Composing Haiku
in English as a Foreign Language
David
McMurray
Asahi
Haikuist Network Editor and
Associate Professor of Intercultural Studies at
The International University of Kagoshima, Japan
Introduction
Cutting through
their umbilical
first laughter
Haiku was conceived and born in
Japan after having been fertilized by the Chinese language, it was reared on a
careful diet of Japanese poetics, lured by the beauty of French and Spanish,
embraced by foreign languages and cultures, and has flourished with American and
British partners. Thus enriched by its adventures around the world, I posit that
in a poetic arc, the haiku path may soon lead it to again feed from the hands of
Japanese composers -- this time, however, from inspired new writers of English
as a foreign language (EFL).
This article outlines the history of haiku development and the people, languages
and cultures that have helped to shape its growth so far. It adds to the vibrant
debate about who might ride the next creative wave of haiku, who could be
nominated the haiku master of this new century, and whose language will she
speak? It provides an anecdote about why the translation of poetry is neither an
efficient nor an effective way to build understanding among an international
community, and discusses ways to encourage students to write haiku in the
variety of English that they prefer.
The main purpose of the article is to identify a new type of haiku poet who is
rapidly coming to the fore and will soon be ready to contribute to the creative
development of haiku in major ways. I believe our haiku world is poised to
receive this new wave of creative work during the first decade of this new
century. My theory is based upon analysis of the more than 125,000 poems that I
have collected over the past seven years that have been forwarded to me via the
Asahi Haikuist Network column by letter, fax, and e-mail. It has also been a
great pleasure to exchange haiku in English, Japanese and French with colleagues
at workshops, meetings and conferences. I have also introduced haiku to junior
and senior high school students in Canadian and Japanese classrooms and through
various publications. Currently I guide a 15-week international haiku course for
university students and also a monthly seminar for adults in Kagoshima, Japan.
Haikuists enrolled in these classes have composed hundreds of inspiring pieces.
Each week nine of the best haiku from all of these sources are selected
and published with an accompanying commentary on Friday in the International
Herald Tribune Asahi Shimbun newspaper (copies available by writing to 5-3-2
Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 801-0144, Japan) and on the Internet at:
http://www.asahi.com/english/haiku.
About 3,500 haiku have been
printed so far. During the first 3 years after the launch of the column most of
the published haiku were by native English speakers, but lately by my count on
average 6 of the 9 selected haiku are by EFL poets based in various countries.
The featured haiku are not translations and are originally composed in English
by haikuists whose first language is not English, making the column a unique
offering to the world haiku community.
Haiku has Found Much Inspiration from Outside Japan
Coughing loud
just like father did
to be heard
Haiku has developed over the past
400 years through constant experimentation and reform. It first emerged as a
unique poetic genre in the early 16th century by differentiating itself from the
more serious renga poetry. Haikuists nurtured the infant form by borrowing
compound words from the Chinese language and other expressions that had
previously been banned from the Japanese poetic vocabulary. The modern haiku
reform, that bolstered its stunted growth at the end of the 19th century, was
based on an innovative technique requiring the haiku poet to sketch from life --
a term borrowed from the critical vocabulary of Western painting. In the early
20th century, French and Spanish imagist poets translated Japanese poetry and
collaborated with Japanese poets.
The spectacular growth in the number of people around the world who actively
read and compose haiku began when poets experimented with traditional Japanese
form and poetics, adapting them to compose haiku in their own languages. During
the latter 20th century many new forms of haiku written in standard American or
British English appeared in books, anthologies and journals. Haiku poets
organized societies in 40 countries, and haiku is now written in at least 25
languages by an estimated 10 million people. By the end of the 20th century most
haiku is still being written in Japanese, followed by English. Haiku in other
languages is usually translated into both Japanese or English when shared around
the world or entered into international competitions. Every time, therefore,
that haiku seems to have hit a plateau in its number of readers and writers or
lapsed in its creativity, it has managed to find inspiration from abroad.
Identifying the People, Languages and Cultures that
Inspire Haiku
In each of the past four centuries, one man has been recognized among academics,
authors and leaders of haiku associations as the reigning grand master of haiku
poetry: Matsuo Basho (1644 - 1694), Yosa Buson (1716 - 1783), Kobayashi Issa
(1763 - 1827) and Masaoka Shiki (1867 - 1902).
