Haiku Poetry

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Haiku Poetry
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A Famous Poet

• Issa Kobayashi was born in Japan in 1763, more
  than two hundred years ago.

by Shumpo Muramatsu
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• Issa had a poets eyes. He noticed things
  many people would not. He took the time to look,
  to listen, and to enjoy the movements of the many
  small creatures who shared his world, like
  sparrows, crickets, and frogs.

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• Issa had a compassionate feeling for all
  creatures, including fleas and flies. He felt
  even common houseflies have a right to live, and
  would not swat them.

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• In many ways, Issas life was a sad one. His
  mother died before he was two, and his own four
  sons and a daughter all died before they were a
  year old,
• a great sorrow to a man who loved children as
  much as Issa did.

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• Issa was a poor man and spent much of his life
  in solitary wandering. Perhaps it was the
  loneliness of these years that made him value all
  the animals, birds, and insects who shared his
  house and garden and kept him company in his
  travels about the countryside.

Issas House
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• At the age of 25, Issa began to write haiku
  poems. Many of his poems are about the humble
  creatures he loved.

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Here is one of Issas haiku poems.

• A few flies and I
• Keep house together
• In this humble home.

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• This is the way one of Issas poems looked
  when he wrote them.

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• Some of Issas poems contain a beautiful image.
• Some are funny.
• Some make you think.

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• Swatted out
• From everywhere else,
• The mosquitoes come here.

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A measuring worm takes the lengthof the wooden
supportthat holds up my house.
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The frog looks as if he had justbelched a
cloudinto the sky.
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My hut is so small,but please do practice your
jumping,fleas of mine!
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If you are tender to them,the young
sparrowswill poop on you.
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The mosquitoes!They have come for their lunch to
the manhaving a nap.
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I asked him how old he was,and the boy dressed
up in a new kimonostretched forth all five
fingers.
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• Haiku was created centuries ago.
• It was treasured for its pure form and exquisite
  content.
• Western culture has grown to love and respect
  this special type of poetry.

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Writing your own haiku is easy. Follow these
seven easy steps.
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Step 1 Form

• Your Haiku should have three lines with or
  without a seventeen-syllable count. It should be
  one breath long.old pond-frog jumps insound
  of water- Matsuo Basho (Japanese poet,
  1644-1694)

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Step 2Image

• Your Haiku should have a descriptive image.
  For example, not a flower, but instead a
  purple iris in the sun.evening breeze-water
  splashes againsta blue herons legs- Yosa Buson
  (Japanese poet, 1716-1783)

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Step 3 Kigo (a season word)

• Your Haiku should refer to nature and hint at
  the season or weather.off they leapgrasshopper
  mother and childand turn to grass
• - Katsushi Hosokawa (Japenese poet, age 10)
  

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Step 4 Here and Now

• Basho said,
• Haiku is simply what is happening in this place,
  at this moment.
• You should write from real experience, not
  imagination record the present moment.

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• for a second a butterflysettles on my cheekI
  must not breathe
• - Myriam Suchet (French poet, age 15)

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Step 5 Feeling

• Your Haiku should not explain or tell, but
  instead show the feeling through your
  image.along with spring leavesmy childs
  teethare coming in- Nakamura Kusatao (Japanese
  poet, 1901-1983)

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Step 6 Surprise!

• Your Haiku should have an ah! moment that
  wakes us up.in a mouses nestsomeones love
  letterwas found- Unknown Japanese Poet

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Step 7 Compassion

• Your Haiku should express openheartedness
  toward nature.Dont hit the fly-He prays with
  his handsAnd his feet- Kobayashi Issa (Japanese
  poet, 1763-1827)

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Lets Review!
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Haiku Form

• Three lines
• Syllable pattern of 5,7,5
• Usually doesnt rhyme
• Usually about nature
• Often includes a reference to a season
• Often a single sentence, but may be sentence
  fragments

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Now try writing your own!
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Bibliography

• Haiku the Poetic Momenthttp//norazpoets.org/ind
  ex.php?modulepagemasterPAGE_user_opviewPAGE_id
  93
• Issas Haiku Home Page
• www.threeweb.ad.jp/logos/ainet/issa.html
• Haiku
• www.1lo.sanok.pl/iz/haiku/Issa.htm
• National Clearinghouse for U.S. Japan Studies.
  http//www.indiana.edu/japan/LP/LS3.html
• Steve Shaluta Photography
• http//www.steveshaluta.com/insects/inchworm-0
  1.htm
• Kotobuki Wedding Attire
• http//www.kimonowedding.com/gallery_children.
  htm