What are Haiku, Senryu and Tanka?
To help you get started, here is a short introduction to Japanese poetry styles.
What are Haiku?
Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry, consisting of 17 morae (or on), in three metrical phrases of 5, 7 and 5 morae respectively. Haiku typically contain a kigo, or seasonal reference, and a kireji, or verbal caesura (cutting word).
English-language haiku poets think of haiku as a Japanese form of poetry generally (but not always) consisting of 17 syllables, usually within three lines, with 5, 7 and 5 syllables.
In Japanese, haiku are traditionally printed in a single vertical line, while haiku in English usually appear in three lines, to parallel the three metrical phrases of Japanese haiku. The essential element of form in English-language haiku is that each haiku is a short one-breath poem that usually contains a juxtaposition of images.
Most haiku writers prefer poems that refer to nature and social events, but some of them don’t always place an exacting seasonal word in the poem. Furthermore, a few of them write haiku composed on one or two lines in less than 17 syllables. Currently the majority of haiku are written in 11 short syllables in a 3-5-3 format.
And Senryu?
Senryu is a Japanese form of short poetry similar to haiku in construction: three lines with 17 or fewer morae (or on) in total. However, senryu tend to be about human foibles while haiku tend to be about nature, and senryu are often cynical or darkly humorous while haiku are more serious. Unlike haiku, senryu do not include a kireji or verbal caesura (cutting word), and do not generally include a kigo, or seasonal word.
It is often said that both haiku and senryu can be funny, but that if it’s funny, it’s probably senryu. Both haiku and senryu can be about nature, but if it’s about nature, it’s probably a haiku. In addition, both haiku and senryu can be about nature or human nature. Both haiku and senryu can be serious or humorous/satirical. A serious poem about nature is certainly a haiku. And a funny/satirical poem about human nature is certainly a senryu.
So what about Tanka?
Tanka consist of five units (often treated as separate lines when transliterated or translated), usually with the following mora pattern: 5-7-5-7-7.
The 5-7-5 is called the kami-no-ku (“upper phrase”), and the 7-7 is called the shimo-no-ku (“lower phrase”).
2009/07/26 at 4:55 am
…there are so many opinions about haiku/senryu.
_I tend to agree with the above, keeping my three lines minimal, and in (with me) an essential ‘incomplete sentence structure,’ leaving, I hope, a hole through which a reader’s mind can wander; the only punctuation I use… an ellipses. I am so often wrong in defining thr differance between haiku/senryu.
_Once I had an Akita… we called him Seki. The Akita dog must have come from the ‘Akita’ area.
_m
2009/07/26 at 12:04 pm
Yes, Magyar san
＿really it’s sometimes difficult or impossible to tell haiku from senryu, so I usually enjoy both of them as s beautiful short form of poetry. maybe it’s OK for haiku poet to call his or her poem ‘haiku’, or for senryu poet to call his or her poem ‘senryu’.
＿your way of composing haiku or senryu keeping three lines minimal is nice, and it’s also nice to leave a hole in your structure, so your readers can imagine in their own ways,enjoying what they have in their mind
＿yes, Akita is very famous for the handsome Akita dogs. your dog must have been beautiful and clever.
Hidenori Hiruta
2009/10/24 at 5:13 am
I disagree that haiku may encompass human nature. Traditionally, haiku are observations of nature. They are single moments of observation wherein the poet is moved on some level, but the poet is never introduced to the poem. There is no “I” or implication of “I” except that it is an image that is understood by the reader to be from the perspective of the poet. Senryu encompasses the human element and that is how it is differentiated from the haiku. Any suggestion of humanity or a singly person turns the poem instantly into a senryu. Of course, we all like to break the rules, but that is the traditional understanding of the forms.
2009/10/24 at 9:59 am
Eileen San,
thank you very much for a nice comment.
I really appreciate your viewpoint about the differences between haiku and senryu.
Basically and traditionally, as you say, haiku is about nature without any implication of “I”.
By the way, some Japanese haiku poets sometimes say,“I write senryu-like haiku.”
And recently in Japan, short forms of poems such as haiku, senryu or tanka, have become more popular among people, and it seems to me that they enjoy expressing themselves through their favorite form of short poetry.
In their cases, they begin writing haiku or senryu in their own ways, and enjoy them as they like.
They seem to put an emphasis on expressing what they feel or think about nature or human affairs and what they have in mind.
Last of all, we’re looking forward to appreciating your haiku or senryu in the near future.
Would you please send them to us?
We’d like to share haiku or senryu with each other on our website. Thank yu again. Hidenori Hiruta
2009/11/28 at 11:43 am
The smell of sugi
Permeates the library -
The columns have cracked!
2009/11/28 at 12:43 pm
木の香
図書館染み込む
桁裂けた!
2009/12/14 at 2:46 pm
Peter Hook-san,
thank you very much for your nice poetry in English and Japanese too.
This is Senryu,isn’t it?
I’m very sorry not to have replied to your comments through your poetry so long,but I’d like to express a lot of thanks for your contribution to our website.
I sincerely hope that you’ll teach us more about poetry, giving us comments.
Thank you again.
With my best wishes,
Hidenori Hiruta
2010/08/09 at 2:53 am
Hidenori-san, hello! I’ve really enjoyed reading these comments and the most recent poems on the blog. I’ve been writing too, so I hope to have more haiku finished soon. All good wishes from London – Helen
2010/08/09 at 10:40 am
Dear Helen-san, thank you very much for your comment! We are looking forward to your latest poems. I sincerely hope that you are enjoying your poetic life as usual. Best regards from Akita – Hidenori
2010/08/09 at 10:51 am
It’s always good to get a grounding in haiku, but there are so many styles and developments both inside and outside Japan over the years.
wedding party
a mother carries a heart
on her handbag
Alan Summers
With Words
2010/08/09 at 11:16 am
Dear Alan-san, thank you very much for your nice remark. Thanks a lot for your nice haiku too.
I am planning to study about the styles haiku is most written in, and to speak about the results of my study in the symposium whose theme is ‘Haiku in English’, held at Akita University on November 27 in Akita. Then I am willing to tell you about my report. Best regards from Akita – Hidenori
2012/03/14 at 1:59 pm
Thanks for the help, I am still learning proper skills in these forms.
2012/05/16 at 12:37 pm
I just discovered I have been writing Senryu for the past two years. Thank God the format is the same as Haiku. I could have sustained serious emotional damage
2012/08/20 at 2:45 am
Hello there,
I really enjoyed reading your definitions. Thank you! I do have a question, however.
You wrote: “The 5-7-5 is called the kami-no-ku (“upper phrase”), and the 7-7 is called the shimo-no-ku (“lower phrase”).”
Can you elaborate a bit more on these terms, since I do not speak Japanese? I thought the upper phrase was originally called a “hokku,” … which Shiki coined a “haiku” when that 5-7-5 section was extracted from the longer 5-7-5-7-7 form called “haikai no renga.”
I have never seen the “hokku” called a “kaminoku.” I am very interested in learning more about this! Thank you!
Amy
“GypsyWhim”