How Do You Write Traditional Japanese Haiku?
One of the first formal forms of poetry school-age children learn to write is Japanese Haiku. Its simple form and subject matter make it a good introduction to poetry forms. Haiku is actually a bit more complicated than what is typically taught in grade school, however. If you would like to try your hand at this traditional form of Japanese poetry and want to go beyond what you learned in third grade, here is how to go about it. • First of all realize that if you are going to truly write traditional Japanese Haiku, you would need to write in Japanese. Japanese syllables are much shorter than English syllables so it is difficult to exactly duplicate the Japanese form in English. However, much of the form and intent of Japanese Haiku can be created in English. • The form that Japanese Haiku takes in English is simple. It consists of 17 syllables divided between three lines. The first line contains 5 syllables. The second line contains 7 syllables. The third line contains 5 syllables. • T
