The History of Haiku

a webpage by Ketan Ramakrishnan

WHAT IS HAIKU?                                                                                                                                 

Haiku is the form of poetry that originated and prospered in Japan. The haiku we know today actually started to be created in about 1900. Before that there was another kind of Japanese poetry. This will be expanded on later. Haiku is only haiku if it has two distinct aspects to it. First and incredibly important, there must be five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third. In most haiku there is only a total of three lines. Most Japanese words have fewer syllables than their English counterparts, which makes it much easier for a poet to create haiku in Japanese. The second thing that a real haiku must have is the inclusion in some way of nature in it. If one thinks about it, this is actually fitting, due to the fact that Japan's major religion along with Buddhism is Shinto, which is much about respecting nature; Shinto's mythology also has gods that represent the different parts of nature.

WHO IS CONSIDERED THE FATHER OF HAIKU?

Many people consider Matsuo Basho the father of haiku. One thing that is worth noting about the style of poetry that Matsuo Basho wrote is the fact that he did not write haiku, he wrote what was called hokku. Hokku will be elaborated on later in the page.

WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT HAIKU, OR HOKKU?

Matsuo Basho lived in the sixteen hundreds, practicing a form of Japanese poetry called hokku. Hokku was the opening section of a Japanese work called renga. Renga were works that were used for contests in the ninth to eleventh or twelfth centuries. Renga would start off with hokku, which like haiku had five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third. One person would create the hokku. Then another person would add on two lines of seven syllables each. Then another person would add on a hokku. Then another set of two lines, seven syllables each. Hokkus were as long as people wanted them to be, and some even lasted thousands of lines!

WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF MODERN HAIKU?

Haiku is what people eventually named stand alone hokku. near 1900, when the art form of renga began to lose steam, many people started to create stand alone hokku, with the five-seven-five standard format. In order to differentiate between these and the hokkus that were in rengas, Japan named the stand alone hokkus haikus.

WHAT ARE THINGS PEOPLE THINK MAKE A GOOD HAIKU?

Haikus are short and simple because many people think this is how nature is, and haiku always involves nature. Also, the length allows for grace. Nature is also graceful like haiku. Good haiku must always follow the format. Lots of people believe that good haiku should also have some sort of a twist at the end, though this very hard to do, and a good twist in a haiku poem separates a master from an amateur.

NOTE: Because haiku is written in many languages, sometimes poets decide not to use the 5-7-5 rule for the poem's sake.

 

CLICK HERE TO SEE SOME OF MY HAIKUS