Does Haiku poetry always have to have only 5–7–5 syllables?
I know it’s a basic rule of Haiku, but can I violate it?
Haiku is a traditional poetry style in Japan. It has to be composed of 5–7–5, a total of 17 moras in Japanese. (The term ‘mora’ is confused with a Japanese letter. Lots of Japanese people even believe that Haiku has 17 letters, but precisely speaking, it should be said ‘moras.’)
When it comes to Haiku written in English, you need to focus on syllables. Haiku poem is supposed to have 5–7–5 syllables in English. This structure makes your poem be a Haiku poem.
Though I know it is the basic rule of Haiku poetry, but I am a person who always thinks about going my way. My question is: how strictly do we need to follow this rule? Is it essential that Haiku poem always have to have 17 syllables only?
In Japanese Haiku poetry, there are some exceptions. There are some Haiku poems with 18 moras or 16 moras. Standard Haiku has 17 moras, but some poets composed Haiku poems with 18 moras or more which we call “Ji-amari,” meaning ‘too many letters.’ On the other hand, a Haiku poem with 16moras or less is called “Ji-tarazu,” which means ‘not enough letters.’
I researched some more information. I read about Haiku poetry in English and Japanese. My conclusion is: you don’t always have to write Haiku poems with 5–7–5 syllables.
Haiku poetry in Japanese, it has a 5–7–5 moras structure, but in English, it doesn’t really matter. They say that you don’t have to be obsessed with the rule of syllables, because the composition of 5–7–5 English syllables don’t always sound beautiful, so you can write 4–7–4 or even 2–3–2 syllables.
I think that you need to focus more on simplicity. You should not be wordy when you write Haiku poetry. Mr. Kiuchi also said that short words, less syllabled words, are preferred. Big and long words are not very suitable in Haiku poetry, he wrote.
What I understood is: the joy of Haiku poetry is using simple words and minimising your expression to draw a colourful picture of your ‘Haiku moment’ so that you can inspire your audience. The rule of syllables is less important than that.
If you are interested in my Haiku & Tanka poems, please visit my publication ‘Etude of Creativity,’ category ‘Haiku 100.’
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