More about Haiku
Zen Buddhists began using
Haiku in the 17th century after adapting it from
a popular form of verse known as Renga. Haiku
is a very short poetic form, consisting of three lines, usually
of 5, 7, and 5 syllables each, and has a special word which
evokes the season. It is probably the shortest poetic form in the
world, and its development is native to Japan. The poet must be
concise because of the brevity, while concentrating deep
spiritual understanding into the poem. The haiku poet usually
takes up the changes of nature which have impressed him in order
to express the intangible world of the spirit. Haiku presents a pair of contrasting
images--one suggestive of time and place, and the other an observation.
Writing Haiku
The master Masaoka Shiki told his disciples that they had only to look carefully at one scene in nature to be able to produce over 20 Haiku. There are two ways you can compose your first HAIKU, or write your best HAIKU. The first is to study Japanese HAIKU before you try International HAIKU and the second suggests that the appreciation of nature and your own imagination is enough.
Rules:
3-short lines
1-season word
1-cutting word
no rhyme or metaphor
(17 syllables, 5-7-5)
An example by Santoka
Looking
for the moon
In a lonely autumn sky
- mountain castle lights,
A
cutting word is the break in a line such as the hyphen before the
word mountain that occurred when the poet saw a mountain castle
rather than the moon in the sky. Other English poems use `behold`
or `stop` to convey this moment.
Keep the poem simple; try not to distract the reader with simile, metaphor or rhyme, unless it is necessary to convey the image you see. The 5-7-5 syllable rules of Haiku written in Japanese are not as widely accepted by writers of HAIKU in other languages.
To spur your imagination, make a chart of season words that you may want to incorporate into your HAIKU. Fill in a chart with 4 sections, one for each season. Try and write 40 words. What do you like or dislike about the seasons?
Examples of season words
Spring : Flowers
Summer : Sun flowers
Fall : Autumn leaves
Winter : Snow
Once your season words are ready, you are ready to start writing your own Haiku. Keep them short . Line one and two should be different images. Use line 3 to bring the 2 images together. If you like, you can try to use a cutting word such as 'stop' , or punctuation such as the hyphen:
Here are some examples to get you thinking and on your way.
Railroad
crossing bells
stop a mid-summer's day
from rushing on by
Majestic
antlers
rising from the lily pond
-glint from a rifle
and some from the Haiku masters...
Jump
into the sea
Summer is a long way
Go there at once
- Akio Kaneko
The
sea at springtime.
All day it rises and falls,
yes, rises and falls.
- Buson
The
rainy season
Sparrows taking shelter
Raindrops,too
- Kenjiro HIgashi
Jump
into the sea
Summer is a long way
Go there at once
- Akio Kaneko
SO
nature
is profound
imagination is fertile
write haiku before winter
And Once your Haiku is written, send them here for publication.
More information on how to write Haiku can be found at http://www. toyomasu.com/haiku