Perhaps to correct that gender imbalance, renewed interest in haiku composed by
Japanese women from the time of Basho to the present -- such as Chiyo-ni, Hisajo
Sugita, Masajo Suzuki, and Yoshiko Yoshino -- has resulted in research or
translation of these women's haiku into English (each poet being studied by,
respectively, Patricia Donegan & Yoshie Ishibashi, Debi Bender & Eiko
Yachimoto, and the latter two by Emiko Miyashita & Lee Gurga).
In an opinion piece published in the March, 2001 issue of the Japan Quarterly,
Seegan Mabesoone asked whether it is possible for the haiku spirit to be
separated from the Japanese language and stated that the main reason that haiku
developed as an art is that it developed in concert with the Japanese language.
He attributes the beauty of haiku to its specific vocabulary, such as the
Japanese season words (kigo) and the cutting words (kireji). He believes
"that the international language of haiku in the 21st century should be
Japanese -- not English or another language. I am sure that many foreigners will
be able to bring their contributions in Japanese, too, to the haiku poetry of
the new millennium."
In May 2000, I was among 657 haikuists, including 196 from outside Japan, asked
to help with a worldwide search for a poet with a deep understanding and
appreciation of the haiku spirit and its techniques to receive the Masaoka Shiki
International Haiku Grand Prize and its accompanying 5 million Japanese yen cash
award. The competition was organized by the Ehime Culture Foundation, Ehime
Prefecture, the city of Matsuyama and other sponsors, in the hope that the award
would enhance awareness of haiku as the shortest form of world poetry. The
recipient of the award, announced in August, was Yves Bonnefoy (1923 - ), a
French poet and university professor. Bonnefoy's recent work has revolutionized
traditional French poetry in Europe --considered a suitable achievement for the
first recipient of the prize named for Shiki, who himself brought about a
revolution in the tradition of haiku in Japan.
Another way to give merit to the century-long waves of haiku development is to
note that it was first composed in the Japanese language over 300 years ago. 200
years later, Japanese haiku was first translated into Spanish, French and
Portuguese. Mexican poet and art critic Jose Juan Tablada (1871 - 1945) is
considered to be the first non-Japanese to write a haiku in 1900. He was invited
to Yokohama and introduced to haiku, the brevity of which tempted him to try his
hand at the intriguing form. Paul-Louis Couchard then published his own
collection of haiku in French, Au fil de l'eau (Along the Stream) in 1905.
French poets of the 1920s and 1930s regularly corresponded with Japanese
haikuists, and in 1936, Kyoshi Takahama (a disciple of Shiki, 1874 - 1959)
collaborated more deeply with haiku colleagues by visiting them in Paris.
During the past 50 years or so, Japanese haiku have been translated into English
and many poets have come to the fore by composing haiku in English. Britons and
Americans were among the first translators and haikuists to write in
English. British educator and poet Reginald Horace Blyth (1898 - 1964) is
recognized as one of the first serious translators of haiku into English and for
widely introducing Japanese haiku to English-speaking Europe by 1950. In Tokyo,
Blyth encountered American scholar Harold Gould Henderson (1889 - 1974) who
shared his enthusiasm and is often credited with being among the first to
introduce haiku to North America. Once haiku had been introduced to the western
world, it spread quickly and creative writers started to win prizes. Nick
Virgilo (1928 - 1989) won first prize in a contest organized by American Haiku,
a Wisconsin-based journal (first issue 1963) for his innovative poem that
introduced the use of a colon to serve in place of the Japanese "ya"
(ah!) that is known as kireji, a cutting word, and a row of dots, an ellipsis,
to serve in place of the Japanese expression "kana" (alas!).
Lily:
.out of the water...
...out of itself.
James W. Hackett won the inaugural
Japan Airlines (JAL) haiku contest (1964) by setting his poem in a 5-7-5
syllable form and also using a colon on the first line for punctuation.
A bitter morning:
sparrows sitting together
without any necks.
The Americans were soon followed
by enthusiasts from the full gambit of native English-speakers: Canadians,
Australians, New Zealanders, Irish, Scots, and South Africans.
By 1990, the JAL Foundation supported the first World Children's Haiku Contest
which attracted 60,000 entries. In March 1991, Haiku by the Children '90, a
collection of 1,400 haiku by children from 26 countries that were originally
written in 19 languages, was published and widely distributed. Many of the
locally selected haiku were translated into 17 English syllables and 17 Japanese
phonograms by Jack Stamm, who died just before the book was published, and Kazuo
Sato, who is professor emeritus at Waseda university and who was once a student
of R.H. Blyth.
