Japanese haiku have been traditionally composed in 5-7-5 syllables. When
poets started writing English haiku in the 1950's, they adopted this 5-7-5
form, thinking it created a similar condition for English-language haiku.
This style is what is generally considered "traditional" English haiku.
Over the years, however, most haiku poets in North America have become aware
that 17 English syllables convey a great deal more information than 17
Japanese syllables, and have come to write haiku in fewer syllables, most
often in three segments that follow a short-long-short pattern without a
rigid structure. This style is called by some "free-form" haiku. In this
essay, I will discuss the linguistic circumstances that necessitate shorter
English haiku to be more loosely structured than Japanese haiku.
5- AND 7-SYLLABLE RHYTHMS IN THE JAPANESE LANGUAGE
The 5-7-5 syllable rhythm in Japanese haiku is not the matter of arbitrary
choice that it may appear to be to a non-Japanese haiku writer. Various
combinations of 5 and 7 syllables have dominated the Japanese literary scene
for most of its history, tanka (5-7-5-7-7) being the most prominent example.
To most Japanese, words phrased in these configurations have a remarkably
mnemonic, at times haunting quality, so much so that many war and political
propaganda have utilized this form :
hoshigarimasen(7) katsumadewa(5) : "we want nothing till we win (the war)"
kono dote-ni(5) noboru-bekarazu(7) keishichou(5) : "Do Not Climb This Levee
- The Police Department"
Likewise, many Japanese aphorisms and proverbs as well as song lyrics,
including translations, take similar forms :
owariyokereba(7) subete yoshi(5) : "All's well that ends well"*
hotaru-no hikari(7) mado-no yuki(5) :
Because of these rhythmic structures, Japanese haiku and tanka can be
memorized with little or no effort, which is one of the major reasons for
the longevity of these literary forms. On the other hand, there is no such
inherent mnemonic quality to 5-7-5 English haiku, which are indeed difficult
to commit to memory. Moreover, there is no discernible rhythmic structure
to such an arrangement, due to the disparate length of English syllables.
(The mnemonic quality of 5-7-5 Japanese phrases is much closer to that of
metered rhymes in English.) These factors combined with the fact that
English carries significantly more information per syllable than Japanese
indicate that using the 5-7-5 form does not necessarily provide an analogous
condition for writing haiku in English.
This is not to say, however, that all who write in 5-7-5 should stop doing
so. I believe that 5-7-5 English haiku as a derivative of Japanese haiku
has its place in the world of poetry, just as 5-7-5 Chinese haiku is another
such derivative, seemingly containing about three times as much information
as a Japanese haiku.
THE LENGTH AND FORM OF ENGLISH HAIKU
Today, many bilingual poets and translators in the mainstream North American
haiku scene agree that something in the vicinity of 11 English syllables is
a suitable approximation of 17 Japanese syllables, in order to convey about
the same amount of information as well as the brevity and the fragmented
quality found in Japanese haiku. As to the form, some American poets
advocate writing in 3-5-3 syllables or 2-3-2 accented beats. While rigid
structuring can be accomplished in 5-7-5 haiku with relative ease due to a
greater degree of freedom provided by the extra syllables, such structuring
in shorter haiku will have the effect of imposing much more stringent rules
on English haiku than on Japanese haiku, thereby severely limiting its
potential.
THE FLEXIBILITY OF JAPANESE GRAMMAR
There are two major linguistic factors that make the Japanese language more
flexible, and thus easier to fit into a rigid form such as 5-7-5. Both of
these factors derive from the fact that the grammatical units in Japanese
are largely independent, and are relatively free to move about within a
sentence.
1. RELATIVE FREEDOM OF WORD ORDER
The English language owes much of its grammatical simplicity to the fact
that the word order plays a major role in determining the relationships
between words and phrases (subject, object, etc.). In such a language,
words and phrases cannot be moved about freely without changing the meaning
of a sentence. For example, within a sentence such as "Mother gave it to
the kitten," the words cannot be rearranged without altering the meaning.
In the Japanese language, however, because of the presence of grammatical
particles (joshi)*** that are suffixed to nouns and mark their syntactic
relationships, word units become independent and can be moved about more
freely within a sentence or a clause without affecting its meaning. As a
result, the above sentence can be rearranged in many ways in both spoken and
written Japanese without altering its core message.
