Introduction
A haiku is a form of poetry that first gained popularity in Japan. The traditional haiku adopted in the English language has borrowed to a great extent the traditional Japanese Haiku. The basic dictionary definition refers to it as a very short poem that involves a three line description of a passing moment in nature. According to scholastic.com, the greatest challenge in coming up with a Haiku is being limited to 17 syllables.
Japanese values the poems for their simplicity, depth, openness and lightness. The structural rules for a traditional Haiku is the use of exactly 17 syllables that have to be arranged in three lines made up of five syllables, the second line is made up of seven syllables and the final line having five syllables as well. Haikus should generally avoid similes and or metaphors, they should be direct and easy to translate and understand. They should also refer to a season of the year. However, they can describe just about anything in a manner that is not complicated or complex to understand. All Haikus contain a main idea that is appealing to one of the five senses.
Part One: Reiteration of Scholarly Views
Beginning with the Galileo sources that were specifically drawn from the Ebscohost website, the authors give varied accounts to the definition and implication of Haikus, as the shortest poems, often having between 17 syllables. Therefore, Haikus are the shortest Japanese poems that entail various social and cultural attributes of the Japanese people. These poems explicate about the people’s view of nature, thought, their corresponding philosophical views as well as sentiments about the Japanese culture, which has incidentally reigned superior among the natives (Re-Readings 119).
For example, this article reiterates about the importance of nature to the spirit, that is when the heart seems to be open, it is because nature has extended a helping hand to remedy the situation. This is a core belief that is entrenched in the Japanese culture, and it is clearly exonerated by the poem. This article predisposes that nature accords an individual a particular treatment depending on the nature of one’s heart and openness to this infinite abundance. According to this article, Haiku signifies the Japanese sensitivity to changes in seasons and nature, which brings the positive attribute of the Japanese culture.
The second Galileo source that is drawn from the Ebscohost website reveals true cultural manifestation of the Haiku in the Japanese cultural context. Haiku holds sentimental philosophical ideas to the mainstream Japanese culture (Yoon 113). The author presents various lines that exhibit the significance of the Haiku to the Japanese culture.
The quality of the Japanese culture is well enumerated in the Haikus, and it showcases how nature interacts with social paradigm of life. The author’s viewpoints in the small excerpt of the Haiku gives credible look into how social and cultural practices are embedded in poem’s short syllables. For example, the context of soul and heart are given a closer look here thus signifying the importance of soul to humanity, and how human beings can change the course of social destiny by positively relating with nature.
There are various themes employed in Haiku writing, one of the themes employed is the seasonal theme. For this theme the Haiku must contain a season word otherwise referred to as a Kigo. It works to indicate what type of season in the year that the Haiku is set. It may not always be obvious in the poem and other factors should be evaluated so as to determine the season. Bruce Ross in the book ‘Haiku Moment:
An Anthology of Contemporary North American Haiku’ argues against the 5-7-5 syllable rule that is employed in Haiku writing that scholastic.com (23) emphasizes on. This article finds that the traditional Japanese poetry was initially based on combinations of lines of five and seven onji. The Japanese Haiku would use a pattern consisting of five-seven-five onji that is arranged in a vertical manner forming columns.
In Japanese, the poem is so short such that it is recited in one breathe. According to Ross one does not need an equal or single syllable and therefore, cannot simply use the same rules for a Japanese Haiku in an English haiku. By simply focusing only on the number of syllables and the arrangement of the line he finds that this limits the number of lines for poets and also it would make them to edit out components of the poem that would have made its message richer (Ross 4). It may also lead to addition of irrelevant materials just so they can get the right word count. William Higginson another Haiku expert finds that most Japanese Haiku contain cutting words referred to as Kiergi. This is a special verb ending that indicates completion of a phrase. It indicates a pause grammatically and also rhythmically.
The Japanese use words whereas the English Haiku contains a dash or a simple spacing (Higginson 7). In the essay ‘Haiku Techniques’ Jane Reichhold shows how easy it is to over simplify the meaning of a Haiku. She provides three examples of Haikus one showing comparison, another contrast and the last association (Reichhold 14). Indeed, these points point out to the direct influence that Zen Buddhists have had on the development of the Haiku to various cultures. The technique serves as a pivot by which the reader can be able turn their thoughts as well as expand it. She also finds that although these three may serve as pivot points actually there are other factors that a haiku can be built on. A dispute is seen in Reichhold argument that traditional Japanese writers included metaphors and similes which stochastic.com as well as other Haiku experts disagree with. This form of dispute is common seeing as some of the pieces recovered from Japanese history include these elements although the rules by the same people in the same era rule their use out.
