The haiku format is a form of poetic expression
based on Zen Buddhism. This was developed from ancient Chinese models in
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Haiku are normally
restricted to three lines with a maximum number of seventeen syllables in
a 5-7-9 syllabic pattern. There are no contrived rhymes, no metrical
shackles and no title. Japanese artists, under the influence of Zen
philosophy, have tended to use as few words as possible to express their
feelings, and the resultant precise focus (being closer to the complete
silence of cosmic consciousness) intensifies insight into the heart of
experience. Dr Suzuki, Zen’s distinguished historian, tells us, ‘When a
feeling reaches its highest pitch, even seventeen syllables may be too
many.’
Early authentic examples of haiku occur in the
writing of Sogi (1421-1502), but Matsuo Basho (1644-94) is regarded by
many Japanese as their finest exponent of haiku. The following 36
examples of haiku illustrate the use of this format until the
beginning of the 20th century, when haiku were first
introduced into the West, through the medium of English translations.
Haiku have since become internationally fashionable, although the
extent to which many haiku currently published in English, embody
the quality of consciousness in the Japanese tradition, is open to
question. Authentic Japanese haiku have never been concerned with
wit, rhetoric, gimmickry, exhibitionism or pretension.
Unfortunately, contemporary English may not now be a
satisfactory register for haiku, since English has become detached
from its social roots in any particular community, as a result of
globalisation. It has been argued by some poets that English has now
become spiritually exhausted as a poetic language, as a result of its
adaptation for utilitarian purposes. Comparisons between renderings in
Scots and English of haiku by Japanese masters suggest that
versions in literary Scots have an energy and frisson that
harmonise well with the true spirit of haiku. Accordingly, the
following 36 haiku have been rendered in Scots, a register which
has a long record for poetry of a high order.
Click here to read the
poems (.pdf file)
