THE HAIKU CONTROVERSY

Write, perform or submit a Haiku poem for publication, and sooner or later someone will say to you that as good as your poem is, it’s not a ‘proper’ haiku. This is because in Britain, the States and most non-Japanese countries, there are very different and mixed views on what make a good true haiku.

As most readers will know, a haiku is a non-rhyming Japanese poem in 17 syllables, set in 3 lines with 5, 7 and 5 syllables in each line respectively. 

Strictly speaking, this standard definition is incorrect as in Japan, syllabics are often much more complex than in the Western World. The division there is usually in Moras, rather than syllables, and Moras can vary in vowel sounds, consonants, etc, creating a more complex series of poetic effects. The Japanese haiku and a Westernised version can be as different as a limerick and a Shakespearian sonnet in full on iambic pentameter.  

Some Haiku study groups and scholars make changes to the way western Haiku should be written, suggesting 12 syllable poems over the generally accepted 17, believing this gives closer proximity to the Japanese form. Others argue for any number of syllables from 10 to 15. Most agree that the Western variant is shorter than its Japanese father haiku.

Japanese haiku are supposed to include a ‘Kigo’, which means that they should make a reference to one of the four seasons, spring, summer, autumn or Winter.  Sometimes the reference is obvious, i.e., snow, sunlight, or some other weather clue. At other times the reference may be cryptic or difficult to identify.

Japanese poems also traditionally end with a Kireji, or  ‘cutting word’, an abrupt closing syllable sound that is nearly impossible to replicate in Western writing and reading. Many haiku authors make a – or another punctuation mark close their poem but most dispense with the Kireji entirely.

Here is one of mine, keeping the Kigo season reference but omitting the Kireji.

Rain falling outside

Tears down my face as I look

Spring so far away

That’s done in a 17-syllable version. A pure-British 10 syllable variant would run

Rain outside

Tears as I watch

Distant Spring

In effect, I’ve translated my own haiku to the two metric styles. The seasonal rain highlights the season, which is directly named anyway.