In addition to contests, haiku anthologies compiled by authoritative authors
have showcased the work and biographies of top haikuists. Cor van den Heuvel
regularly introduces the top English-language haiku composers in The Haiku
Anthology first published by W.W. Norton in 1974. He is past president of
the Haiku Society of America and headed the panel of judges for the JAL English
language haiku contest and visited Matsuyama in the late 1980s. His 1999 edition
included the works of 89 poets. All these recognized poets are native speakers
of English based in America or Canada.
Asia's acceptance of haiku has taken much longer than it had in Europe and North
America. The Chinese and Koreans have had similar short forms of poetry for
hundreds of years. Filipino poets have actively adopted longer forms of poetry
from America during this century. The rising popularity of haiku in North
America however seems to have encouraged Asians to also try their hand at the
form. The first anthology of Japanese traditional haiku translated into the
Korean language did not appear on book shelves in Seoul until April 1, 2000.
The Problem of Relying on Translation as a Model for
World Haiku
Instantaneous and consecutive interpretation is a time-consuming and expensive
solution for international communication. Translation has not proven itself to
be a reliable solution. Let me provide an example of how intercultural
communication between learned academics of literature can go terribly awry. All
poets want to know how readers interpret their verses, but many poets do not
appreciate being edited, and translation of their poems into other languages is
problematic.
Convening an international poets'
conference in which language translation serves to link the poets is difficult
at the best of times. Renku poetry (a linked verse composed by several poets
together) was translated into German, Japanese and English at a two-day meeting
of academics at Kansai University. It synthesized into a heated and at times
argumentative academic debate over the translation of the final stanza:
beneath those boughs
nine poets doze
This debate became the central
issue of the convention and led to the publication of 135 pages of proceedings
entitled Renku in Japanese, edited by Innui, Morosawa and Sakamoto, published in
Osaka by the Kansai University Press in 2000. Japanese, German and American
poets were involved. The Oxford University-educated poet Stephen Gibbs wrote in
the proceedings that he was "quite taken by American Professor Johnson's
original version of the final verse... and liked it particularly for its nice,
Taoist-sage relaxedness, suggested by its three somnolently persistent voiced
/s/s, and four long or complex vowels, plus the fact that it so aptly registered
our shared sense of overwhelmingly fatigue at the end of the second day."
Unfortunately for the Briton and American, the translator who was well versed in
the renku poetic form in Japanese, prejudiced that the translation of the
poetics in English as written in the present-day should still follow the
traditional Japanese form and translated the lines under those guiding
principles (shijin ju-nin nodoka ni ikou). The Japanese version was then
"translated back" into the English as:
quiet all about them
at rest, ten poets
The Japanese translation contains
a cliché for spring that means calm and implies the poets were all basking
comfortably in the sun after their labors. The tenth poet was the translator
himself who had been absent temporarily when the American penned his poem.
The main argument from the translator, a university professor at Kansai
University, for the startling change is that renku poetry was developed by the
Japanese in the seventeenth century. The German and English versions written
today, therefore, are but satellites to it. Gibbs wrote in the Renku in Japanese
proceedings that "I myself find this negatively demonstrated attitude
inherently (albeit unconsciously) insulting, to the whole project. Just where, I
find myself shrilly demanding, is the element of international cooperation...
God have mercy on all poets, but especially upon those that willfully undertake
to compose in groups - and very especially upon those that essay this in groups
sharing such unequal footings, on which it becomes uncertain whether all the
languages used have equal rights, or whether the thought or the wording be more
important."
Encouraging the Composition of Haiku in the New
Englishes of Asia
Faced with the growing demand for English instruction in Asia and the
realization that translation is not always possible nor practical, there seems
to be an opportunity for future EFL haikuists. During the past decade a new
growth of haiku written in English by non-native speakers of English has taken
bud. Demand for the English language around the world has grown in tandem with
the exponential rise in economic globalization during the latter part of the
past century. By my count, there are now 360 million speakers of English as a
native language (summation of population in America, Canada, United Kingdom,
Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) and over 1 billion speakers of EFL
(summation of students and estimated number of international business people in
countries such as India, China, Japan, etc). English language teachers have
rekindled a vibrant debate about whether American and British standard English
are world languages and the desired target languages for EFL speakers. Taking
into consideration the existence and growth of Singaporean English, Philippine
English and a host of other varieties, EFL teachers are drafting lesson
plans that teach reading and writing skills geared to the understanding of the
new Englishes in a way that promotes creativity, intercultural tolerance and
sensitivity. There are an estimated 10 million active writers of haiku in
Japanese, and 1.5 million writers of haiku in English. One million are estimated
to be EFL composers. Using this rationale, haikuists may have grown too
comfortable thinking that American and British forms of English haiku should
serve as world standards for translation and original compositions.
