Haiku

Haiku [ ] is the name of a Japanese poetic form consisting of three phrases, respectively, of five, seven, five units of sound.

The composition of haiku carries an enduring burden of formal requirements from the classical poetic tradition. These must be accounted for in both writing and understanding haiku. Japanese poems of whatever form or period are characteristically short and customarily written and printed in one vertical line that breaks into its constituent phrases according to emphatic particles or endings on verbs and adjectives. The classical waka [ ]"Japanese poem," out of which all other poetic forms have evolved, consists of five phrases. This phrasal pattern is defined by morae, rhythmic units of sound that designate duration in quantitative verse. The common ending ran,, for example, in Japanese prosody counts as two morae, ra and the nasal n. Hokku, the opening verse in a poem sequence, is a word of three morae, since the first of a geminate consonant is a separate mora. Basho, the name of the greatest haiku poet, contains three morae, since the long terminal vowel counts as two morae.

In addition to the prescribed number of morae breaking into phrases, a successful poem was restricted to poetic diction accepted by tradition and was expected to contain one or more poetic figures of speech. Utamakura [ ] "pillow poem" involve the poetic use of names of famous places. Kireji [ ] "cutting word" end, or "cut," a phrase and often divide a poem into two parts. Kakekotoba[ ]"pivot word"--almost always impossible of translation--carry a double meaning, one backward in the context of the beginning of the poem, the other forward toward its conclusiton, the pun acting to unify the whole. Kigo[ ] "season word," the most insisted upon such figure of speech in the writing of haiku, evoke a certain idea or sentiment appropriate to the season and bring the natural world into the lyrical world of the poem.

Consider this haiku by Basho:
Kisagata ya	Kisagata--
ame ni Seishi ga	In the rain Seishi sleeps
nebu no hana	Flowers of the silk tree

The first phrase is "cut" by emphatic ya, a kireji. The poems adheres to the five-seven-five morae, three-phrase pattern since the proper name Seishi consists of three morae. Nebu is a kakekotoba, in association with Seishi meaning to sleep, at the same time associating with hana "flower" to mean silk tree. Kisagata is a famous place with poetic associations; thus, is an utamakura. Nebu no hana is a seasonal image; thus, is the kigo. Throughout the stages in the development of haiku as a distinct verse form, poems can be found in which the prescribed morae count has been ignored and such figures of speech have not been used. Demonstrating mastery of the old rules, nevertheless, was always an essential concern of the poet.