Haiku is a Japanese verse form consisting of three short lines. The first and last lines of the haiku consist of five morae or syllables while the second line is made up of seven morae. The haiku generally has a natural theme, in many cases the focus is on the season. In a way the poem ends as it started with five beats. The traditional Japanese haiku is printed in a vertical line with an emphasis on natural or seasonal themes (kigo) and a cutting word (kireji). On the other hand the haiku as it appears in English is always in three lines and may deal with any topic for its subject.
Haiku was originally known as hokku but later during the later part of the 19th century, Masaoka Shiki, a Japanese writer named it haiku. Basho(1644-94) was a famed Samurai Haiku poet who learned to write haikus during his service to a local lord who was also a writer. Basho used a pen name Sobo for his poems. Basho traveled widely throughout Japan and developed the haiku form. An example of Basho’s famed haiku would be‘Old Pond’:
“old pond . . .
a frog leaps in
Poets writing haiku in the west are flexible about the traditional Japanese syllable and lines. The writers in English focus more on the condensed form and preciseness used in haiku. Haiku may be the shortest poetic form originated so far in the world. Haiku is generally difficult to write as due to its brevity, the poet has to convey his spiritual understanding of nature in a brief and concise manner. All the same with a general understanding of the form and practice anyone can learn to write the haiku.