During my first year in Asia it took me a while to change some of my old habits
from the Western world and to get used to trying out new ways of doing things -
such as wearing slippers into the shower on winter mornings.
Stone cold floor
makes me dance
while I shave
As a language teacher, it is
enlightening for me to witness just how motivated students can become when they
see how a few nouns and verbs can be assembled into a haiku in English. My EFL
students often come up with new English phrases, such as "I am a
weekend," and "People like to meet at me" that they try to use in
their haiku. There is a line that can be drawn somewhere between the overly
structured EFL classrooms where students chant "This is a pen," in
chorus and the classrooms of chaos where the teacher simply says, "Let's
speak English." That line demarcates the edge of complexity where EFL
development lies. The exacting structure of traditional Japanese haiku and the
completely free-style form often favored by native speakers of English in North
America there lies an opportunity for EFL composers to produce more creative
forms of haiku in English. Japanese EFL students have the cultural
understanding, technique, and the vocabulary base, but they often lack the
confidence and motivation to compose haiku of high quality in English.
The major hurdle that Japanese students have long had a fear of is that their
English ability is not good enough for the writing of literature such as haiku
poetry. Students from other Asian countries -such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and
the Philippines- take more pride in their own varieties of English however.
Recent studies about the attitudes of English language students and faculty at
Philippine universities toward Philippine English shows a positive
acceptance of it.
I composed the following haiku on my way to school one day. Children in rural
Japan are still quite shy about communicating with foreigners and often wait
until I pass by before mustering the courage to say something.
Riding past
smiling school children
their "hello"
In my haiku classroom in a
Japanese university, a dramatic and I believe beneficial shift in demographics
has occurred. Where once homogeneous EFL classes composed of Japanese students
were the norm, now they are interspersed with students from Asia. My students
are more likely to communicate on campus, via e-mail and telephones with other
non-native speakers of English than to native speakers of English. I therefore
re-assessed my syllabi and textbooks to accommodate the use and learning of new
Asian Englishes and its application to the writing of haiku. Students do their
haiku peer review and other communication exercises with speakers of different
English dialects who have different cultural backgrounds.
A dozen or so other teachers of English-language haiku at Japanese universities
have also inspired their students to write hundreds of haiku also encouraged
these protégés to seek publication in the Asahi Haikuist Network column.
The Asahi Haikuist Network
The haikuists who share their poetry in the Asahi Haikuist Network include
seasoned teachers of English based in Britain, India and New Zealand as well as
students of English as a foreign language in the Philippines, Korea, China and
Japan. Some haikuists are doctors or professors in the fields of science, math
and technology living in The Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and America. Others
are artists in Sweden, poets in Canada, tea-connoisseurs in France, miners in
Croatia, or prisoners in Yugoslavia. Professional writers, poets and newsletter
editors join the network on a weekly basis. Some housewives and retired business
people send their haiku daily.
This wide and synergetic network of haikuists -- based in over 30 countries --
has helped move the artistic craft of haiku into inspirational and worthwhile
directions. Their combined efforts are raising the level of haiku to an
internationally recognized form of poetry that attracts the best
English-language verse. The more creative haikuists have coined new words and
others were able to find new seasonal references. Some of the veteran haikuists
wrote in to share their congratulatory news about the wonderful prizes they have
won in contests, and some haikuists who have already earned great fame kindly
joined the network for the first time to share a few of their original haiku.
Tachibana Kennosuke has contributed several haiku to the Asahi Haikuist Network
each week for the past 7 years. He was introduced to English and haiku at Aiko
Gakuen, a junior and senior high school in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture about 50
years after Masaoka Shiki began the modern haiku movement there. Tachibana says
he believes that the innovative approach taken recently by many haikuists in
experimenting with 3-5-3 syllables "tends to silently introduce kireji such
as ya and kana into English haiku," and warns that
"necessarily, even in Japanese high schools, there are rebel free-style
streams and innovators." He composed the following poem to commemorate the
new millennium.
Y2K
Jupiter rises
discreetly
Use of the acronym in his haiku is
an efficient way to write and to say the year 2000. It is rhythmically superior
to writing out in longhand "two thousand" or "the year two
thousand." It uses just three characters and three syllables making for a
perfect English haiku written in 3-5-3 syllables. That form seems to fit
English, better than the 5-7-5 syllable form that achieved such great success in
Japanese haiku. The form of the phrase Y2K with two letters hugging a number in
the middle is also symmetrical, which is also often a goal for haikuists. When
Y2K is analyzed as poetry, one hears a satisfying combination of syllables: a
diphthong (Y), followed by a long vowel (2), and a final, concluding diphthong
(K).
