The Japanese Haiku [Paperback]

Kenneth Yasuda (Author), Robert B. Hall (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2002

This is the most authoritative and concise book on Japanese haiku available: what it is, how it developed, and how it is practiced in both Japanese and English. While many haiku collections are available to Western readers, few books combine both translated haiku with haiku written originally in English, along with an analysis of individual poems and of the haiku form itself. Written by a leading scholar in the field-Kenneth Yasuda was the first American to receive a doctorate in Japanese literature from Tokyo University-Japanese Haiku has been widely acclaimed. This edition is completely repackaged for 2002, and is the perfect book for lovers of poetry who do not have a solid background in haiku.

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804834601
• ISBN-13: 978-0804834605
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,985,792 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Intro-- Even for the Beginner, January 31, 2007

By 

V. K. Lin (Eugene, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Japanese Haiku (Paperback)

Clearly written, comprehensive, obviously authoratative. Prof. Yasuda does an extremely nice job for readers of all levels. From the first reviewer for this book, this book is obviously helpful on subtle, advanced levels of poetic refinement/comprehension. But for me, a beginner, this book was clear, concise, informative, and illuminating.

The first half is an introduction to haiku-- a definition, exploration of meaning, structure, and theory. Yasuda begins with the basics, and takes one effortlessly into word choice, use of phonics and alliterative techniques, and structural symmetry. While a background in poetic theory might enable one to access more subtleties than I did, the beauty of this book is that it enabled me to read haiku (as provided in the 100+ samples at the end) and significantly better appreciate them as an art/poetic form. This is NOT a hard book to appreciate or understand-- believe me!

The second half of the book is history-- the development of the haiku as a poetic form in Japanese history. Here, Yasuda seems to make some interpretations, and I cannot comment on historic accuracy or implication. But the accounting is interesting, and certainly Yasuda has the credentials.

Lastly, Yasuda explores the "English haiku". While I tend to disagree that rhyming of lines one and three should be preferred-- Yasuda argues for symmetry-- I find the rhyming makes it somewhat trite, which is not always what you want; I agree that the English haiku has terrific potential. I tend to like Yasuda's definition of "Ah"-ness to measure a haiku-- and feel that using whatever combination of words, imagery and sound patterns (including not necessarily rhyming) that make that "Ah" happen is the one that should be used.

But you see? I knew virtually nothing about haiku before I read this book, and now I can debate (at least at a rudimentary level) haiku theory!

Great book for anyone interested in haiku. I'm off to buy some books with haiku poems in them!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only work in English to explain the nature of haiku, December 16, 2005

By 

Patrick King (Exeter, NH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Japanese Haiku (Paperback)

To the average western reader, a haiku is a little poem of 17 syllables that paints a pretty picture. For this reason, haiku poems written by western writers fail miserably in comparison to the classic haiku by Japanese artists. This is the only book I've found that explains the rules of haiku in a direct and specific manner. Dr. Yasuda explains at the very first that in the haiku "there can be no commentary, no conclusion, the concrete sensuous material to be intuited must stand alone." This attitude is for some reason, very difficult for western thinkers to emulate. Among those 17 syllables, the haiku poet must imply the time of day, the season of the year, and the location. If all these criteria are not met, the resulting work is not a haiku. The haiku has fascinated me since I first encountered this style of poetry. As a westerner I was unable to find out exactly what was called for in constructing these little poems. Dr. Yasuda's book has improved my writing of haiku specifically and poetry in general immeasurably. Dr. Yasuda is a Japanese American with a deep knowledge of western poetry as well as Japanese art. I love this book.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant offbeat classic about haiku, August 6, 2006

By 

Tom Rogers "J'veux qu'on baise sur ma tombe" (LITTLETON, Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Japanese Haiku (Paperback)

Kenneth Yasuda develops and demonstrates an implementation of haiku in English in this book, originally presented as his doctoral dissertation. The functional and critical analysis of the nature of the haiku is the best I've seen so far, and because he is translating the haiku into a correspondence with English poetry, there is also some fine discussion of general theory and of Western poets affected by the haiku, specifically Imagists. One point that came up almost immediately, and it hadn't really occurred to me before, is that any poetic form which eschews metaphor requires some sort of defense--although I have always taken for granted that haiku is a legitimate poetic form, even though metaphor is largely absent. Nevertheless, I also agreed with those who assert that metaphor is the sine qua non of poetry. This highlights one of the strengths of the clear presentation of the material, I found myself forced to clean up some messy areas in my thinking on several subjects. The examples chosen to illustrate points are generally excellent.

I found over 30 pages worth marking for future reference and made marginal notes frequently. I applied his critical tools to several of my old haiku and my sole tanka (made at a very young age) which I turned into a sort of limerick. The results were not surprising--they were all lacking (save one) and I could see where I missed the boat or in the case of the one good haiku, I identified its slender merits. The tanka brings up an interesting point, I rhymed it instinctively because limericks and nursery rhymes were the only poetry I knew. Encouraged by his Japanese mentors. Dr. Yasuda proposes that the appropriate form for haiku in English is to rhyme the first and third lines, and employ other related devices from English prosody and a very loose notion of 'meter' in the creation of haiku. These are not paths which people working in the form have generally followed, and until I read this book, fancied I was something of a pioneer, shoehorning a form from Japanese into a rhyming, loosely metric English poem (with closer affinities to 'There once was a lady of Nantucket' than Basho or Shelley). Perhaps my youthful instinct, which equated short rhyming poems with humor/doggerel, may be one reason that poets currently avoid rhyme in their haiku. Now, for what it's worth only Yasuda's samples of feminine rhyme have an accidentally humorous sound to my ears. Since there are already so many other constraints in haiku already, I suspect most poets choose not to hobble themselves any more. The close integration of discussion of the nature and art of haiku, along with the author's implementation of haiku in English, can make it very difficult to untangle his original content from more generally accepted Western norms and notions about the form.

As a consequence of this difficulty, it would be best if a reader had some knowledge of English prosody and working knowledge of haiku from some other source before tackling this book. There are subtle distinctions and some innovations in his method, so this probably isn't a good book for an absolute beginner.

There's also evidence of at least one first rate literary mystery, the author acknowledges assistance from Clark Ashton Smith, a one-time aspiring Poeish poet and quirky horror writer, who as near as I can tell had renounced writing and become a reclusive sculptor long before Dr. Yasuda could have worked with him.