Modern Haiku
“The
history of the modern haiku dates from Masaoka Shiki's reform,
begun
in 1892, which established haiku as a new independent poetic form.
Shiki's
reform did not change two traditional elements of haiku: the division of
syllables
into three groups of 5, 7, and 5 syllables and the inclusion
of
a seasonal theme.”
Kawahigashi Hekigoto carried Shiki's reform further with two
proposals:
1.
Haiku would be truer to reality if there were
no center of interest in it.
2.
The importance of the poet's first impression,
just as it was, of subjects
taken from daily life, and of local colour to create freshness.”
Five Haikus based on Jean Jacques Rousseau’s commentary
on
the Five Points of Education and Development
in the Evolution of
a Young Man’s Life
(Emile)
(Importance of Rousseau’s message via the bold
characters)
New to all the world
Early in the morning dew
Whence forth a life starts
Young men do no
wrong
Sing a childish
schoolyard song
Young men, ever
long
Choices
jade a mind
Sex
creeps
up the
legs of choice
Even
parents bawl
In friends one
finds love
Ask her father
for her hand
“Be my loving
wife”
Only one thing lasts
Long life, dry and over now
Death sieves through for you