Haiku are beautiful and very short communicative Japanese poems, that express something deep and personal in as few words as possible. They are characterized by three qualities:
1. Cutting – This is the juxtaposition of two images with a cutting word between them, that signifies the moment of separation between them.
2. Traditional Haiku consists of three lines containing 17 syllables in total, or 5, 7, and 5 respectively.
3. Each haiku contains a ‘seasonal’ reference to indicate the time of year the poem is taking place.
Here are three ancient examples of Japanese haiku. Focus hard on the images these words communicate and open your mind to their wondrous beauties.
video by Fabrizio Fenech
