“May rains! A frog swam... Into the house through the threshold.” No, this is not a report from the Ministry of Emergency Situations from the flood zone. And not an extreme tour of a petting zoo. This is a genre of traditional Japanese poetry, haiku, also known as haiku. This genre represents a way of thinking that is different from that accepted in Western culture. Not even everyone can immediately understand it, which, however, does not apply to graduates of our Cognitive Science training program, who master a variety of thinking techniques in a few weeks. Intrigued? Then now we’ll tell you more about haiku!
From the history of haiku
This genre of Japanese poetry originated back in the 14th century within another genre, waka, which was widespread in Japan at that time, which can be translated as “Japanese song.” Waka, in turn, was divided into such types as short and long poetic messages (tanka - short, teka - long).
The new genre became a continuation and development, so to speak, of the “short song” and was originally called “haiku”. A huge contribution to the development of the genre was made by the Japanese poet and theorist Matsuo Basho (1644-1694, surname read as “Basyo”), who gave the poetic forms precision and elegance:
He literally blew up the world of Japanese poetry by writing in 1681 a tercist, unusual by the standards of the 17th century :
On a dead branch
The raven turns black...
Autumn evening…
As Professor Elena Dyakonova, candidate of philological sciences and specialist in Japanese literature, notes, this is only one of the options for how to translate this Basho haiku into Russian [E. Dyakonova, 2019]. This literary translation, proposed by the Russian poet and translator Konstantin Balmont, in any case, does not coincide with the literal one, because literally this Basho haiku translates as “A raven sits on a dry branch... Autumn twilight.” As you can see, it’s not impressive, but in the Japanese poetic tradition, it’s customary to not describe a lot of things, but to imply them so that readers can guess it themselves.
One way or another, the canons of haiku proposed by Matsuo Basho remained unshakable until the end of the 19th century. By the end of the 19th century, there was a need to update the genre and traditional poetry in general. On the wave of renewal that was raised in the poetry community by the Japanese poet and literary critic Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902), a new name for the genre “haiku” appeared, which he also proposed. The name “haiku” has stuck and is used to this day, and the poet who gave preference to this genre is called haijin:
What changes have befallen the genre, besides changing the name? Masaoka Shiki brought it closer to realism by introducing into poetry the literary method he developed, shasei, which can be translated as “sketches from life.” In haiku, it is more common to describe rather than imply, which has made the genre less mysterious, but more understandable to the mass reader, including Western ones. An example is the following Shiki tercet:
My front garden...
Bloomed here for the first time today
Peony flower...
Like Matsuo Basho, Shiki also loved to write about nature, but, as we can see, there is no intrigue. Which, however, does not detract from the beauty of the tercet. Since the beginning of the 20th century, updated Japanese haiku began to be actively translated into various European languages, thanks to which Japanese poetry became better known outside the country and turned haiku into poetry for the general public.
By the way, the three-line recording format appeared precisely after Japanese haiku poems began to be translated into European languages. In the traditional version, haiku is written in hieroglyphs in a column from top to bottom. Today in Japan, a modern version of writing horizontally in one line is also common.
In Western culture, attempts have also been made to borrow the Japanese tradition of writing haiku in one line. Thus, Hiroaki Sato, who translated haiku into English, considered it logical to write the translation in one line, like the original poems. The idea did not catch on, and Sato himself is better known not as a translator or literary theorist, but as the author of the work “Samurai. True stories and legends" [H. Sato, 2019].
The Canadian poet and theorist Clarence Matsuo-Allard went even further in his ideas, believing that the original haiku in English should be written in one line. This idea also turned out to be too radical for English-language authors and was not developed.
It is significant that in the Russian literary tradition haiku were always written in three lines, and there were no special attempts to change the established tradition. This is despite the fact that for a Russian person, monoshits without division into lines are quite familiar. Suffice it to recall the poet Vladimir Vishnevsky and his one-liner “I wish I could get dressed once and for all,”
“It’s becoming less and less common to say, “That’s great,” “There’s no time for slow dancing,” and others.
We will return to the topic of haiku later, but for now let’s talk about the literary features of the genre.
