Haiku is one of the most important modes of Japanese poetry, a late 19th century revision by Masaoka Shiki of the older hokku (??), the opening verse of a linked verse form, haikai no renga . A traditional hokku consists of a pattern of approximately 5, 7, and 5 morae, phonetic units which only partially correspond to the syllables of languages such as English. It also contains a special season word (the kigo) descriptive of the season in which the renga is set. Hokku often combine two (or rarely, three) different elements into a unified sensory impression, with a major grammatical break (kire) usually at the end of either the first five or second seven morae. These elements of the older hokku are considered by many to be essential to haiku as well, although not always included by modern writers of Japanese "free-form haiku" and of non-Japanese haiku. Senryu is a similar poetry form that emphasizes humor instead of seasons.

Hokku or haiku?
Hokku were always written in the wider context of haikai no renga, either actually or theoretically (even when printed individually). At the end of the 19th century, Shiki separated the opening verse from the linked form and applied the term haiku to it. Because it was only after this separation that the term became popular, scholars agree that it is technically incorrect to label hokku by pre-Shiki writers "haiku", a common practice in the 20th century. The persistent confusion on the topic is exemplified by David Barnhill's anthology Basho's Haiku (2005): in spite of the title, Barnhill admits that "the individual poems that Basho created are, properly speaking, 'hokku'", and that he used the term haiku because it seemed more familiar.

In this article, since it is intended to be accurate and objective,

hokku is used for verses that are written, if only theoretically, as opening verses of haikai no renga;
haiku is used for verses by Shiki and later writers, written in the form of hokku but independent of haikapanese hokku and haiku are traditionally printed in one vertical line, though in handwritten form they may be in any reasonable number of lines.

Hatsu shigure saru mo komino wo hoshige nari The first cold shower; Even the monkey seems to want A little coat of straw. (At that time, Japanese rain-gear consisted of a large, round hat and a shaggy straw cloak.

Origin and evolutionFrom renga to haikaiThe exact origin of hokku is still subject to debate, but it is generally agreed that it originated from the classical linked verse form called rengaere are two types of renga:The short renga, tanrenga, ha) called hokku e opening verse"), the second is a tanku (7-7) called waki, ... and the last is a tanku called ageku.
In the 1400s a rising middle class led to the development of a less courtly linked verse called haikai no renga"playful linked verse"). Haiku came into being when the opening verse of haikai no renga was made an independent poem at the end of the 19th century.

The inventors of haikai no renga (abbr. haikai) are generally considered to be Yamazaki Sokan (1465–1553) and Arakida Moritake (1473–1549). Later exponents of haikai were Matsunaga Teitoku (1571–1653), the founder of the Teimon school, and Nishiyama Soin (1605–1682), the founder of the Danrin school. The Teimon school's deliberate colloquialism made haikai popular, but also made it depend on wordplay. To counter this dependence, the Danrin school explored people's daily life for other s1600s, two masters arose who elevated haikai and gave it a new popularity. They were Matsuo Basho (1644–1694) and Onitsura (1661–1738). Hokku was only the first verse of haikai, but its position as the opening verse made it the most important, setting the tone for the whole composition. Even though hokku sometimes appeared individually, they were understood to always be in the context of haikai, if only theoretically. Basho and Onitsura were thus writers of haikai of which hokku was only a part, though the most important part.

The time of Basho
Basho's first-known hokku was written when he was eighteen (scholars doubt the authenticity of a supposed earlier hokku written in honor of the Year of the Bird), but it showed little promise, and much of his early verse is little more than the kind of wordplay popular at the time. The verse generally considered to mark his turning point and departure from the Danrin school came in 1680, when he wrote of a crow perched on a bare branch. Basho made his living as a teacher of haikai, as a founder of the Shofu school, and wrote a number of travel journals incorporating hokku. He was strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism, and is said to have regretted, near the end of his life, devoting more time ould be far more famous today as a haiku writer contemporary with Basho, were it not that he, unlike Basho, had no group of disciples to carry on his teachings. He wrote hokku of high quality and emphasized truth and sincerity in writing. Shofu, Basho's school of haikai, was carried on by his disciples Kikaku, Ransetsu, Kyorai, Kyoroku, Shiko, Sampu, Etsujin, Yaha, Hokushi, Joso and Boncho. It became the haikai standard throughout Japan. Branches founded by his disciples Kikaku (1661-1707) and Ransetsu (1654-1707) still existed in the latter half of the 19th century.

The time of Buson

Grave of Yosa BusonThe next famous style of haikai to arise was that of Yosa Buson (1716–1783) and others such as Gyodai, Chora, Ranko, Ryota, Shoha, Taigi, and Kito, called the Temmei style after the Temmei Era (1781–1789) in which it was created. Buson was better known in his day as a painter than as a writer of haikai, but today that is reversed. His affection for painting can be seen in the painterly style of his hokku, and in his attempt to deliberately arrange scenes in words. Hokku was not so much a serious matter for Buson as it was for Basho. The popularity and frequency of haikai gatherings in this period led to greater numbers of verses springing from imagination rather than from actual No new popular style followed Buson. A very individualistic approach to haikai appeared, however, in the writer Kobayashi Issa (1763–1827) whose miserable childhood, poverty, sad life, and devotion to the Pure Land sect of Buddhism are clearly present in his hokku.

