The Seasonal Elements of both Japanese and Overseas Haiku

KUROKAWA, Etsuko

doi:2019.9.1.49

The Journal of Japanese Language Literature Studies > Volume 9(1); 2019 > Article

Special Issue

Border Crossings: The Journal of Japanese-Language Literature Studies 2019;9(1): 49-61.
doi: https://doi.org/10.22628/bcjjl.2019.9.1.49

The Seasonal Elements of both Japanese and Overseas Haiku

Etsuko KUROKAWA

Director of the HAIKU INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION

日本の俳句と世界のHAIKU

黒川悦子

国際俳句交流協会理事

Correspondence Etsuko KUROKAWA ,Email: e.kurokawa2525@gmail.com

Published online: 30 December 2019.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the elements that are common to Japanese haiku and overseas haiku, which encourage people who speak different languages and live in places with various natural climates, social environments and cultures to compose haiku. The haiku was originally the opening verse of the renga (linked poem), and it displays the characteristics of the latter. However the brevity and simple style of haiku makes them accessible to ordinary people, enabling anyone to compose them. In addition, through haiku people can share beautiful or impressive moments in nature by forming associations with a huge range of seasonal phenomena. In other words, haiku allow people to live in more harmonious coexistence with nature. This paper argues that these seasonal elements are common to haiku around the world.

Keywords: Haiku, Nature, Universality of haiku, Promotion and Internationalization, UNESCO-Designated Intangible Cultural Heritage

キ―ワ―ド: 俳句, 自然, 俳句の普遍性, 普及と国際化, ユネスコ無形文化遺産