CHIYO FUKUDA (1703-1775)
Chiyo was a direct successor of Basho, a student of his students. Little is known about the life of the Japanese poetess. It is believed that she was born in the province of Kaga (now Ishikawa Prefecture), in her adolescence she served a local haiku teacher and already at the age of 16-17 she composed herself and enjoyed quite wide popularity. In 1753, Chiyo became a nun and spent the rest of her life in monasteries.
Spring plums give their aroma to a person... To the one who broke the branch.
Above the wave of the stream The dragonfly catches, catches its own shadow.
Literary Features of Haiku
So what is so wonderful, besides the intuitive unusualness, that this genre conceals? Japanese haiku poems, or, as they sometimes say in common parlance, haiku, are constructed according to certain laws. It is understood that a traditional tercet should have 17 syllables. When a haiku is translated into Russian, the number of syllables in each line of the tercet is distributed in the ratio “5:7:5”. In other words, the first line usually has 5 syllables, the second line has 7 syllables, and the third line has 5 syllables.
A distinctive feature of the style is the obligatory presence of kireji, the so-called “cutting word”, which “cuts” the tercet on the 5th or 12th syllable. Guitarists will easily remember this pattern: a string clamped at the 5th fret repeats the note of an open string located a level lower, and at the 12th fret the same note sounds as the open string, but an octave higher. Everyone else can take our Mnemonics course and develop their own methods for easily and quickly memorizing any information.
Returning to the verses, let us draw your attention to the fact that the placement of the kireji on the 5th or 12th syllable makes a logical pause in the tercet either at the end of the first line or at the end of the second. Both options are about equally common.
As we could see above, Matsuo Basho, in his fateful poem for the haiku genre, placed the kireji on the 12th syllable, i.e. at the end of the second line. Thus, after the lines “On a dead branch” and “The raven turns black,” a logical pause was formed, after which the final third line “Autumn evening” followed.
Masaoka Shiki, in the tercet we cited earlier, placed kireji on the 5th syllable at the end of the first line of “My front garden.” And only then he developed the thought with the second and third lines “Bloomed here for the first time today” and “Peony flower.”
However, the “17 syllables” rule or the “5:7:5” rule is not always observed. Even the style theorist Matsuo Basho can see examples of deviations from the rules in haiku. Let's take this verse:
There's such a moon in the sky,
It’s like a tree has been cut down to the roots...
The fresh cut turns white.
A short calculation suggests that not only the rule of arrangement of syllables “5:7:5” is violated here, but also the number of syllables itself is greater than 17. Thus, the 24 syllables of the tercet are distributed line by line in the ratio “7:11:6”. Thus, the principle of “syllable balance” of the first and third lines is also violated.
The most vigilant readers are probably already ready to assume that this may have something to do with the translation into Russian. Of course, translation often distorts the original structure of haiku. However, you can believe, if not us, then the literary critic Richard Medhurst, that in the original haiku there are also deviations from the rules, and quite often [R. Medhurst, 2015].
It is significant that deviations from the rules became so widespread that over time they became the source of a new rule. Thus, it has become a rule to call an excess of syllables the term “jiamari,” and a number of syllables less than 17 is designated the term “jitarazu.” When translated into English, jitarazu occurs more often, i.e. in the translated version fewer syllables remain [R. Medhurst, 2015]. And when translated into Russian, there are usually more syllables than in the original.
Why, then, do we need structure and rules for constructing haiku? Then, the rule “5:7:5” in original Japanese poetry is observed more often than not. And it is in this construction, taking into account the peculiarities of the Japanese language, that it is easiest to place kireji (“cutting word”). Actually, this gives the tercets, which are unusual to our ears, brightness, sonority and attractiveness, which makes us read these wonderful lines again and again.
Haiku also attracts themes as eternal as the world, which are touched upon by authors from the Middle Ages to the present day.
Paraphrases about different things
Oh, it was found, it was found. The loss of a little grandma is at the grandfather's place in a kimono!
Woman with a cart - It’s easier for the mare. I'm going to Kyoto.
Brothers Enike and Benike feasted on sushi. Whatever the child enjoys, as long as he doesn’t drink sake.
In winter I came out of the forest, but I saw a Horse.
In the grove of bamboo I will remember my native Mukhosransk, I will cry bitterly...
In the mirror I see My sick reflection: What do you say, brat?
