Haiku for all and for ever

Haiku is allegedly the shortest poem in the world. It is a rhymeless verse consisting of 17 syllables, with roots in Japan but now being practiced all over the world.

The following definition comes close to Basho’s one: haiku is a short rhymeless poem, characterized by a prosodic pattern of 5-7-5 syllables (morae), including a season word (kigo), a cutting word (kireji), and, we might add: suggestiveness (yoin). Suggestiveness is a poetical effect that often if not generally involves imagination, metaphor, simile, fiction etc. Haiku in Japan went through a centuries-long process of development and maturation. As a form of word craft, it is inextricably intertwined with the genius of the Japanese language. Over the centuries, countless poets have honed through haiku composition and criticism the expressive possibilities of the Japanese language and broadened its boundaries, and in the process enriched it.

It is Japan’s ardent and legitimate ambition that haiku be designated a UNESCO World Heritage. It was the dream of the late Professor Akito Arima, the former president of the Haiku International Association (HIA). Haiku was originally a gift by Japan to the world, but is now practiced globally. There are differences between the Western and Japanese interpretation of haiku, which are related to the different characteristics of the languages and the cultural background of the languages in question.

We need to be aware even more than before how haiku is partly a response to the world we live in today, how haiku in a way responds to a need in the spirit of the times we live in. Why?

Our world is highly organised, almost in a technocratic way. Everything is regulated not only by governments but also by the private sector. If there is a hitch e.g. due to Covid or a war, then the supply lines get interrupted and blocked. Everything is so perfectly organised -too perfectly indeed-, so intricately interwoven that one failure disturbs the whole. We are used to being well served as a consumer and do not realise how complicated our economy and our society have become. Haiku excels at the opposite, at simplicity.

The haiku poet looks at small things in nature or undergoes the seasons in all its forms. He or she tries to capture that observation, that experience, in seventeen syllables. He expresses in words what he experiences, and conveys it clearly to the reader. Usually a haiku verse does not even bear a title. The words must speak for themselves. Life can be simple in a not-so-simple society. That is what haiku teaches us.

The haiku poet is not blind to what is happening in the world but he or she has a deep desire for harmony. The poet knows that nature can also be cruel and that the seasons can be capricious, but this is all the more reason for the poet to seek harmony and simplicity. It is not because something is not a given we may take for granted, that one cannot yearn for it. On the contrary.

Because he is a man or woman of harmony, he cannot accept violence and war. It goes against all that he has in him. I cannot imagine a haiku poet who goes to war or who is wicked. Haiku, harmony and peace go together. Needless to say, in today’s world, now that war or its threat has reappeared so closely to us, haiku is a strong sign of peace and therefore particularly timely.

Harmony also does not rhyme with negative feelings such as jealousy, avarice, rivalry, anger, vanity, bullying, etc., which sometimes make daily life impossible. We cannot aspire to be harmonious in one part of ourselves and be the opposite in another. That is not liveable and inconsistent. I know that many people live compartmentalised lives. A kind man or woman may be kind in his profession and insufferable at home or vice versa. Haiku ‘unlearns’ that.

Haiku can also be a comfort to those who are suffering. Not because it is an escape from reality but because that same reality also has positive and hidden sides. The haiku poet does not allow himself to be absorbed by the evil in men and in leaders, but focuses on the little things that make life enjoyable and bearable.

I said that the poet is focused on the things around them. He or she is all-attentive to everything that happens around him/her and to the repercussions this has in his/her head and in his/her heart. Attention is essential. It allows us to live in the ‘here and now’. We do not then flee into nostalgia or desire. Whoever wants to mean something to people must see them, like nature, in their concrete being. Attention is also a form of respect for the other human being and everything else. The poet is present. He does not dream of past or future. He frees himself to accept things as they are, in their simplicity and beauty.

Here I am introducing a nuance. Following the line Masaoka Shiki has drawn, pioneers of haiku in the West have stressed that haiku should be about the ‘here and now’. Admittedly, given its shortness, haiku can only contain one central theme and at best a few surrounding details, but it need not be constrained by the ‘here and now’. We find abundant proof of this extra dimension in the works of Bashô.

