Japanese Forms
Haibun – What you need to know!
What is a haibun, who developed
it, and what writing devices are
typical of the form? How does it
reflect Japanese artistic or cultural
values?
1. The Japanese art of haibun was developed in Japan
in the late 17th century by Matsuo Munefusa (Basho).
2. It focuses on objective reporting of the everyday
moment
3. The insights of that moment into a theme
developed in a concluding poem.
4. Details are recorded and generalities drawn, but the
nature of the writing style is to condense rather than
expand, to intimate rather than explain.
5. Moreover, the Japanese concept of the
essentialness of nature is incorporated into the
observation of even the most mechanical scenes.
Lecture Notes:
In the medieval Japanese society, great value was placed on nature and its relationship
to human interaction because their religion, Shintoism, recognized that all created
things had a spirit. More than mere omens, the simplest natural phenomena were
considered messages from the spirit realm, and even the samurai warrior or shogun
warlord was expected to appreciate the beauty in nature and glean wisdom from it.
For this reason, art of this period developed around the concentration on natural
scenery. In poetry, the focus was on a single image in nature which held
transcendental wisdom or inspired an intuitive or emotional response.
In the late 17th century, poet Matsuo Munefusa, called Basho, retreated to his hut,
composing simple poetry reflecting his meditations. The resulting poetry and
accompanying prose elevated the simple three-line stanza known now as haiku to an
art form. Basho's focus on simplistic yet elegant language became a standard for
Japanese poetic forms, establishing the formula of the incorporation of a seasonal
word, kigo, and the observation of a connection between two juxtaposed images,
sometimes demanding an intuitive leap, kireji, to connect the first image to the
second. As Basho traveled, he maintained this simplistic elegance in his prose journals,
usually using the present tense, which he would punctuate with a concluding haiku or
tanka. The resultant combination of prose and poetry was named haibun.
Please visit the following website for further reading:
http://raysweb.net/haiku/
Instructions:
1. Click on the Haibun Definition link to read about this form of poetry
Please visit the following website for further
reading:
http://contemporaryhaibunonline.com/
Please visit the following website for further
reading:
http://contemporaryhaibunonline.com/
Task:
Collect at least three haibun poems for your
portfolio. These will serve as a model and
inspiration for your own poetry. You will keep
these in your shoe box until you are ready to
make your book.
What is haiku?
Haiku is a Japanese poetry form. A haiku uses
just a few words to capture a moment and
create a picture in the reader's mind. It is like a
tiny window into a scene much larger than itself.
Traditionally, haiku is written in three lines, with
five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in
the second line, and five syllables in the third
line.
The following are typical of haiku:
• A focus on nature.
• A "season word" such as "snow" which tells the
reader what time of year it is.
• A division somewhere in the poem, which focuses
first on one thing, than on another. The
relationship between these two parts is
sometimes surprising.
• Instead of saying how a scene makes him or her
feel, the poet shows the details that caused that
emotion. If the sight of an empty winter sky
made the poet feel lonely, describing that sky can
give the same feeling to the reader.
“In Kyoto ...”
By Basho 1644–1694
In Kyoto,
hearing the cuckoo,
I long for Kyoto.
A Dent in a Bucket
by Gary Snyder
Hammering a dent out of a bucket
a woodpecker
answers from the woods
All the time I pray to Buddha
by Kobayashi Issa
All the time I pray to Buddha
I keep on
killing mosquitoes.
Please visit the following website:
http://www.toyomasu.com/haiku/
Task:
Collect at least three haiku poems for your
portfolio. These will serve as a model and
inspiration for your own poetry. You will keep
these in your shoe box until you are ready to
make your book.