A form of Japanese poetry is a Haiku. This is usually done in a short form and consists of three phrases that contain a kareji or “cutting word” in a 5,7,5 pattern, and a kigo, or better said a seasonal reference and it is known as a type of Japanese phoneme. Modern haikus vary widely on how close they follow this elements.
The Haiku originated as an opening part of large Japanese poem called Renga. A long time ago, these haiku written as an opening stanza were known hokku and as time passed writers began to write their own stand-alone poems. The Haiku was given its name by the Japanese writer Masaoka Shiki, specifically at the end of the 19th century.
In spite of the Haiku being originally from Japan, nowadays it is written by authors worldwide.
The Haiku in English and the Haiku in other languages have their own styles and traditions
adding some aspects of the traditional form of the haiku.
In the Japanese form, the haiku is usually printed in one single line, and the haiku in English
most of the time appear in three lines.
The haiku appears also in western literature and it is said that the first westerner to write a haiku
was a Dutchman by the name of Hendrik Doeff (1764-1837) who at that time was the Dutch
commissioner in the Dejima trading post in Nagasaki in the early 19th century. An example of his
haiku is the following:
lend me your arms
fast as thunderbolts
for a pillow on my journey
Moreover, the haiku has been also been written in countries like Ecuador and Argentina. The
Ecuadorian poet and diplomat Jorge Carrera Andrade included the haiku in the 31 poems
contained in Microgramas (1940) and the Argentine Jorge Luis Borges in La Cifra (1981).
In conclusion, the haiku is that type of poem that can leave the reader hooked to keep reading
more and more.
The following website gives great examples of Haikus: www.readpoetry.com
*Public Domain
Comments