WHCessay - WHCjapan: Yasuomi Koganei

 

Should haiku be one or two-lines? Three or four-lines?

Japanese haiku are written usually in one-line, and its one-line translation into English may justify one-line formula. Some haiku may be better written in one-line as below:

However, three-line haiku can provide more space between the lines than one-line haiku, and haiku should have a formula fit to express a wide variety of thoughts. Therefore, three-line haiku are appropriate.

Four-line haiku provide more space than three-line haiku, but they resemble a Japanese tanka with a 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic structure or a Chinese quatrain. That is, four-line haiku are too long to be called haiku. For those who want to describe haiku in an introduction-development-turn-conclusion structure, the three-line haiku provides the space between the lines for the conclusion.

Midnight chill
closing the paperback
distant train.                 

Hidetoshi Nagami

Number of syllables

"World" haiku is defined on page 82 of A Haiku Path 1968-1988, edited by The Haiku Society of America, as usually being written in three lines totaling fewer than seventeen syllables. Catherine Urquhart stated on page 9 of the book HAIKU, published by Meguro International Friendship Association in 1999 (hereafter referred to MIFA HAIKU), that it might even be worth considering having a set number of words instead of syllables. The table below shows the distribution of the number of words and syllables from among 316 free style English haiku listed in the book.

Table 2. Distribution of number of words or syllables in haiku listed in MIFA HAIKU

Number of words in haiku	Distri- bution(%)	Accumu- lated(%)		Number of syllables in haiku	Distribution(%)	Accumu- ated(%)
5 or less	3.8	3.8		9 or less	4.7	4.7
6	4.7	8.5		10	6	10.7
7	11.4	19.9		11	8.9	19.6
8	17.4	37.3		12	8.9	28.5
9	20.3	57.6		13	18.4	46.9
10	16.1	73.7		14	13	59.9
11	11.1	84.8		15	11.7	71.6
12	8.5	93.3		16	10.1	81.7
13	3.5	96.8		17	8.2	89.9
14 or more	3.2	100		18 or more	10.1	100
Total	100			Total	100

The median value is 9 for word-distribution and 13 for syllables in an integral number. That is, approximately 50 percent of English haiku consist of 9 words or 13 syllables. If these free style haiku would be composed under the restriction of 9 words or 13 syllables, they could reduce one or two words, and from 80 to 85 percent of 316 haiku might be within the limit. However, the syllabic rule is unconnected to the traditional requirements of English poetry, rhythm, metre and rhyme.

A threshold of 9 words or 13 syllables seems to be recommendable as a target of length of haiku to eliminate redundancy. A 17-syllable structure is also acceptable if a description of the thought with no redundancy necessitates it. World haiku, as a definition, should be normally written in three lines, keeping phrases as short as possible.

Three-dimensional haiku, four-dimensional haiku and bipolar structure

Many haiku suggest a three-dimensional field, such as the beauty of green mountains, flowers in a garden, seasonal awareness in a city and the beauty of sunset, etc. However, some haiku suggest emotions occurring during the elapse of time, such as diffusion of the sound of water caused by a frog jumping into a pond, a political refugee's life as a fugitive, waiting for a lover who will come across the borders or the elapse of an event in a three-dimensional field. These haiku are categorized as four-dimensional haiku because time selects a fourth axis, dimensionally.

Most haiku are in the present tense, but if events in the past, present or future are combined in one four-dimensional haiku, this would present techniques to include many feelings between the lines, and would expand the world of world haiku.

Typical three-dimensional and four-dimensional haiku are illustrated below with their bipolar structure.

Three-dimensional haiku and bipolar structure

araumi ya Sado ni yokotau amanogawa
   

This must be the masterpiece of three-dimensional haiku with bipolar structure. That is, Sado connects the wild sea (Earth) and the Milky Way (outer space) to demonstrate an extensive perspective, or three-dimensional field (Fig.1).

 

The Milky Way, according to an ancient legend associated with the Star Festival, excites pity for the Altair-Vega couple. They can meet only once a year at the time of the Star Festival called Tanabata in East Asia. Sado recalls the sadness of noble people who were exiled there, such as the famous Noh-dancer Zeami or Saint Nichiren (Buddhist). The violent sound of wind-whipped sea arouses great fear in readers. 　

The images of the Milky Way, Sado and wild sea work in synergy to induce readers to feel hopeless sorrow. Those who are familiar with European history may recall Saint Helena, and the exiled Napoléon Bonaparte, to strengthen their interpretation.

Wild sea
stretching to Saint Helena
the Milky Way.

The haiku can be interpreted adequately without knowledge of the Star Festival of Tanabata.

Another sample of three-dimensional haiku and bipolar structure is:

shibyo ete tsume utsukushiki hioke kana

Dakotsu

The brazier connects the terminally ill (death) and beautiful nails (life) to create a bipolar structure (Fig. 2). It reveals what is in the woman's mind, namely that she is manicuring her fingernails, even though it is useless since she is approaching death. The lady, knowing that death is near, is manicuring or polishing her fingernails over the brazier, also warming herself, desiring to live the rest of her life beautifully and, possibly with a faint hope of love. The brazier suggests healing. The field (three-dimensional) of this haiku is the room, in which we find her and the brazier.