Part Two: What I Learn from the Poem
I learned a lot of concepts and terminologies as a result of interacting with the haikus. Haikus are written in such a way that they provide an image of what the writer is looking at as well as what he is experiencing as is with most poems. It differs from other poems in its lack of abstractions; an example of this in a haiku is the reference of a ‘teardrop’ instead of just stating that it was ‘sad’ sad being abstract. A haiku should provide an image and not tell a story. It should show the story to the reader.
The basic technique of coming up with a Haiku is by first providing images that show similarities or those that can be compared. The second step is selecting images that appear to contrast each other and finally finding a link between these two and a way of associating them. One image should point to the other making it illuminate thus painting a vivid image for the reader. To get inspiration to come up with a haiku one needs a quiet moment what can be referred to as a haiku moment when nature calls and inspires the poet to write the Haiku. It can also be written from a person playing around with words and with no external inspiration at all. It is allowed for the technique of riddles to be used along with other techniques.
The riddle is supposed to be put in such a way that it causes puzzling terms. Riddles have been used in Haikus from the seventeenth century and even in the modern Haiku it is still used as a style. Sense switching is another technique that can be employed when writing a Haiku. It involves hearing something that is only visualized and visualizing something that is heard. This mode of writing has been termed as a favorite for most traditional Japanese writers. Some of the Haikus may contain double meanings, a writer may say one thing but the meaning is the complete opposite. He may present his Haiku as happy but in its meaning it may be a sad tale or set in a sad situation. The Haiku tends to achieve completeness when its first line and third line form a complete thought. This means that the images have to be arranged in such a way that the first and final image is completely related.
I tend to agree with Ross on the limit of the syllables, the 5-7-5 rule cannot be viable if it is derived from the Japanese 5-7-5 onji rule this is because the Japanese write in characters and when the Japanese Haiku is translated it loses the word count in its English form. This is so for as long as the onji is not equated to single syllables.
The recitation in one breathe cannot be achieved when the rule is followed in the English language Indeed, my take on the Haikus is very positive since it creates a sense of information aspect to a short work of history. This poem, however short, has incorporates rich concepts of the Japanese culture, and as such I learn a lot in just a small piece of writing. Besides, a poem does not have to long so as to express or convey dozens of information, even a shorter poem like Haikus is sufficient to give viable information and details about a culture or a society. Therefore, I consider writing and learning about culture as two concepts that are intractable entwined, and can adopt a certain style to capture greater concepts, than to wind about with notions.
Part Three: Enrichment I gain from the Scholarly Reviews
Finally, interacting with different scholars and websites in studying Haiku has enriched my understanding on the predisposing factors behind these poems. Indeed, the most significant lesson that I learned about the haikus is their role play in exonerating cultural precepts of the Japan, and how such manifestation have contributed to social sanity. Indeed, the Galileo sources give credible views to Haikus in general, and these viewpoints reiterate about the significance of the poems to the Japanese society. Either, I have been enriched with the critical analytical skills of correlating culture and nature. Haikus are about cultural predisposition alongside nature, and how these two elements play subsidiary roles to one another.
Therefore, the knowledge that I have gained from these sixe sources has catapulted me to a new paradigm of understanding, and invoked deeper insights of studying cultural practices of a society. Indeed, the viewpoints of the Haikus to the Japanese culture have elevated my understanding of the Japanese people, their thought, feelings, and how they perceive nature. In addition, the knowledge acquired from these sources have elevated me to becoming proficient in analyzing culture, and how different issues affect certain race. It is all about beliefs that compel a certain group of people to be preservative of some ideologies.
Works Cited
"Re:Readings." Frogpond Journal 36.1, 2013: 118-119. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 2 May 2016.
Higginson, William. Haiku handbook. Good reads, 1985.Print.
Reichhold, Jane. "Haiku Techniques." journal of the haiku society of America. 2000.Print
Ross, Bruce. ‘Haiku Moment: An Anthology of Contemporary North American Haiku. Tuttle publishing, 1993, Print.
Stochastic Editors. "Haiku definition." Stochastic.com 2007: Print.
Yoon Sik, Kim. "Collection Of Haikus." New York Quarterly 65, 2009: 103. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 1 May 2016.