1) haha-ga koneko-ni sore-o ageta mother/to
the kitten/it/gave
Furthermore, if I were to add the word "yesterday" to the sentence, the
available options in English would be "Mother gave it to the kitten
yesterday," and "Yesterday, mother gave it to the kitten." In each of the
above six Japanese versions, however, "yesterday (kinou)" can be inserted
anywhere there is a space (including the beginning of the sentence), except
at the very end, without significantly altering the meaning, thus
multiplying the number of options by a factor of four. Therefore, "Mother
gave it to the kitten yesterday" can be expressed in Japanese in twenty-four
(6 x 4) different ways. Some of the alternatives are smoother than others,
of course, but the least smooth is still as natural as "Yesterday, mother
gave it to the kitten." Here, I will only elaborate on #1 to demonstrate
the four possible alternatives.
Mother gave it to the kitten yesterday.
(1) haha-ga koneko-ni sore-o ageta + kinou :
kinou haha-ga koneko-ni sore-o ageta
In other words, noun phrases and many adverbs in the Japanese language can
be placed almost anywhere within a sentence except that the verbs or verb
phrases (including negations) must come at the end. In more complex
sentence structures than the one in the above example (i.e., two or more
sentences joined by conjunctives), the same degree of freedom holds within
each clause. While one option may be superior to others in poetic terms,
having a multitude of alternative expressions at one's disposal allows a
Japanese haiku poet far more freedom within the 5-7-5 structure than is
available in English.
Moreover, in Japanese, some of the grammatical particles and the subject of
a sentence can be omitted depending on the context, which gives the language
further flexibility.
2. RELATIVE EASE IN SEGMENTATION
This relative independence of grammatical components also results in the
ease in dividing a phrase into 5-7-5. In the above example, the six
Japanese versions of "Mother gave it to the kitten" can be segmented
anywhere there is a space. Therefore, if they were to occur within haiku or
tanka (though very unlikely, since they are so unpoetic!), there are three
equally plausible locations each sentence can be divided, whereas "Mother
gave it to the kitten" offers fewer options. Likewise, in the case of
"Mother gave it to the kitten yesterday," each of the twenty-four possible
Japanese sentences can be divided wherever there is a space (four
locations).
Thus there are more places where a Japanese phrase can be divided without
disrupting its meaning. If English had the same degree of segmentation
flexibility as Japanese, the following haiku,
across the arroyo
can be rewritten to approximate the 3-5-3 form as
across the
without affecting the meaning. As it is, doing so sacrifices too much in
the flow of words and interferes with the image. Since Japanese haiku are
written on one line, with no spacing between the segments, there is no
danger of disrupting the flow in this manner. It is merely an artifact
borne of the linguistic differences between the two languages and of the
three-line convention of English haiku that makes the former appear as if it
does not have a classic form. The type of unnatural line breaks seen in the
latter is a problem associated with the 3-5-3 (or other short) form, whereas
the 5-7-5 form is long enough to accommodate natural line breaks dictated by
the English grammar, due to a greater degree of freedom provided by the
extra syllables.
Thus we are in a bind, a catch twenty-two. If one wishes to have the
brevity and the fragmented quality of Japanese haiku in English haiku, 17
syllables are too long. On the other hand, if a rigid structure is desired,
11 syllables are too short. One must choose between the two. The choice
depends on which of the two factors a poet considers more important to
haiku. The majority of contemporary English-haiku poets have let go of the
tight forms in favor of brevity to develop the mainstream North American
haiku.
THE UNDERLYING STRUCTURES OF THE CLASSIC JAPANESE HAIKU
As demonstrated above, 5-7-5 segmentation is not a division based on content
as we think of it in English. Strictly in terms of content, the classic
Japanese haiku are composed of two major parts of varying lengths, such as
5-12, 12-5, 8-9, 9-8, 7-10, and 10-7, in the generally decreasing order of
prevalence, with the first two being the most prevalent. Here are some
examples from the great masters (with a literal translation by the author) :
yuku haru-ya (5) tori naki uo-no me-ni namida (12)
- Basho
spring passing -
neko-no meshi shoubansuru-ya (12) suzume-no-ko (5)
- Issa
sampling the cat's food -
ware-to kite asobe-ya (9) oya-no nai suzume (8)
- Issa
come play with me -
uguisu-no naku-ya (8) chiisaki kuchi akete (9)
- Buson
uguisu singing -
(uguisu : a nightingale-like bird)
A close observation of "free-form" English haiku reveals that they are
composed of two major segments. The majority of them are divided after the
first or the second line and the rest near the middle, and thus they are in
accord with the underlying structures of the classic Japanese haiku.
In writing short English haiku, the decision as to where the division falls
is based mainly on the dictates of English grammar and the poetic merits of
given expressions. To limit short haiku to those that can be fitted into a
rigid three-part structure is to severely limit the type of ideas that can
be expressed in this style.
