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Feature: Jim Kacian: A Haiku Primer

Glossary

caesura — a pause or breathing place, usually in the middle of a line, and indicating a pause in the sense or meaning of the line.

choka — long poem (also nagauta) in contradistinction to waka (short poem, which includes haiku and tanka).

haibun — haikai writing of many sorts; contemporaneously, a combination of (often poetic) prose and haiku (or senryu or zappai).

haiga — haiku painting; the combination of image and text, often simple and sketch-like, where each element enhances the character of the other.

haijin — there are two meanings. 1. a person who writes haiku. 2. a handicapped person. When used in an English-language context, the first meaning applies. For more see William Higginson, "To Haijin or not Haijin."

haiku — a brief poem in 1 to 4 lines, often concerned with nature or the human experience, and usually juxtaposing a pair of images; at its best, it fosters a resonance which deepens over time

haikai — as contemporarily used, haiku and related forms, such as renku, sequences, etc. Classically, suggesting irregular and/or comic poetic forms.

hiragana — one of the two syllabaries, along with katakana, and collectively called kana, used in writing the Japanese language. Hiragana is the more traditional, and was originated, according to popular legend, by the Buddhist bhodisattva (enlightened being) Kobo Daishi in the 9th century A.D.

hokku — the opening verse of a renga or haikai sequence, sometimes composed independent of its linked usage; the forerunner of haiku.

ikebana — flower arrangement in one of many Japanese styles.

Jizo — the Japanese name for the Mahayana Buddhist bhodisattva Kshitigarbha. He is especially concerned with the welfare of the dead, and is the special protector of dead children, as well as being concerned with roads and mountains. Shrines to Jizo are found throughout Japan, especially in places where children have died, and at rural crossroads.

kami no ku — the first three lines of a tanka (literally, “upper stanza”), opposed to shimo no ku, the final two lines.

kasen — a pattern of renga or renku comprising thirty-six links.

katakana — the other of two syllabaries, along with hiragana, collectively called kana, used in writing the Japanese language. All foreign words are written in katakana.

kigo — a seasonal word or phrase, through which haiku may call upon associations of nature which might not be available within the short compass of the verse itself. Traditional haiku must contain a kigo, though contemporary practice, both in Japan and elsewhere, shows less insistence upon its use.

kireji — cutting word(s) (in Japanese such words as kana, keri, ya, etc.) which initially were employed in renga in certain verses, and later were adapted to use in haiku as a kind of caesura or terminus.

nijuin — a pattern of renga or renku comprising twenty links.

on[ji] — a sound; for haiku purposes, a Japanese linguistic entity closest to an English syllable.

renga — linked poetry, essentially a linking of alternating 3-line and 2-line verses, usually with strict rules for linking; the opening verse became known as the hokku, which later developed into the contemporary haiku.

rengashi — renga masters, such as Basho.

renku — the contemporary name for renga; it suggests less stringency to classical rules of composition, though this is not necessarily true.

resonance — the secondary significance which the words of a poem elicit beyond the first, literal, meaning.

romaji — a system of romanized spelling for the Japanese language.

sabi — the appreciation of solitude and quiet apprehension; an aesthetic virtue espoused by many of the poets throughout the classical age of haiku in Japan, and in general in Japanese art.

samisen — a Japanese (originally Chinese) musical instrument of three strings and played with a plectrum, not unlike a guitar.

satori — enlightenment as conceived by Zen Buddhism; more colloquially, a moment of insight into the nature of reality.

seasonal reference — see kigo.

sedoka — one kind of waka, or short poem, consisting of six lines in the (classical) pattern of 5-7-7 5-7-7 on.

senryu — a short poem similar in structure to haiku but featuring ironic, humorous and/or coarse observations on human nature.

shakuhachi — the Japanese wooden flute.

shasei — literally, “sketch”; the school of composition founded and championed by Shiki which states that haiku must be taken from Nature and rendered with an incompleteness which permits the reader to finish the poem; though only one of many competing theories, this scheme has had inordinate impact on haiku practice in the West.

shimo no ku — the concluding (two) lines of a tanka.

sumi-e — ink painting.

tanka — along with choka, one of the two principle types of waka, or short poem, consisting of five lines containing an upper stanza (three lines) and lower stanza (two lines), though of course variants are common.

wabi — the beauty inherent in poverty, and the impoverished; an aesthetic virtue espoused by many of the poets throughout the classical age of haiku in Japan, and in general in Japanese art.

yugen — mystery and depth; an aesthetic virtue espoused by many of the poets throughout the classical age of haiku in Japan, and in general in Japanese art.

zappai — irregular poems of many types, including senryu and those similar which do not attempt the same aesthetic goals of haiku.

Jim Kacian is founder and president of The Haiku Foundation; owner of Red Moon Press; and editor-in-chief of Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years (W.W.Norton, 2013). He is the founder and is the general editor of Contemporary Haibun. He's also the founder of Contemporary Haibun Online and was its general editor until Bob Lucky stepped into the role.

A Draft of "A Haiku Primer" was first published in f/k/a: archives real opinions & real haiku,