Cherry blossoms... We need to go and pluck them. Oh, lyuli-lyuli!!!
Take a close look at the grass - There sat a green grasshopper that looked like a cucumber fruit. Oh yes frog.
The Moon with the face of a samurai emerged from the fog. He drew his sword from his kimono pocket.
I look into the blue lake, I picked daisies in the fields, I call you Japan!
A girl and a boy walk together in a rock garden. Tili-tili-rice soup, Future husband and wife.
A kind mother bought a horse for her son. The Chinese fake has no legs. Funny.
Wife's mother's house. I'm unlikely to get through without a joke. What should I show her?
My uncle will tell me: The fires in Moscow are for nothing, or not for nothing?
A greedy person is like beef, the drum of distant Turkey, the pickled cucumber fruit.
Lived with an old woman. Two puffer fish. One is white, the other is gray - two cheerful fish.
I wanted to walk through a valley overgrown with cherry trees. And even then. And I'll take a walk.
A playful summer fly landed on sakura jam. That's the end of the haiku.
It, ni, san, si, go - a carefree walking hare. Got hit by hunting nunchucks. Slap-slap, oh-oh-oh.
The cat has died. The fur on the tail is not the same. Keep quiet or taste it.
The beautiful Gan-ja went to fetch water. A full jug is heavy. The valiant samurai follows in silence.
Maru-syan - one, two, three... Sakura is gathering in the garden. Black eyebrows are thin. My horse is tired. I'm unharnessing.
Tatyana dropped the ball into the river, but somehow it doesn’t sink.
I'm lying in a rice field. He spread his arms, face down, like grain.
Zen wisdom teaches equanimity: The hurtful words you say about me are translated onto yourself.
No, this Russia is not clear to the mind. Where is my arshin?
Nobody loves me anymore. Nobody respects you. I'll go out into the garden... The worm will become a firefly after death.
Oh, how beautiful you are, Land of the Rising Sun, Especially at night!
You promised me on Suobi day to play yin and yang. I deceived.
From Kyushu to the Seas of Japan, the Army of the Sun-like Mikado is the strongest of all!
Two planks are floating down the Sumida River. I remembered my mother...
Satisfied rice traders are dancing on one leg - They deceived a stupid man with four fists.
Tell us about your travels, Chizhik-pizhik-san - Have you seen distant rivers? Did you drink hot sake?
An elderly woman sows peas on the slope of Fuji. Oh.
Tanya-chan lost her face - Crying about the ball that rolled into the pond. Pull yourself together, daughter of a samurai.
I was awakened in the morning by bird trills. The samurai did not find either a sword or armor, Well, at least the eggs are in place..
A rare bird in its right mind will fly to the middle of the wonderful Pacific Ocean.
A rare bird flies, Now the river is in the middle... The sky is clear again.
The rice cake was baked by a samurai. Who should I treat? Samurai, samurai, choose whoever you want.
The bull's son moves with an uneven gait. Take a deep breath - the tatami ends, Falling cannot be avoided.
The son of a gray goat lived with an old woman. He went into the bamboo grove to graze. Everything in this world is changeable, only the horns and legs are eternal.
Commoners have gathered - who should lead? Shishel-myshel-san steps forward with a loud speech.
Strict samurai etiquette: Whoever calls you an abusive word is called that himself.
Twist and rock 'n' roll Vasyasi, the Hipster from Tokyo, dances better than everyone else.
Auntie Piggy-san has a habit of repeating other people's speeches. And recently she went through all the trash cans in the province.
Quiet in the forest, Only the badger is not sleeping. "Sleep!" - I shout, “Sleep!” Useless.
Often in the spring forest Richard Sorge drank bamboo sap and swore in Russian...
My honest uncle decided to get sick as a joke. No respect!
Chichichi, an agile tree monkey, helps the brick seller, pulling the rope. Wonderful sounds.
To get to know each other, you pull him along with you to sacred Fuji.
What kind of fun is this? Again these drunken geishas Rape the poor rickshaw driver...
I'm behind bars. Damp in captivity, dark - Well, isn't it an eagle?
I'm checking my subscription. Small round holes Decorate the paper.
Without money What good is haiku?
