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What makes a haiku? -

Japan's most famous form of poetry is known for its short form, simple diction, and quiet themes. While at first glance the art of haiku can seem somewhat basic, it is in its simplicity that the genius and profundity of the form is hidden.

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The history of haiku -

Haiku has been practiced in Japan for many centuries, and has gone through numerous transformations to get to the form we are familiar with today. Its history is dotted with major breakthroughs of creative expression and incredible poets who are revered as masters, and some who have even been deified.

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Collaborative poetry -

Before haiku was written in the short and solitary form that we see today, it was engulfed in a long and busy practice of collaborative poetry. Poets would commonly gather in groups, forming stanzas on the spot in sessions of contemplation that could stretch on for hours and hours.

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Renga -

The first widely-practiced form of collaborative linked-verse poetry was known as renga, and is said to have been developed by Yamato Takeru, the semi-mythical, pre-historic 12th emperor of Japan. Renga is defined as a linked-verse poem in which poets take turns penning stanzas, which alternate between a 5-7-5 pattern of sound units, and a pattern of 7-7 sound units.

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Renku -

Renku was a form of collaborative poetry that grew from renga during the 14th century. It was first characterized by its defiance of renga's conservative and orthodox subject matters, and frequently crossed into the realms of the vulgar. Following the same 5-7-5, 7-7 form of renga, renku distinguished itself from its predecessor through an attitude of contempt for poetic convention, its lighthearted wit, nonsensical associations, and its often provocative defiance of traditional Japanese taboos.

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The hokku -

Pieces of both renga and renku started with the same element: the hokku, or "starting verse." The hokku always followed a sound unit pattern of 5-7-5, and was considered the most important stanza in a poem. At gatherings among poets, the honor and responsibility of composing the hokku always fell on the strongest and most respected writer of the group, who was expected to express gratitude to the host and touch on the gathering's natural surroundings.

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The emergence of independent haiku -

By the 17th century, hokku verses began to appear as independent pieces, expressing a fully developed thought or description, and written by only one poet. While group poetry was still commonly practiced, short-form hokku, now called haiku, became the most respected form of poetry in Japan.

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Haibun -

The term haibun refers to writing that is a mix of prosaic writing and haiku. Many nomadic poets of the 17th century employed haibun when writing their travelogues, writing haikus to capture important, profound, or particularly beautiful views, events, and feelings along their way, while writing prose to fill in the gaps.

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Haiga -

Haiga refers to a haiku that is written with an accompanying painting of sketch. Haiga was, and continues to be, very common amongst Japanese haiku masters, who frequently carry a set of watercolors to create visual representations of their poems.

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Symbols and syllables -

Haiku has historically been a very straightforward form of poetry, rarely concerning itself with ornate symbolism or metaphor. Most haikus concern themselves with only what is in front of the eyes, and what surrounds the poet at the time of composure.

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Symbols and syllables -

That is not to suggest, however, that haikus are shallow or superficial. Within any given poem's quaint imagery and simple wording is a world of emotion, observation, and life.

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The many parts of a haiku -

For being such short poems, haikus are in fact very busy when it comes to the necessary parts. There is much more to a haiku than just a set number of syllables.

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Japanese "ons" -

In fact, it's wrong to even say that haikus are defined by a syllabic structure of 5-7-5. The true structure of haiku is a collection of three phrases of 5 on, 7 on, and 5 on. An "on" is a Japanese unit of phonetic sound that may frequently be the same as a Western syllable, but is not exactly the same.

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Seventeen "ons" -

One on is often much shorter than a syllable. An on counts as one short syllable, while elongated vowels or doubled consonants count as two on. Similarly, an "n" at the end of a syllable constitutes its own on. For example, the word "on" itself, while clearly only one syllable, is in fact comprised of two ons: one for the short "o" sounds, and one for the "n" sound. Knowing this, it becomes clear that a traditional haiku consisting of 17 ons can often be much shorter than a poem consisting of 17 syllables.

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The kireji -

There are two elements that must be included in order for a poem to be considered a haiku by traditional definition. The first is the kireiji. The kireji, or "cutting word," serves as the structural center of the poem, though it does not always appear in the middle of the verse. It often denotes a change in tone, suggests a relationship between different parts of the verse, or invites the reader to closely consider the preceding word.

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The kireji -

In traditional haiku, there are a distinct 18 types of kireji that can be utilized. While all kireji are spoken in Japanese, they can usually be expressed with punctuation in English, further confusing the relationship between syllables and ons. For example, the kireji ka can, in some instances, be expressed by a question mark in English. When used at the end of a phrase, ka denotes a question, but if used within a phrase, it can indicate emphasis or inspire extra consideration for the words around it.