THE MATTER OF KU-MATAGARI (SEGMENT-STRADDLING)
Besides the two linguistic considerations and the varying underlying
structures described above, there is yet another factor adding freedom and
flexibility to contemporary Japanese haiku. Although a majority of
contemporary Japanese haiku are still written in the classic 5-7-5 form, a
significant number of them make use of what is called ku-matagari
(segment-straddling), where a word straddles two segments. Many haiku that
appear to be, and can be read aloud as 5-7-5 are actually 7-5-5, 8-4-5,
5-9-3, 5-8-4, etc. This technique is more frequently used by the poets in
the avant-garde schools, and only those schools seem to allow more than one
straddling within one haiku.****
Although the popular use of ku-matagari is a relatively recent phenomenon, I
have come across some examples in a comprehensive collection of Issa's
haiku. Here is one example :
dou owaretemo (7) hitozato-o (5) watari-dori (5)
- Issa
hunted mercilessly
In English haiku, it is simply not conceivable to break a line in the middle
of a word just to serve the form. The reason why ku-matagari is feasible in
Japanese haiku is because 5-7-5 rhythm is rooted so deeply in the Japanese
psyche that the readers are able to keep track of the form despite the lack
of a break where one is expected, as well as because of the aforementioned
fact that the Japanese haiku are written on a single line with no spacing.
If they were written on three lines as English haiku are, there would be an
awkward situation of having to split a word across two lines.
In short, writing within the rigid structure of Japanese haiku is made
possible by the remarkable malleability and redundancy of the Japanese
language which allows for a multitude of options in expressing a single
thought. In languages such as English and its relatives whose grammars are
heavily dependent on word order, haiku must and will take a much different
form from that in Japanese. By concerning ourselves too much with the
outward form of haiku, we can lose sight of its essence.
* owariyokereba(7) subete yoshi(5) : "All's well that ends well"
** hotaru-no hikari(7) mado-no yuki(5) :
These are the first words of the lyrics sung to the tune of Auld Lang Syne
by Japanese school kids at the time of graduation. The lyrics are inspired
by an old Chinese poem. Incidentally, we all grew up thinking this and many
other Western tunes were written and composed by Japanese; i.e., Home Sweet
Home, Glory Glory Hallelujah, Oh My Darling Clementine, I've Been Working On
The Railroad; the list goes on. The Japanese lyrics tend to be totally
different in content from that of the original. This is because the lyrics
have been entirely rewritten since literal or even figurative Japanese
translations simply cannot be fitted into the tune. The Japanese lyrics are
well integrated into the tunes, and are sung with one or more note per
syllable.
*** kaku-joshi (case particles)
-wa, -ga, -mo, (-no) : subjective case; -wa and -ga are often abbreviated
Example: kare
kare-wa : he
****Ku-matagari is used more extensively in contemporary Japanese
tanka.
"the light of fireflies, snow by the window" [lyrics corresponding to
"should auld acquaintance be forgot(8) and never brought to mind(6)?" in
Auld Lang Syne]**
2) haha-ga sore-o koneko-ni ageta
mother/it/to the kitten/gave
3) sore-o koneko-ni haha-ga ageta it/to the
kitten/mother/gave
4) sore-o haha-ga koneko-ni ageta
it/mother/to the kitten/gave
5) koneko-ni sore-o haha-ga ageta to the
kitten/it/mother/gave
6) koneko-ni haha-ga sore-o ageta to the
kitten/mother/it/gave
haha-ga kinou koneko-ni sore-o ageta
haha-ga koneko-ni kinou sore-o ageta
haha-ga koneko-ni sore-o kinou ageta
deep scars
of a joy ride - Keiko
Imaoka
arroyo, deep scars
of a joy ride
birds cry, tears in the eyes of fish
a baby sparrow
you motherless sparrow
with the small mouth open
migrating birds still
fly over towns
FOOTNOTES
Which came first? The Japanese proverb or Shakespeare's? Who knows? Most
likely, they were independently conceived, since the idea expresses a
universal human sentiment.
"the light of fireflies, snow by the window" [lyrics corresponding to
"should auld acquaintance be forgot(8) and never brought to mind(6)?" in
Auld Lang Syne] -- two of the Japanese syllables span two notes.
-o, -ni, -e, -to, -kara : objective case; -o is often abbreviated
-no : possessive case
kare-ga : he
kare-mo : he too
kare-no : he (in archaic grammar)
kare-o : him
kare-ni : him; to him; by him
kare-kara : from him; by him
kare-e : to him
kare-to : with him
kare-no : his
If you wish to e-mail Keiko: keiko@AZStarNet.com
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