The depths of the ocean are merciless, But the creatures gliding in it are good for Zhiguli beer.
Insomnia. I lie there, counting the drops that regularly splash into the barrel from the roof. So it won’t take long to become a scientist!
Vigorous gay Gennady. I dreamed today that he was the fair half of the Centaur.
Big green flies are sitting on the hood of a VAZ. They were not mistaken.
I carefully place the rake in front of the neighbor's door. I want to learn from mistakes.
There is serenity in the head. All wisdom has gone into the tooth.
The temple at the Suzuki Shintaist cooperative was robbed. The bell was desecrated...
During the autumn conscription, we were swept away like leaves to the military registration and enlistment office.
There is sadness in the fields, no chrysanthemums are visible, and the chairman has been drinking in the morning. The collective farm is ready for winter..
On holiday, elegant geishas and many tasty dogs roam the streets of Edo...
In my garden, I will treat my guests to grasshoppers for lunch. Let them know how to come to me without an invitation!
Great is the Emperor, But he probably won’t drink as much port as I do...
I remain faithful to my wife, I don’t drink for a month. Well, when will they take off my cast?
There’s not enough vodka to tell your friends what’s wrong.
Only those boomerangs that miss the target are returned.
Moscow air is amazing. You can see him!
So the New Year has come, Today my wife went overboard, By frying the dog in sour cream...
So the sun has risen. You, my love, take your hands away. I'm returning to my family.
Samurai wives are good for everyone: They are beautiful, like Amateratsu, They fry and soar, but they fight pretty hard with a rolling pin...
Teeth fell out. Yesterday the fortune teller predicted that good fortune would come...
The geishas went to wash their kimonos, and then they were all covered by a powerful tsunami wave...
I sing loudly in the thicket. In a thousand miles - not a soul. My voice is like this...
A group of dubious persons In the evening under a street lamp: Let me smoke!
Lips touching, They exchanged what was inside, - Now the bottle is empty.
Yes, samurai life is not easy, But it’s a shame to do hara-kiri for yourself after eating dumplings...
If the first thing your husband does after returning from the bathhouse is to go to the shower, it means something is unclean...
For her brave flight, Khrushchev presented Tereshkova with an Electronic Jade Rod...
Creepy Bin Laden looks like Hottabych but with a machine gun.
Emperor Pu Yi, who closed the Qing dynasty, closed. And I lost the keys.
With a ringing drop, the Neighbors from above announced themselves again.
An openwork sun umbrella, Everything I have on from my clothes After going to the pub...
The dumpster is on fire. The smell of apple pie spread through the yard...
Every night before going to bed I read the Diamond Sutra, My wife, broken down, sobs...
There are so many different things that go into us. How one thing always comes out.
At what cost can I earn money? Having lost myself...
The toad croaks. I'll go and meet the animal. Maybe I’ll fool you...
Having tasted the pickled radish, the samurai went out for a walk and cured his constipation overnight...
Dogs bark. Someone is shooting in the night. Crime area...
People run through the arable land Concentrated. Following the breeding bull...
People are funny - They are running in fear from the tsunami onto my impregnable cliff.
Boy flying a kite, Do you know where the venous dispensary is? Happy childhood time...
There are fewer and fewer samurai around, so the neighbors recently also moved to Israel...
My coffee is cold. Carried away by the conversation, I'll drink a cold one.
The mouse ran and ran, but could not wave its tail. It's in RS/2
There is fog on the empty streets, I dangle in it like a bare wire. Don't come closer - I'll kill you!
There is dust on my sleeve. A bubble rolled under the bathtub. I barely got it...
Watching this mess, I’m doing hara-kiri for the fifteenth time.
Napkotiki, geisha, Tsunami, sake, hara-kiri - This is what is destroying us.
I won’t go to the zoo, but I’ll buy meat for lunch at the store.
They don’t die because plans for tomorrow are immortal.
The New Year has arrived. The carefree faces of passersby lie here and there.
Today, again, old kamikaze men are sitting at the porch, Remembering the days gone by...
Oh, how sadly three untuned shamisen sound under the window, Drunken geishas got out...
He is a good person at heart. He just has a lot of shit there...
Boar hunting. I sharpened my knife and walked through the woods. In his hand is a bucket of slop.
