HAIKU

also called Hokku, Japanese poetic form consisting of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables each. Originating in the first three lines of the traditional 31-syllable tanka, or short poem, haiku began to rival the older form in the Tokugawa period (16031867), when the great master Matsuo Basho elevated haiku to a highly refined and conscious art. It has since remained the most popular poetic form. Many of Basho's haiku were actually the hokku (initial verse) of a renga (linked verse). The term haiku is derived from the first element of the word haikai (a comical verse of 17 syllables) and the second of hokku; for centuries the two terms haikai and hokku were used as synonyms of haiku. Originally, the form was restricted in subject matter to an objective description of nature suggestive of one of the seasons, evoking a definite, though unstated, emotional response. Later its subject range was broadened, but it remained an art of expressing much and suggesting more in the fewest possible words. Other outstanding haiku masters are Buson in the 18th century, Kobayashi Issa in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Masaoka Shiki in the latter 19th century. In English, the Imagists (191230) and a few other poets have written haiku or imitated the form. Reginald H. Blyth's History of Haiku, 2 vol. (196364), is both a history and an anthology of haiku in English translation; his Haiku, 4 vol. (197677), expands the anthology.