The (very short) History of the Haiku
Created | Updated Jul 29, 2004
Anyone can write
A haiku. Just stop at the
Seventeenth syllab-.
- by Hinkle @ ubersite.com
As you doubtless know already, the haiku is a short poem of seventeen syllables, with the line pattern 5-7-5. They had their beginnings in the fifteenth century, where they were part of a different kind of poem, called the renga, which was one seemingly intellectual way for bored aristocrats to waste time, along with watering their rock gardens and sleeping. Rengas were poems with verses contributed to by many of the rich and idle, mostly about pretty, beautiful Japanesey things like cherry blossoms, autumn leaves and the seasons. The verses always alternated between line patterns of 5-7-5 and then 7-7, until by the time they had finished frittering the larger portion of their week away, they had collaborated a poem of around 100 verses.
Now the rengas were all well and good, but after a while, the artists got bored with writing about the seasons and the “pwetty widdle budderfwies”, which maybe they seemed to realise figured way too largely in Japanese culture, so instead they turned their talents to another poetic form, called the haikai – the same poem structure, but a parody of the renga, often involving coarse language and slang. Haikais focused on aspects of every day life (except for all the nature stuff – nobody wanted to read that any more).
Eventually, most of the aristocracy decided they couldn’t be bothered with writing whole long haikais, even with the assistance of other people, and being the lethargic people they were, they cut it down to one verse, the 5-7-5, what we know today as the haiku. Sometimes, if they were feeling energetic, they would write several verses of the stuff, and call it a poem (or something).
The first notable member of the aristocracy to become adept at this time-wasting art form was Basho Matsuo, who lived in the 16th century. Greatly inspired by the works of philosopher Tchouang-tseu, Basho often quoted him in his haikus. (It is therefore disputed whether the haikus could be regarded as his own, or simply a very short fanfic.) Most of his haikus were parodies of Tchouang-tseu’s text. Unfortunately, his works also brought back the whole nature-loving feel to the art of the haiku, and so the courts of Japan were once again inundated by nature poems, both those of Basho’s and those of his admirers, who were once again inspired to write in this style. Several other nobles also took up this skill, became inexplicably good at it and are still remembered for it today (if you really want to know who they were, look them up on the Internet, because apparently there were quite a few).
When the Europeans came to Japan they too discovered this poetic form and adapted it to English. I’m not too sure on what they used it for – but it must have been something memorable because you can still see it being used today as a popular form of teen angst poetry. Surf the web and you will find a myriad pages of the stuff – no kidding. (And the worst thing is, a lot of them are about flowers and nature. Yick.)
Blah blah blah, and thus, the haiku came to be.
The End.
(This entire article may be innacurate - I wrote it for a school magazine. If you want to know more about haikus, check out the other, most likely better articulated and more concise articles here at H2G2).
A haiku. Just stop at the
Seventeenth syllab-.
- by Hinkle @ ubersite.com
As you doubtless know already, the haiku is a short poem of seventeen syllables, with the line pattern 5-7-5. They had their beginnings in the fifteenth century, where they were part of a different kind of poem, called the renga, which was one seemingly intellectual way for bored aristocrats to waste time, along with watering their rock gardens and sleeping. Rengas were poems with verses contributed to by many of the rich and idle, mostly about pretty, beautiful Japanesey things like cherry blossoms, autumn leaves and the seasons. The verses always alternated between line patterns of 5-7-5 and then 7-7, until by the time they had finished frittering the larger portion of their week away, they had collaborated a poem of around 100 verses.
Now the rengas were all well and good, but after a while, the artists got bored with writing about the seasons and the “pwetty widdle budderfwies”, which maybe they seemed to realise figured way too largely in Japanese culture, so instead they turned their talents to another poetic form, called the haikai – the same poem structure, but a parody of the renga, often involving coarse language and slang. Haikais focused on aspects of every day life (except for all the nature stuff – nobody wanted to read that any more).
Eventually, most of the aristocracy decided they couldn’t be bothered with writing whole long haikais, even with the assistance of other people, and being the lethargic people they were, they cut it down to one verse, the 5-7-5, what we know today as the haiku. Sometimes, if they were feeling energetic, they would write several verses of the stuff, and call it a poem (or something).
The first notable member of the aristocracy to become adept at this time-wasting art form was Basho Matsuo, who lived in the 16th century. Greatly inspired by the works of philosopher Tchouang-tseu, Basho often quoted him in his haikus. (It is therefore disputed whether the haikus could be regarded as his own, or simply a very short fanfic.) Most of his haikus were parodies of Tchouang-tseu’s text. Unfortunately, his works also brought back the whole nature-loving feel to the art of the haiku, and so the courts of Japan were once again inundated by nature poems, both those of Basho’s and those of his admirers, who were once again inspired to write in this style. Several other nobles also took up this skill, became inexplicably good at it and are still remembered for it today (if you really want to know who they were, look them up on the Internet, because apparently there were quite a few).
When the Europeans came to Japan they too discovered this poetic form and adapted it to English. I’m not too sure on what they used it for – but it must have been something memorable because you can still see it being used today as a popular form of teen angst poetry. Surf the web and you will find a myriad pages of the stuff – no kidding. (And the worst thing is, a lot of them are about flowers and nature. Yick.)
Blah blah blah, and thus, the haiku came to be.
The End.
(This entire article may be innacurate - I wrote it for a school magazine. If you want to know more about haikus, check out the other, most likely better articulated and more concise articles here at H2G2).
