LL-L "Literature" 2012.10.05 (01) [EN]

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 L O W L A N D S - L - 05 October 2012 - Volume 01
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From: Mike Morgan mwmbombay at gmail.com

Subject: LL-L "Literature" 2012.10.04 (04) [EN]


In my understanding, haiku were a form of intellectual contest
originally... who could put the most whollop in the few syllables
allotted them.

To do so, they HAVE to be personal -- subjective -- but in a universal
-- objective -- sort of way. This of course is easier in a culture
like Japan where people have many of the same experiences-- there's
not a single Japanese educated since the 60s who has not, for example,
had the experience of "raising" an 朝顔 *asagao *"morning face" (i.e.
morning glory) flower during the summer vacation of 2nd grade. Such
commonality of experience makes it perhaps "easier" for telegraphic
"observations".

We maybe look on the "has to have at least one allusion to season",
"has to have at least one "cutting word" (切れ字 *kireiji*, clause final
suffixes or clitics which are generally emphatic or exclamatory in
tone)", etc as "rules" to follow, making the task harder, but, I
suspect, in fact they make the going easier... again, if you leave
*Ochinaa * (Okinawa) aside (it was, after all, for most of history, NOT a
part of Japan), there is some variation in season between north and
south (sorry, to a Japanese it is east and west!), wherever you go
there are 4 seasons... and much of the same flora and fauna (or used
to be... much less of either these days... although the occasional
bear does wander down into towns and villages here and there).

I used to compose haiku for my annual new years cards, usually in
competing Japanese, English and Russian (and later JSL) versions...
but haven't done that since new years cards went electronic ;-)

> If a poem with Haiku meter does not directly deal with season and nature
but
> instead deals with humanity, especially with the state, weaknesses and
folly
> of humanity, namely constitutes a social comment, then it is a senryū (川柳,
> literally "river willow")

Just a note: sometime towards the end of last decade I think, Japanese
Public Broadcasting (NHK) TV's news in sign language (which had
started about 1991) started to have sign language senryu once a week.
Not sure whether it is the fact that the casters who did the senryu
were the hearing not the deaf casters, or because by their inherent
non-universality (although I lived in japan for 18.5 years I cannot
say I ever managed to even fake a Japanese view on Japanese society) I
never much "appreciated" them.

On the other hand, the annual imperial haiku was always a joy (as
indeed was the Empress herself, one of the gentlest human beings one
is ever likely to meet...)

mwm || *U*C> || mike || माईक || мика || マイク (aka Dr Michael W Morgan)
sign language linguist / linguistic typologist
academic adviser, Nepal Sign Language Training and Research
NDFN, Kathmandu, Nepal

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