Haiku

Haiku's predecessor was the hokku, the opening verse of a collaboratively composed sequence of linked poetry known as renga or haikai-renga. The first verse established a setting and, in traditional practice, often referred to a season; other poets then added linked stanzas. Over time, the hokku came to be valued as a complete poem as well as an opening. In the seventeenth century, Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694) helped establish the form's literary stature through carefully shaped, suggestive verse. Later masters included Yosa Buson and Kobayashi Issa. In the late nineteenth century, Masaoka Shiki promoted the name haiku for the independent form and helped renew it during a period of literary change.

Traditional Japanese haiku are commonly associated with 17 on—phonetic units, often compared with syllables—arranged in a 5–7–5 pattern. The Japanese sound units do not correspond exactly to English syllables. Many traditional poems also use a kigo, a word or expression that signals a season and carries cultural associations; seasonal reference books called saijiki help poets choose such words. These features are influential conventions, not a universal rule for every haiku in every language. English-language versions may use fewer than 17 syllables, alter the line pattern, or omit a seasonal word while retaining the form's brevity and attention to a moment.

Haiku often relies on concrete sensory detail rather than explanation. A brief image, or a relation between two images, can suggest a larger scene or feeling and leave the reader room to make connections. Seasonal words may do more than identify the time of year: they can evoke familiar associations with weather, plants, customs and the passing of time. A well-known poem by Bashō, composed in 1686, places an old pond, a jumping frog and the sound of water in a compact sequence. The Japanese Government's account of the poem notes how its omission of unnecessary explanation invites readers to imagine the moment. Nature is a lasting subject in the tradition, though modern haiku also ranges beyond it.

Haiku became influential in Western literature in the early twentieth century and is now written around the world. Translation and local practice have produced many approaches: some English-language poems imitate three lines of five, seven and five syllables, while others use a shorter pattern or free-form lines. English syllables and Japanese on differ in length and function, so copying the numerical pattern does not by itself reproduce the Japanese form. Writers have adapted haiku's concision, seasonal imagery and suggestive use of detail to their own languages and subjects. The result is a global family of short poems linked to, but not identical with, its Japanese tradition.