Four-dimensional haiku and bipolar structure

oteuchi no meoto narishi o koromogae  (Buson)

Oteuchi no meoto:..a married couple sentenced to capital punishment
............................which is to be carried out by the landlord
............................(Daimyo) in person

Narishi o:...............have been given a reprieve and years after that

Koromogae:...........are changing garments for the season (literally)

Following is the traditional interpretation of this typical four-dimensional haiku:

In the feudal era of Tokugawa (1600-1868) which upheld a strict code of conduct, a young samurai (warrior) who fell in love with his lord's maid was sentenced to capital punishment.

However, they were given a reprieve because of their contribution to the lord's government, and because they lived unobtrusively. As the years went by, they gradually felt relaxed, and when the season came to change clothes, they replaced padded clothes with lined kimono (summer wear), and felt grateful for their lord's lenience.

From a structural viewpoint, "oteuchi no meoto: the married couple sentenced to capital punishment" implies a space including the married couple, or a three-dimensional field. And "narishi o koromogae" implies what a long time passed before they were able to change clothes for the season with a feeling of ease (Fig.3.A). Moreover, "oteuchi: capital punishment" and " koromogae: changing clothes" forms a bipolar structure (Fig. 3. B).

My favorite interpretation of this haiku is slightly different from the above. A young, runaway, married-couple who have eluded the pursuit of the lord, gradually become relaxed as the years go by. Now they are comfortably changing clothes for the season. However, they are always suspicious that strangers passing by or people talking in whispers might be pursuers or informants. They never feel completely free from pursuit. The latter interpretation is more thrilling than the former.

Nowadays, local war is still breaking out in some areas, though tension from the Cold War is neutralizing. The haiku may ring true with a married couple who are refugees seeking political asylum after crossing a border, tearing themselves from the hot pursuit of intelligence. In the case of a single refugee leaving his family in his country, his heart would be even more miserable than those expressed in this haiku.

Season words or key words

In my haiku of leaving the hospital, described above, the autumn breeze suggests a refreshing feeling in typical saijiki (dictionary of season words) in Japan. Saijiki has its base in Tokyo (or Kyoto), but Japan is long from north to south. Japanese living in southern cities such Naha in Okinawa may feel that the autumn breeze is not refreshing because the atmospheric temperature in October in Naha is slightly higher than that of Tokyo in September as shown in Table 3-1. 

Table 3-1.  Atmospheric temperature and relative humidity in typical cities in Japan Unit: ℃(%)

	July	August	September	October	Latitudes/longitudes
Sapporo	24.8(78)	26.1(78)	21.1(74)	15.7(69)	43°03N/141°20E
Tokyo	28.8(76)	30.9(73)	26.7(73)	21.2(67)	35°41N/139°46E
Naha	31.1(81)	30.7(81)	29.9(79)	27.2(73)	26°12N/127°41E

Table 3-2.  Atmospheric temperature and relative humidity in typical cities Unit: ℃(%)

	July	August	September	October	Remarks
London	16.5(78)	16.2(81)	13.8(85)	10.8(88)	51°09N/00°11W
Paris	18.4(70)	18.0(72)	15.3(78)	11.4(85)
Rome	23.6(73)	23.8(75)	21.0(76)	16.8(80)
Berlin	18.8(65)	18.4(69)	14.6(73)	10.0(79)
Madrid	24.4(40)	23.8(40)	20.4(53)	14.8(68)	40°25N/03°41W
Atlanta	26.0(73)	25.6(71)	22.6(70)	16.8(64)	In the USA

(From Rika Nenpyo, ed. National Astronomical Observatory, Maruzen Co., Ltd., 1998)

Table 3-2 shows the monthly average temperature (centigrade) and relative humidity (percent) in parentheses in typical cities in Europe and the southern part of America. In Europe, humidity goes up in October against the decline of the atmospheric temperature.  While in Atlanta in the USA, both temperature and humidity go down in October. It suggests that the European climate is cold and humid in autumn, that is, not as refreshing as in Tokyo. Therefore, those who know only humid-cold autumns may not understand the refreshing feeling suggested in the haiku about leaving the hospital, but those living in Atlanta, in the USA, may be aware of the feeling. It suggests also that season words are local and that their connotations vary with climate zone. On the contrary, haiku about human love, hatred, life or death may get worldwide acceptance.

The following two haiku of mine include no clear season words. Death selects no season.

On a rain-washed white wall
the coffin's shadow is
creeping.

Candlestick flickering
in the mortuary
sound of raindrops.

Mathematical equations may not appear in Japanese haiku but can use in world haiku. Einstein’s equation is a keyword in my haiku shown below.

E=mc²
child's shadow baked on the wall
- pelting black rain. 

In the following haiku, I attempted to express the suchness of human life while including a season word.

Staring at taillights
receding in the cold rain -
her hologram eyes.

(After a bitter meeting, he is recalling what her eyes told.)

Swaying silk parasol
the glint of fantasy
in her eyes.