Through this, the haiku poet exercises himself in modesty. He acknowledges reality as it is. Through his focus on what is happening outside him or her, he/she forgets his/her Ego. His/her own will or vanity goes up in smoke when he/she meets the reality around him/her. It is then no longer about himself or herself but about the other. Instead of self-centredness, haiku is about other-centredness. In this sense, haiku has an ethical dimension. It can make us a better person.

Poetry is a solitary activity but in haiku, it does not stop there. The haiku poet has his verses discussed in haiku groups and sometimes adapts them. This is unthinkable in classical poetry. Therefore, there is also a social dimension to haiku poetry. Let us not forget that haiku is not only an ‘art’ but also a ‘craft’. One can always learn technically or learn to look and listen better. The social contact also makes us more modest.

I give another historical proof of why haiku is a social activity. Basho was known as a master of haikai. This was a sequence of linked verse, which was usually written by two or more fellow poets. Bashô, as a recognised master, would often write the first verse in such a sequence, which was called hokku, literally ‘initial verse’. A fellow poet would then link to the initial verse a fourteen-syllable verse, called wakiku, or ‘added verse’. This in turn was followed by a third verse, again comprising seventeen syllables, and this one would in turn be followed by a fourteen-syllable verse, etc.

For many writers the brevity of haiku poses a problem. How is it possible for poetry to be so short and yet still be poetry? The brevity and the overt simplicity allow everyone to participate, making it a communal, social medium.

There are many similarities between meditation and haiku. It presupposes the same ‘attention’, the same egolessness, the same love for reality as it is. Of course, there is also a difference. The poet puts his experiences into words and into beauty. The meditator wants to distance himself from the agenda of the Ego and consequently energy is released for the other, the neighbour. The poet, however, does not leave it at that, and wants to share something and touch people through the power of words and underlying thoughts. Of course, there is no contradiction between meditation and haiku. They can be practiced separately but they can also strengthen each other. At least that is my experience.

Needless to say, this other-centredness does not really resonate with the spirit of the times, which are marked by increasing individualisation and individualism. Society is too atomised, fragmented, polarised, and intolerant. It is sometimes the triumph of self-righteousness. Listening and respecting require an effort from the Ego. It becomes a little less Ego as a result. I already mentioned how the haiku poet cannot be anything but modest.

Individualism, of course, is something other than haiku as an expression of an individual’s experience and feeling.

Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) is recognised as the founding father of modern haiku. Under the influence of Western notions of literature and poetry, he held that literature, including poetry, should be realistic and an expression of the individual.

A haiku is short. That is why it is read twice. Sometimes haiku is compared to Twitter, which is also short, limited as it is to 280 characters. However, there is a big difference: a Twitter post usually contains a so-called opinion of its own, usually expressed negatively and aggressively. Haiku is not about the author and thus has nothing to do with self-complacency, conceit and vanity. So perhaps it is the opposite of Twitter.

I come back to haiku as a candidate for designation as UNESCO heritage.

We have been promoting its cause for nearly six years now, since Professor Akito Arima established the Haiku UNESCO Promotion Council in 2017, supported by four major Haiku Associations in Japan and 47 local authorities. Parliament members also established a supporting group in the Diet in the same year. The group includes 64 members now. Its President is Fumio Kishida, Minister of Foreign Affairs at that time and currently Prime minister.

In March 2020, Professor Akito Arima formally handed in the letter of request to designate haiku as UNESCO heritage to the Government (Cultural Agency). Unfortunately, he passed away in December 2020.

In July 2022, after new registration formalities we renew our efforts to take Akito Arima’s last wish, his wish of a lifetime, his wish for “world peace through haiku” to the government level. We are hopeful, knowing that hope is a verb, and therefore an action, an endeavour. We continue our efforts so that our hope may become true.

Haikus for centuries created in Japan and beyond Saved forever

Herman Van Rompuy