Let's stop working. We will sing, dance, have fun. We will buy rice from Canada.
Payment statement. In the line where my name is - Large sum!
If I catch a cricket, I'll put it in a bottle of cheap port. Why aren't you making noise, you bastard?
A samurai blade is like a ray and it has become dull. Damn sprat in tomato!!!
Rest in peace, or we will return your money. He promised a pension fund.
The buyer asked how much yen a kilo of rice costs. Forever, without eyes...
The holiday has passed. My salary, were you there or not?
When you wake up in the morning, don’t forget to open your eyes - Otherwise you’ll get a lump.
Farted in my sleep. I woke up and thought: The war has begun.
A speck on the ceiling suddenly ran to the window... How to kill it?
I worked on diesel with a friend, I don’t know what to call us... In general, our diesel was stolen.
Rice is born. Cleaning will be difficult - Radiculitis!
Snowdrifts are rare on the outskirts of Kyoto, But still not like sake from potatoes, I’m lying face down in a snowdrift...
The ruble was lying on the asphalt, I began to look around, fool, - The wind carried it away...
My plane is humming. It's hard for my planes. Perhaps Pearl Harbor...
I'm leaning over the toilet. Such torment For your own money!
A humble monk offers prayers to Buddha. Therefore, he believes.
It beckons me again, Makes me run somewhere, Chinese beer...
I'll smear soy sauce on my face, I'll sit in the bushes by the road, Why am I not a ninja?
I sleep peacefully. The peace is reliably guarded by a Japanese policeman.
I shoot ducks. Curious hares came running to the sound of shooting.
I turn on the TV. What new is the vile and arrogant CC preparing for us?
Flies quietly... Brick... Windy...
Toyota is on the mountain. Toyota has no wheels. They were carried away by the youth.
Three samurai in the winter wind drink sake cold. It would be better if we took port wine...
Three hockey players stand in the kitchen in the morning, drinking water in silence.
A drunken geisha is lying near the statue of Amida Buddha. A monk passed by, and he could not restrain himself...
It was frosty. I won’t go to work: there’s still sake.
The catch was a success We ate puffer The cemetery was updated...
I will die for the great Nippon, I will leave only debts to my wife, and three Tamagotchis, a little less...
They criticize the Motherland and they themselves eat Japanese lard all the time!
The color TV brought News from our dear Motherland - They showed the Kuril Islands!..
Why are you, neighbor Isujima, grabbing your sword right away? Let's fight better in Nintendo...
Why are you, geisha, lying naked? I know it’s hot, but I’m patient, You see, I don’t take off my sheepskin coat!
To eliminate the leak, the plumber will turn off all the taps with obscenities.
Chess. Fights. Sake. I'm looking for a cure for boredom.
Ekibana in a bucket. The girl didn’t come to visit. Well, never mind.
I reach up. I'm trying to reach the sky. Fuck it!
Pit in the garden. I'll bury the rice deep in it. After all, food appropriation is underway.
White dots passed across the screen And everything went quiet... How beautifully the monitor burned!
I say a prayer to Buddha: Maybe in my future life I will become a Computer.
My Tamagotchi is sick. Must have caught a computer virus the other day.
At the hour when you are alone, know that Spammers always remember you.
Windows NT has collapsed and I - its Blue Screen of Death - no one will hear your screams.
I met a man the other day and he asked me for my password. Probably a hacker.
Yesterday everything was fine, But now everything is covered - This is the essence of Windows.
Yesterday everything worked, today it doesn’t - that’s how Windows works!
Woe is me! I connected the monitor from the Land of the Rising Sun to the Chinese video card.
Everything crashed. I am the blue Screen of Death. Your cry is in vain.
The Tao that you hear is not the true Tao until the latest version of the player is installed.
I was thinking all night today, How do you say “The End” in Russian? The memory has completely faded...
The spirit of the samurai It is in vain that they want to intimidate with the Year Two Thousand.
If Windows hangs, Don’t rush to press reset, Think about the eternal.
Freezing turns your expensive computer into a simple stone.
The computer has frozen, I’m hastily booting up again, What if you haven’t left yet...
Ran out of space in third: What should I do now? After all, this is the last one.
My favorite file! No, you won’t open up to me - The program is not the same.
