Misako Yoke delves into the origins of haiku, tracing it back to the 8th century and exploring its application in Western settings today.
Haiku, an enduring, time-tested form
Nick: So let’s touch on haiku. I think most people know the word haiku, most of our listeners, but maybe they don't really understand it fully like me. So how would you define haiku?
Misako: Haiku, traditionally, is an enduring time-tested form. And it has gone through so many changes. It started from, you can trace back to 5-7-5-7-7 syllables, that is very comfortable for Japanese. Just like the music, it sticks to your brain, and then you can sing afterwards many times.
And 5-7-5-7-7 started from eighth century, the Nara period, and it hasn't been called haiku yet. But the collaboration of 10,000 leaves, it started from nature. Poets read 5-7-5-7-7 called Tanka, and it has became one book.
It's the eighth century, so it’s embedded into Japanese—5-7-5-7-7, it's very comfortable. And then it became the samurai era, my favorite era, it comes after the 12th century period. It wasn't still haiku—that was the form of haiku was born, the era. The poets gather together, and they take a turn of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables to create a longer poem until each poet gets satisfied.
And the first 5-7-5 was called hokku, and that became haiku, a stand alone poem in Basho era. And now it became really popular in Western culture as well, it's 5-7-5 syllables. And traditionally, I say, it has to have indication of the season and celebration of the nature. And entwined with your feelings or emotions and some sort of atmosphere of the town or mountains.
And explores subject and object, who is reading it, or who is experiencing it. It's 5-7-5 syllables, three lines, let you travel into the area, and you get somehow exploring the point, created a scenery. That's the traditional haiku.
And we'll talk about a little bit more later, it's called kigo, a seasonal world, it has to have it. If it doesn't have it, it goes more black humor and satire and criticizing politics and so forth in the 5-7-5 syllables, that is called in Japan senryu. It is still very popular to this date. And some people make a very sharp, very funny, but very black humor.
And in Western culture, the line between haiku and senryu can be very blur. Because senryu can have seasonal words, and how do you differentiate that? I do not have someone clearly differentiate haiku versus senryu in a Western culture way, because, you know, Hawaii doesn't have winter.
Internationally, it gets blur. So to summarize it, haiku is 5-7-5 syllables, and traditionally, it has to have the indication of the season. It doesn't have to be snow or element, it can be your melancholic feelings when you see that autumn is coming, that feeling can be used as indications. In Japan, there are references you can check if this kigo is right or not. But in universal way, it's more free.