Clem ByardDec 4, 2022
History of Haiku
(Post 1)
Ask anyone to tell you one think they know about haiku and they’ll probably tell you:
“It’s a poem written in 3 lines and 17 syllables
5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second line, and 5 in the third line” (“575Haiku”)
~
But unfortunately this:
1/ Hasn’t actually been true for most of the time people have been writing English language haiku
2/ Isn’t true for most people who write haiku in English today, and publish them in Journals dedicated to haiku, such as Frogpond, Modern Haiku (and many others)
3/ Is based on an almost complete misunderstanding of what Japanese haiku poems are like
~
So, how did #575Haiku become so fixed in minds of so many people?
Probably because most people first learn about haiku from a teacher at school, and many teachers think of haiku as just “a great way to teach kids about counting syllables”, and (maybe?) not much more
~
Over the next few days I’ll write some more posts that expand on these ideas a little further
And hopefully show that while haiku can be the simple fun poems we often see posted under the #575prompts tag
Haiku can also be
a
whole
lot
more
#Haiku #FreeHaiku #Poetry #17Syllables #HistoryOfHaiku @freehaiku
Show threadClem ByardDec 6, 2022
@freehaiku
History of Haiku
(Part 2)
“That’s not a haiku, a haiku has 17 syllables!”
🧐😒🤨
~
I said in my first post on the #HistoryOfHaiku that the way that many English language haiku writers have of writing haiku – in 17 syllables arranged over three lines in a 5-7-5 pattern – is based on something of a misunderstanding of Japanese haiku.
~
Japanese haiku are usually, but not always, 17 “onji” long (an “onji” is a sound symbol in Japanese language).
The problem is that “onji” are shorter than English syllables, so in writing a haiku in 17 English syllables, we are writing poems that are quite a bit longer than a Japanese haiku (I’ve heard it said 12 English syllables may be closer in length to 17 Japanese “onji”).
~
If you’d like to read more about this aspect of haiku, it is discussed in The #HaikuHandbook by #WilliamJHigginson & #PennyHarter, and by #MichaelDylanWelsh on the #NaHaiWriMo website, here: https://www.nahaiwrimo.com/why-no-5-7-5.
~
Japanese haiku writers don’t all stick to the 17 “onji” length anyway.
The #NewTrendHaikuMovement in Japanese haiku in the early 20th century moved away from strictly adhering to a 17 onji pattern. These poets include #Hekigotō, #Seiensui, and a personal favourite, #Santōka.
And centuries before that Matsuo #Bashō himself (one of the earliest and most famous writers of what we now recognise as haiku) sometimes wrote haiku with extra onji.
#Haiku #FreeHaiku #Poetry
NaHaiWriMo - Why “No 5-7-5”?

Okay, this essay is long, but give it a read to better understand why it’s an urban myth to think of English-language haiku merely in terms of 5-7-5 syllables. National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo) is not really anti-5-7-5, but counting syllables is hardly the only target for haiku (if at all).

Show threadSeán Wright🌷💀⏳ ライトショーンDec 6, 2022

@CactusHaiku @freehaiku In Australia, Harold Stewart (1960) released a book of translations of Japanese Haiku in the form of rhyming heroic couplets ( iambic pentameter)- here’s a translation of Issa

I must turn over, crickets, so beware
Of local earthquakes in the bed we share!

#haiku

Show threadClem ByardDec 6, 2022
@sbwright @freehaiku
Right you are.
One of the two versifiers responsible for the #ErnMalley #Hoax he also slipped a couple of loose Bashō translations into the Ern Malley poems.
Show threadSeán Wright🌷💀⏳ ライトショーン
@CactusHaiku @freehaiku do we know roughly when English Language Haiku moved away from 575?
Dec 6, 2022 at 7:37amWeb
Show threadClem ByardDec 6, 2022
@sbwright @freehaiku
I’m not a complete authority but I actually think it was a bit the other way around.
As with the #HaroldStewart translation that you just posted, most of the early translations and haiku in English did not follow the 5-7-5 format.
#RHBlyth was probably the most influential translator of #haiku (four volumes, early to mid 1950s) and he did not do 5-7-5. #Blyth was the translation that #Ginsberg and #Kerouac had access to.
As to when, later, and why, 5-7-5 started to gain ascendancy . . . that is a fascinating question, but I don’t know the answer to it.
Show threadSeán Wright🌷💀⏳ ライトショーンDec 6, 2022
@CactusHaiku @freehaiku I had this out looking for quatrain translations but, this is 1973 and most of the translations are 12-14 syllables long, very contemporary. Curiously though the translator kept the Japanese “ kana” and “ ya” particle in the translation.