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Haiku | Poetry | Writing
5 Reasons Why I Write Haiku
and why you should too
When composing a verse let there not be a hair’s breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy.
― Matsuo Bashō
What is a Haiku and where does it come from
Born in Japan, haiku is a short poem, consisting of three lines, and 17 syllables, or “on” (音), or morae.
A traditional haiku has 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, and 5 in the last, making the 5–7–5 structure.
Usually written about Nature, modern haiku can be about anything.
It had been written, in one form or the other, for many centuries. But it gained popularity because of two Japanese masters: Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694) and Uejima Onitsura (1661–1738).
Previously known as hokku (opening stanza of the traditional Japanese poem), it was only in the 19th century when Masaoka Shiki coined the term Haiku.
Japanese haiku is written in one vertical line, while western haiku consists of three lines.
Few Examples
Few haiku examples (written by me) are as follows.
In the scared flowers
I can see from my window
winter is coming…When you rage you are
thunderstorm but when you smile
you become rainbow
The best-known Japanese haiku is Bashō’s “old pond”:
古池や蛙飛び込む水の音
ふるいけやかわずとびこむみずのおと (transliterated into 17 hiragana)
furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto (transliterated into rōmaji)This separates into on as: fu-ru-i-ke ya (5)ka-wa-zu to-bi-ko-mu (7)mi-zu-no-o-to (5)
Translated:
old pond
frog leaps in
water’s sound
