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Introducing Encore

Classic Articles about Haibun and Tanka Prose

Wikipedia free use image, photographer unknown.

Welcome to cho’s new Encore section. We’re returning to the stage “classic” English-language haibun and tanka prose articles, all previously published, for a repeat performance.

Over the last two decades, since the beginning of the big surge in haibun’s and tanka prose’s growth, a number of online journals, print magazines, and books that carry articles have disappeared – no longer be found on the Internet, purchased, or located in libraries.

During the same two decades, the number of writers and readers of haibun has dramatically increased. I estimate that of writers appearing in today’s cho, about 50% weren’t writing a decade ago, and about 90% weren’t writing two decades ago.

So it’s likely that many of you, particularly those new to these genres, have never seen articles that can help you grow in your writing and appreciation of haibun and tanka prose. We believe that these articles, our critical literature, are useful to writers and editors alike in shaping our writing and informing our understanding of what English-language haibun and tanka prose are—how they differ from similar genres like memoirs, personal essays, and short fiction, as well as from their ancestors in the Japanese literature.

Our aim in Encore is to bring what our editors consider to be the best of these lost or difficult-to-find articles back on stage for another performance.

The “classics” we select will undoubtedly represent diverse, often personal viewpoints about the craft of haibun, and they aren’t intended as prescriptive dictates. Some readers may agree with the authors’ viewpoints, others may find they run counter to their own experiences. We suggest you view them as windows onto how some of the best haibun and tanka prose writers have wrestled with these genres and use their experiences to inform your own practice.

Ray Rasmussen, Encore Editor

Click here to read cho‘s first Encore selection, “Some Personal Ideas about Writing Haibun” by David Cobb

To suggest future Encore articles, contact Ray here.