa Buson and Kobayashi Issa also contributed to the development of haiku, with Issa making the genre immediately accessible to wider audiences.
Masaoka Shiki was a reformer and modernizer who disliked the 'stereotype' of haikai writers of the 19th century and favored the painterly style of Buson and the European concept of plein-air painting, which he adapted to create a style of haiku called shasei.
Haiku was introduced to the post-war English-speaking world through R. H. Blyth's four-volume work Haiku, and his History of Haiku is regarded as a classical study of haiku.
Haiku has been introduced to Italy by the Japanese-Neapolitan translator and poet Harukichi Shimoi and to the US by the Japanese-American scholar and translator Kenneth Yasuda.
Haiku in English often appear as three lines, although variations exist, and the Haiku Society of America notes a trend toward shorter haiku with about 12 syllables in English approximating the duration of 17 Japanese on.Haiku in Different Languages and Related Forms: A Global Overview
The haiku moment, a timeless feeling of enlightened harmony, is based on personal experience and is widely appreciated by English-language haiku writers.
Harold G. Henderson's book, An Introduction to Haiku, helped popularize haiku in English, and he translated every hokku and haiku into a rhymed tercet.
Haiku has been introduced in various languages, including French, Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, Polish, and Italian, and has gained popularity among poets and readers.
The former president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, is a haijin and published a book of haiku in 2010.
The haiku form had a considerable influence on Imagists in the 1910s, notably Ezra Pound's "In a Station of the Metro" of 1913.
Yone Noguchi and Sadakichi Hartmann were among the first advocates of English-language hokku, and Richard Wright is considered the first noteworthy American minority writer to produce haiku.
Gabriele D'Annunzio and Federico García Lorca experimented with haiku in the early twentieth century in Italy and Spain, respectively.
José Juan Tablada is credited with popularizing haiku in Mexico, and Octavio Paz included many haiku in Piedras Sueltas.
Haiku poetry began to develop in Yugoslavia during the 1960s, and haiku books were written by Dubravko Ivančan, Vladimir Zorčić, Milan Tokin, Desanka Maksimović, Alexander Neugebauer, Zvonko Petrović, and others.
Haibun, a combination of prose and haiku, and haiga, a style of Japanese painting that includes haiku, are related forms of haiku.
Kuhi, the carving of famous haiku on natural stone to make poem monuments, has been a popular practice for many centuries in Japan.
Haiku has been experimented with and appreciated by many prominent poets and writers worldwide, and its popularity continues to spread across languages and cultures.