Some season words such as meteorological phenomena (hurricanes, thunderbolts, typhoons, tornadoes, etc.) may be accepted widely because of their huge energy.

I made the following haiku when I read "Twister" written by Keay Davidson.

God's finger
scratched the earth
- tornado.

Coldness or heat may be accepted widely.

Pale moon
resting on skyscrapers
-          cold rising from toes.

Even Science Fiction stimulates my mind.

Black hole
sucking, warping space -
hazy lone star.

Japanese saijiki covers a tremendous number of season words, but saijiki itself is for local use. For world haiku, William J. Higginson has edited Haiku World including haiku with no season word and senryu. Haiku requires words that transmit the composer's thoughts to readers as exactly as possible. I think that these words should be called “key words” in world haiku to discontinue the fixed image of the traditional season word. Now season words, I think, should be included in key words.

Graphical display of haiku

Some English haiku composers make the lines of their haiku arrangement so graphical that it suggests their thoughts visually, but this is different from haiga (haiku pictures). Most Japanese haiku are written in the mixed style of kana (Japanese letters) and kanji (Chinese characters). Kana corresponds to alphabetic letters and kanji has, at least, two ways of pronunciation. Kanji is written sometimes with its phonetic sign (kana or katakana). Where aphasia is concerned, two kinds of aphasia are known in Japan. One is for kana and the other is kanji. It has been found from studies of aphasia that Japanese read kana in one place of their brain and read kanji in another place where the brain recognizes kanji as a kind of graphic or cartoon. [iv]  In other words, Japanese read kana in the part of the brain where European-Americans read alphabets, but they read kanji in the part of the brain where European-Americans see cartoons. Most Japanese haiku lovers examine the graphical effect of kanji for their haiku, as well as meanings of them.

Such graphical display attempts of English haiku as shown below may stimulate the reader's brain in which they enjoy cartoons, and entertain readers of haiku. Naturally, such haiku lose their graphical effects at their recital.  

A familiar technique is:

What is abstract haiku?

According to the Modern Haiku Great Dictionary, [v] haiku using words, as to awaken a new image, are sometimes called "abstract haiku." It gives the following haiku an example:

Tochigi ni iroiro no tamashii mo itari

Kan’ichi Abe

In Tochigi, various souls resided also.

(literally) 

Metaphor is very common in haiku. Readers are inclined to appreciate haiku with their own neuron circuits in their brains; those probably familiar with metaphor.  If haiku induces in the reader’s brain no analogy of the neuron-connecting process with the composer’s, the haiku has no ability to transmit the composer’s thought to the readers. Anyway, readers enjoy them in their own way, and they may distinguish between conventional haiku and abstract ones by their preference.

In the case of abstract painters, one stream of thought tries to create a new visual experience, as in the case of Kandinsky’s works; the other way is to visualize such somathesthetic awareness, as in the feeling of motion or touch, such as in Jackson Pollock’s works.[vi]

Visual haiku may possibly be one of the ways to display abstract haiku -- if the printed letters’ arrangement suggests one image, and the wording of haiku implies another image.

More than 40 years ago, my senior high school teacher gave a reading of a poem of Shinpei Kusano, written in frog language, and its Japanese version. Now, in writing this essay, I can remember only the first line of the frog language version:

Ruteeru  biru  moretoriri gaiku. 

So far as I recall, it recited like:

ruté:r bír moré toríri gáik.

This fact suggests that auditory or onomatopoeic arrangement can also provide features of abstract haiku. In Kusano’s anthology, which I detected to make this essay, I found the poem of frog language, and the title is Gobiraffu no dokuhaku (Mr. Gobiraffu’s monologue). The first line of the Japanese version I could not recall is Kofuku to iumonoha tawainakutte iimonoda (happiness is an easy thing to get).

The latter part of this poem [vii] is:

[iii] Tasumasa Arai, No no seisa, Kyoritsushuppan, 1999, p. 170-172

[iv] Takeshi Yoro, Naoya Yoshida, Me kara no ni nukeru hanashi, Chikumashobo, 1994, p. 28-31

[v] Rinka Oono et al., Gendai Haiku Dai Jiten, Meijishoin, 1980, p. 317-318

[vi] Makoto Iwata, The seeing Brain and the Drawing Brain – The Neuroscience of Drawing-, University of Tokyo Press, 1997, p. 165-166

[vii] Yasuo Irizawa ed., Kusano Shinpei shishu, Iwanamishoten, 1991, p. 101-104 

[viii] other references

Susumu Oda, Pop na no kagaku, Dobunshoin, 1996

Takashi Tachibana, No o kiwameru, Asahi Shimbun, Publishing Co.,1996

Takeshi Yoro, Yuinoron, Seidosha, 1989

Hiroaki Sata, Eigo Haiku, The SIML Press Inc., 1987

Kazuo Sato, Tsunehiko Hoshino, Jack Stamm, Haiku in English, TBS Britannica Co., Ltd., 1988

The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 1990, brain, cerebellum and cerebrum
Ichiroh Fukumoto, haiku to senryu, Kodansha, Ltd. Publishers,1999

 

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