Satoru Kanematsu also sends several haiku each week from Nagoya. Encouraged by
his peers he adheres closely to a pithy 3-5-3 syllable format and captures the
feel of everyday life in Japan.
Dragonfly
kicks its reflection
on the pond
Midday heat
speeding trucks rattle
the small house
My haiku
chosen no longer
summer's gone
EFL haikuists also often use
quoted speech to describe the English that they come across in their everyday
lives. Businessman Kiyoshi Fukuzawa in Tokyo and Hitomi Kanbara a high school
student in Kagawa wrote, respectively the following haiku.
"What a hot day"
no other greetings
on the bus
"Hello"
my mother smiles
steam from stew
Hisako Akamatsu, an EFL speaker,
creatively customizes English words to fit the new 3-5-3-syllable count proposed
as an optimum form for haiku. She takes control of English, and effectively
demonstrates her response to the key premise of language ownership that "If
you can use it, you own it," when she composed:
Counting blooms
reveals day's fortune
morn' glory
She truncated the flower name for
colleagues around the world because the full name "morning glory" is a
four-syllable word that wouldn't fit on the last line; the preferred position
for haiku season words. In another example , EFL poet Kennosuke Tachibana coined
a new English phrase for apogee and he translated an old traditional haiku by
Buson (Tsuki tenshin mazushiki machio toorikeri) into a new English
form.
Moon up top
visiting the quarters
of the poor
Coining phrases such as
"Morn' glory" and "Moon up top" were achieved by combining
an understanding of traditional Japanese thinking with an accepted modern
English format.
These are simple examples, but
when multiplied by the 1.5 million EFL haikuists in the world today they suggest
that in future more creative forms of haiku could emerge. Poetry aficionados may
soon feel a competitive tug for the ownership of English haiku toward EFL
composers from Japan and other countries.
Conclusion
There is something mysterious about the way the stream of haiku flows through
the languages, countries and cultures of the world. Haiku whirls around in an
eddy at times, but in other places it can run in a torrent, split into several
schools of thought, or merge with other learned streams and become a mighty
river. Haiku can take new directions depending on the language and culture it is
created in and through the borrowing of phrases from other languages, or the
coining of new words. The development of haiku requires ongoing study to
keep abreast of its new courses.
Where 10 years ago I tried to determine how to emphasize the interconnectedness,
the varieties, and the richness of several foreign languages being used to write
haiku, the realities of the new century means considering how to emphasize the
interconnectedness, the varieties, the richness of several varieties of English
used to create haiku.
Currently the demand for English and the interest in haiku composed in English
is in full flow around the world. The English language has divided into many
Englishes - American English, British English, Australian English, Indian
English, Singlish, Taglish, and so on. This has created a new diversity in the
world's languages. English haiku will naturally flow in this manner too.
In Japan and some parts of Asia where there is a deep understanding of poetry
and interest in haiku, there are non-native speakers of English who are
beginning to take advantage of their additional language and use it in unique
ways. These new players in the tug-of-war over the ownership of English are
coming to the fore the strength and creativity of whom we have not felt before.
I look forward to facilitating the introduction of creative and beautiful haiku
written in different varieties of English into the world.
White magnolia
clearly reflected
on windows
[All haiku by David McMurray
unless otherwise specified.]
Author note
David McMurray is Associate Professor in the Humanities Department of the
Intercultural Studies Faculty of The
International University of Kagoshima in Japan. He invites correspondence on
topics such as the merger and acquisition of culture, global Englishes and haiku
poetry by e-mail at mcmurray@int.iuk.ac.jp.
He is editor of the popular weekly Asahi
Haikuist Network column in the International Herald Tribune - Asahi Shimbun
that is also posted weekly to the Internet at http://www.asahi.com/english/haiku.
Haikuists of all ages and abilities are welcome to send their haiku or haiku
books for review to David McMurray by e-mail at mcmurray@fka.att.ne.jp,
by mail to Asahi Haikuist Network, International Herald Tribune - Asahi Shimbun,
5-3-2 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo,104-8011, Japan.
If you are a Japanese national
living in Japan or abroad, who would like to learn about writing haiku in
English, please see:
eigohaiku:
WHC classes for Japanese who wish to compose haiku in English
WHCbeginnersjapan:
WHC mailing list for Japanese who wish to compose haiku in English
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