Introduction

Abstract

Haiku, the Japanese verse of seventeen syllables, was derived from the waka (Japanese song), the oldest verse form of thirty-one syllables, written vertically in five parts (5-7-5-7-7). As an amusement at the court, one poet composed the first three parts (5-7-5) of a waka and another poet was challenged to provide the last two (7-7) to complete the verse. The haiku form thus corresponds to the first three parts of the waka. This seventeen-syllable verse form had been preserved by noblemen, courtiers, and high-ranked samurai since the thirteenth century. Around the beginning of the sixteenth century, haiku became popular among the poets. Haiku, called hokku (starting verse) at that time, was also a dominant element of another popular verse form, renga (linked song).