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The kigo -

The kigo, also known as the "season word," is an essential part of a haiku that keeps the poem connected to the natural world. Sometimes a haiku's kigo is simply the name of the season in which the poem is set, but many times it's much more subtle than that.

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The kigo -

Identifying the kigo in Japanese haiku can be difficult for Westerners, or anyone lacking knowledge of Japanese flora and fauna and the times of year during which they can be found. Oftentimes, the kigo is the word of a specific flower that only blooms for a short period of time every year, or an animal that is mostly only seen during a particular season. Kigo can also hold geographic information, if the object, animal, or phenomenon can only be found in certain parts of Japan or the world.

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Drawing from a saijiki -

While in common practice any appropriate word can be used as a kigo, traditional poets always picked their season words from an expansive list known as a saijiki. The term saijiki can be translated as "year-time chronicle," and acts as a reference for poets to use in their search for the perfect and most appropriate kigo, along with descriptions of each kigo and examples of other haiku using each kigo.

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The old styles and masters of haiku -

In the many centuries that have passed since the advent of haiku and hokku, the form has gone through numerous changes in style, each characterized by their own level of seriousness, flexibility, and, often, the master poets at the center of each respective style.

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Matsuo Basho -

Matsuo Basho, a 17th-century poet and Zen master who is universally considered the greatest and most important poet in Japanese history, was, in his time, the face of the haiku as an independent piece of art.

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Matsuo Basho -

Famous as both a writer of haiku and a leader of renku sessions, Basho was a solitary nomad for most of his life, walking the lengths of Japan for decades on end. Along with other masters of the Edo period, Basho was responsible for elevating renku from its vulgar origins to its status as a profound artform. In 1793, 99 years after his death at the age of 50, Basho was deified as a god by the Shinto establishment in Japan.

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Tenmei style -

After Basho established haiku as a form of poetry to be taken seriously, the Tenmei style stood as the next step in the growth of haiku. The Tenmei style, spearheaded by Yosa Buson in the early 18th century, was characterized by vibrant descriptions that often channeled the same artistic energy as painting. In this respect and others, Tenmei and Buson are closely associated with the advent of haiga, the marriage of haiku and painting.

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Tenmei style -

Buson is in fact considered the greatest haiga artist and the very first to fully develop it. Tenmei haiku and haiga were considered to be inseparable, with both the paintings and the poems standing out as some of the most vibrant in the history of each respective practice.

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Haiku in English -

Members of the Imagism literary movement in Europe and the United States were some of the first to recognize the power and merit of haiku. Ezra Pound in particular, the American-born poet who is at once lauded for his contributions to literature and disgraced for his activity as a fascist in Italy, penned what is considered the first haiku originally written in English, 'In a Station of the Metro,' which is also considered one of the most important poems to come out of the Imagism movement.

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Haiku in the West -

The end of World War II and the two-way cultural diffusion between Japan and the West that followed saw a dramatic increase of interest in haiku among Western creatives. Many members of the Beat Generation, including Jack Kerouac, were enamored with Japanese poetry and produced volumes of English haiku themselves.

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The translation conundrum -

There is haiku in Japanese, there is haiku in English, and there are some notable practitioners of haiku in Italian and Spanish as well. One of the most perplexing and longstanding problems with haiku, however, is the question of translation.

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The translation conundrum -

The perplexing discrepancy between ons and syllables has already been discussed, and this has proven to be a particularly difficult hurdle for haiku translators to overcome. The balance of haiku's most important facets is always in question: should a translation prioritize syllabic structure over the most apt translation of the original poem? Should the most vibrant and appropriate translated terms always be used without regard for the altered and perhaps incorrect number of syllables? How much license should the translator take when choosing suitable terms? Should haiku be translated as literally as possible, regardless of how unnatural and awkward it might read in the translated language? Questions like these are why haikus, even centuries old, are in a constant state of interpretation. One of the most famous haikus every composed, Basho's 'Frog,' has more than 170 published English translations and counting!

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The eternal haiku -

Despite being an ancient and seemingly provincial form of poetry, haiku never seems to go out of style. Over the centuries, it has remained virtually unaffected by politics, technological advancements, or shifts in culture. As an artform that deals with the plain, the natural, and the bare, haiku remains eternally relevant.

See also: The best American poets of all time

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