The appearance of Shiki
After Issa, haikai entered a period of decline in which it reverted to frivolity and uninspired mediocrity. The writers of this period in the 19th century are known by the deprecatory term tsukinami, meaning "monthly," after the monthly or twice-monthly haikai gatherings of the end of the 18th century. But in regard to ts was the situation until the appearance of Masaoka Shiki (1867–1902), a reformer and revisionist who marks the end of hokku in a wider context. Shiki, a prolific writer even though chronically ill during a significant part of his life, not only disliked the tsukinami writers, but also criticized Basho. Like the Japanese intellectual world in general at that time, Shiki was strongly impressed by Western culture. He favored the painterly style of Buson and particularly the European concept of plein-air painting, which he adapted to create a style of reformed hokku as a kind of nature sketch in words, an approach called shasei, literally "sketching from life". He popularized his views by verse columns and ehokku up to the time of Shiki were written in the context of haikai, but Shiki completely separated his new style of verse from wider contexts. Being agnostic, he also separated it from the influence of Buddhism with which hokku had very often been tinged. And finally, he discarded the term "hokku" and called his revised verse form "haiku". Shiki thus became the first haiku poet. His revisionism brought an end to haikai and hokku as well as to surviving haikai schools.

Modern haiku
Hekigoto and Kyoshi
Shiki's innovative approach to haiku was carried on in Japan by his most prominent students, Hekigoto and Kyoshi. Hekigoto was the more radical of the two, while Kyoshi (1874–1959) wrote more conservative verse sometimes recalling the older hokku.

Haiku in the West
Although there were attempts outside Japan to imitate the old hokku in the early 1900s, there was little genuine understanding of its principles. Early Western scholars such as Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850–1935) and William George Aston were mostly dismissive of hokku's poetic value. The first advocate of English-language hokku was the Japanese poet Yone Noguchi. In "A Proposal to American Poets," published in the Reader magazine in February 1904, Noguchi gave a brief outline of the hokku and some of his own English efforts, ending with the exhortation, "Pray, you try Japanese Hokku, my American poets!" In France, hokku was introduced by Paul-Louis_Couchoud around 1906. Hokku subsequently had a considerable influence on Imagists in the 1910s, but there was as yet little understanding of the form and its history.

Henderson and Blyth
The first English book devoted to haiku was The Bamboo Broom (1934), by Harold Gould Henderson (1889–1974), which later came as a revised volume, An Introduction to Haiku (1958). Despite its importance, his work did not make an impact approaching that of his contemporary and acquaintance Blyth, probayth, that thJapanese and Asian literature. Those most relevant here are his Zen in English Literature and Oriental ounded no school of verse, his works stimulated the writing of haiku in English. At the end of the second volume of his History of Haiku (1964), Blyth remarked that "The latest development in the history of haiku is one which nobody foresaw,--the writing of haiku outside Japan, not in the Japanese language." He followed that comment with several original verses in English by the American James W. Hackett, with whom Blyth corresponded.

The budding of American haiku
Precisely who qualifies as the first American haiku poet depends on one's definition of haiku. Individualistic "haiku-like" verses by the innovative Buddhist poet and artist Paul Reps (1895-1990) appeared in print as early as 1939 (More Power to You - Poems Everyone Can Make, Preview Publications, Montrose CA.). Other Westerners inspired by Blyth's translations attempted original haiku in English, though again generally failing to understand the principles behind the verse form, which in Blyth is predominaincluding those of the Beat period, were often little more than the brevity of the haiku form combined with current ideas of poetic content, or uninformed attempts at "Zen" poetry. Nonetheless these experimental verses expanded the popularity of haiku in English, which while never making much of an impact on the literary world, has nonetheless proved very popular as a system of introducing students to poetry in elementary schools and as a hobby for numerous amateur writers who continue the innovation and experimentation that is the legacy of Shiki's reforms.

Today haiku is written in many languages, but the number of writers is still concentrated primarily in Japan and secondarily in English-speaking countries.

Contemporary English-language haiku
While traditional hokku focused on nature and the place of humans in nature, modern haiku poets often consider any subject matter suitable, whether related to nature, an urban setting, or even a technological context. While old hokku avoided some topics such as romance, sex, and overt violencetional hokku required a long period of learning and maturing, but contemporary haiku is often regarded as an "instant" form of brief verse that can be written by anyone from schoolchildren to professionals. Though conservative writers of modern haiku stay faithful to the standards of old hokku, many present-day writers have dropped such standards, emphasizing personal freedom and pursuing ongoing ddition to the spread of haiku, the late 20th century also witnessed the surprising revival in English of the old hokku tradition, providing a continuation in spirit of pre-Shiki verse through adaptation to the Engue to the various views and practices today, it is impossible to single out any current style or format or subject matter as definitive "haiku." The term has broadened greatly in modern usage to cover nearly any short verse. Nonetheless, some of the more common practices in Englis of three lines written in 5-7-5 syllables; Use of three (or fewer) lines of no more than 17 syllables in total; Use of metrical feet rather than syllables. A haiku then becomes three lines of 2, 3, and 2 metrical feet, with a pause after the second or fifth; Use of the "one deep breath" rule: the reader should be able to read the haiku aloud without taking a second breath.

Internet and television
Both haiku and hokku writers and verses are now found online. A search will lead to many forums where both new and experienced poets learn, share, discuss, and freely criticize.In early 1998, Salon magazine published the results of a haiku contest on the topic of computer error messages. The winning verse (senryu to be precise), written by David Dixon, wasThree things are certain: Death, taxes, and lost data. Guess which has occurred. There are online computerized systems for generating random haiku-like verse; there are "Spamku," (verses devoted to the processed, canned meat) as well as many other clever variations on the brevity of the haiku form. Witty haiku, often satirizing the form itself, have appeared in popular TV programs such as Beavis and Butt-Head and South Park.

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