Retype the document you are looking for... it, alas, has been erased.
Caption: “Formatting drive C:” “Y,” he says, “or N?” What's your answer?
I haven't been to my sister's for a long time. I'll go to her page today.
Autumn. Cranes are Flying. The ink in my inkjet printer has dried out.
There is not enough memory... we want to hug the sky but we will never be able to.
The password is incorrect. Only competent people can log into the system.
The program closes: close everything you were working on, you asked for too much.
The work of a lifetime has disappeared forever. And save life (yes/no)?
In the morning I recorded Connection Sounds on my answering machine.
The site you are looking for is impossible to find, but there are countless others.
The site you were looking for was not found - there are millions of others.
The site you are looking for is impossible to find, but the Web is infinite.
Serious error... all shortcuts are gone... screen... memory... everything is empty.
I saw a sweet dream! As if Bill Gates was doing hara-kiri to himself.
Such a big file? It could have been very important, But it was erased without a trace.
Your file was so large and must have been quite useful, but it's no longer there.
Wait patiently. By yourself you are nothing. The network has gone down.
Three things are eternal: death, taxes and data loss, guess what happened.
You enter the river, but the river does not remain the same... This web page is no longer here.
you searched and lost everything and were left with the presence of absence. The “My Story” file was not found.
The day has already burned out, And you haven’t come again, Fresh mail.
Calm down your anger is worth a little, the net has fallen.
Fuji and cherry blossoms. I think I'll keep this wallpaper.
Chaos reigned. I'll reboot right away. There will be order.
Chaos reigns in the system... Think, repent and reboot. Order must return.
I hit Pika-Chu with a sledgehammer. It hurts him! Hurt! I want to laugh.
They invited me to the morgue. Joy in truthful words: “Yes. It is he."
Suddenly Pika-Chu fell ill. Doctors discovered cancer. Incurable.
Spring. The flowers have bloomed. You won't look at them. After all, you don't have eyes.
I'm all in a cold sweat. Last night I had a nightmare. Do you know who it was?
I see children's tears. Loves Pika-Chu children. Who will stop the debauchery?
Here comes a stranger. He's wearing a yellow jacket. The shutter clicked.
Pika-Chu looks from the screen. Fuzzy freak. Do not believe you.
I'll sew a yellow fur coat. I'll put the bacon on the table. What a useful animal!
I'll dip my brush in yellow, but I'll paint a banana. Not you.
Someone is ringing at my door. I'll shoot through the peephole twice. It's a shame if it's not him.
Did you buy yourself a Pika-Chu? You shouldn't be like that, you fool: I'm leaving.
I admire your portrait. You smile at me. The tape turns black in the corner.
Mom bought me a cake, Pika-Chu Photo Album. Mom, why are you doing this?
“Pika-Chu is dead,” I write on the wall with chalk. Black PR.
There is a thunderstorm over the city. Pika-Chu is having fun again. What else would you like to smoke?
Narva of flowers. I'm taking it to the grave. Who's lying there?
Started smoking Pika-Chu. Nerves are gone. Twists of fate.
I'll write a new novel. Thousands of swear words. Everything about you.
Night has fallen on the world, But I can’t close my eyes. Are you still alive.
During the night Pika-Chu fell three hundred and fourteen times. The concrete flooring is strong.
A plane crashed at night. Five hundred Pika-Chus died. It will fall again tomorrow.
It smells like burnt wool. Something yellow in the fire. I warm my hands.
I won't kill you right away. The whole night is ahead. Oh!
Knocking on Pika-Chu's window. No, I won't tell him. Yellow p#$or.
I gave Pika-Chu to my mother-in-law. Some of them will die. Cool.
Drowning in the Pika-Chu River. He shouted to me: “Help!” Isn't it lovely?
Something squeaks under my foot. Hey, is that you, Pika-Chu? It would be better if you.
I salted Pika-Chu. Friends brought beer. Holiday.
I loved Pika-Chu. For a long time he, poor thing, screamed. Yes, I'm a healthy man.
A furry bumblebee on a fragrant sakura branch. Gray Heron on the roof of a house in Kyoto. Samurai's Daughter is on the ballot. You shouldn't be around when your father is practicing with a bamboo stick.
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