* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Friday, July 11, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Immersive sports and entertainment venue Cosm set to build its 5th location in Cleveland – WKYC

    Cosm Reveals Exciting Vision for Its 5th Immersive Sports and Entertainment Venue in Cleveland

    Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN’s Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Service Monumental+ – Sports Video Group

    Samantha Brady Reveals How Monumental+ is Transforming Sports Streaming with Direct-to-Consumer Access

    Moses Singer Welcomes Entertainment and Intellectual Property Partner Frederick Bimbler – Yahoo Finance

    Moses Singer Expands Team with New Entertainment and Intellectual Property Partner Frederick Bimbler

    Longhua District and Max-Matching Entertainments, supported by RWS Global forge strategic partnership to develop international IP-themed entertainment complex – Amusement Today

    Longhua District and Max-Matching Entertainments, supported by RWS Global forge strategic partnership to develop international IP-themed entertainment complex – Amusement Today

    Government whip to withdraw Entertainment Complex Bill on July 9 – Nation Thailand

    Government whip to withdraw Entertainment Complex Bill on July 9 – Nation Thailand

    Magicians and Battlebots light up Las Vegas entertainment scene – KSNV

    Magicians and Battlebots Take Las Vegas Entertainment by Storm

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Stallion Uranium Provides Update on Technology Data Acquisition Agreement – GlobeNewswire

    Stallion Uranium Announces Exciting Progress in Technology Data Acquisition Agreement

    2025 WE Local Prague Recap: Inspiring Women in Engineering and Technology – Society of Women Engineers

    2025 WE Local Prague Recap: Inspiring Women in Engineering and Technology – Society of Women Engineers

    SMPTE Opens Early Bird Registration for Media Technology Summit – TVTechnology

    SMPTE Launches Early Bird Registration for Exciting Media Technology Summit

    Google Fiber puts Nokia network slicing technology to the test – Fierce Network

    Google Fiber Puts Nokia’s Network Slicing Technology to the Ultimate Test

    Kaseya Extends Community Investment with Addition of Technology Marketing Toolkit – Kaseya

    Kaseya Extends Community Investment with Addition of Technology Marketing Toolkit – Kaseya

    AI and the Trust Revolution: How Technology Is Transforming Human Connections – Foreign Affairs

    AI and the Trust Revolution: How Technology Is Transforming Human Connections – Foreign Affairs

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Immersive sports and entertainment venue Cosm set to build its 5th location in Cleveland – WKYC

    Cosm Reveals Exciting Vision for Its 5th Immersive Sports and Entertainment Venue in Cleveland

    Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN’s Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Service Monumental+ – Sports Video Group

    Samantha Brady Reveals How Monumental+ is Transforming Sports Streaming with Direct-to-Consumer Access

    Moses Singer Welcomes Entertainment and Intellectual Property Partner Frederick Bimbler – Yahoo Finance

    Moses Singer Expands Team with New Entertainment and Intellectual Property Partner Frederick Bimbler

    Longhua District and Max-Matching Entertainments, supported by RWS Global forge strategic partnership to develop international IP-themed entertainment complex – Amusement Today

    Longhua District and Max-Matching Entertainments, supported by RWS Global forge strategic partnership to develop international IP-themed entertainment complex – Amusement Today

    Government whip to withdraw Entertainment Complex Bill on July 9 – Nation Thailand

    Government whip to withdraw Entertainment Complex Bill on July 9 – Nation Thailand

    Magicians and Battlebots light up Las Vegas entertainment scene – KSNV

    Magicians and Battlebots Take Las Vegas Entertainment by Storm

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Stallion Uranium Provides Update on Technology Data Acquisition Agreement – GlobeNewswire

    Stallion Uranium Announces Exciting Progress in Technology Data Acquisition Agreement

    2025 WE Local Prague Recap: Inspiring Women in Engineering and Technology – Society of Women Engineers

    2025 WE Local Prague Recap: Inspiring Women in Engineering and Technology – Society of Women Engineers

    SMPTE Opens Early Bird Registration for Media Technology Summit – TVTechnology

    SMPTE Launches Early Bird Registration for Exciting Media Technology Summit

    Google Fiber puts Nokia network slicing technology to the test – Fierce Network

    Google Fiber Puts Nokia’s Network Slicing Technology to the Ultimate Test

    Kaseya Extends Community Investment with Addition of Technology Marketing Toolkit – Kaseya

    Kaseya Extends Community Investment with Addition of Technology Marketing Toolkit – Kaseya

    AI and the Trust Revolution: How Technology Is Transforming Human Connections – Foreign Affairs

    AI and the Trust Revolution: How Technology Is Transforming Human Connections – Foreign Affairs

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

These Japanese cities may inspire your next haiku

April 17, 2024
in Science
These Japanese cities may inspire your next haiku
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Some commuters nap, others doomscroll. But on trams in the Japanese city of Matsuyama, passengers have another option: Write a haiku.

Matsuyama is the self-proclaimed capital of this centuries-old, short-form poetry, traditionally (though not exclusively) created using three lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Hop on the city’s trundling trams and you’ll find rectangular haiku mailboxes, each with a slot at the top. Passengers are encouraged to pen a haiku on a provided sheet of paper and slip it into the mailbox for consideration in the city’s haiku competitions. And in the evening, you could stop by one of Matsuyama’s haiku bars, crafting poems with drink in hand.

What we now call haiku originally existed as the opening stanza of longer poems, until 17th-century poets such as Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) popularized their use as either short, standalone poems (then called hokku) or as accompaniments to prose—a style known as haibun. In Basho’s case, he would often incorporate haiku in travelogues.

Several centuries on, haiku is studied in Japanese schools, celebrated through national competitions, and promoted on TV in weekly shows.

But this traditional Japanese pastime has also gone global, with haiku societies as far and wide as Africa and North America. There’s even an International Haiku Poetry Day on April 17, organized by the Haiku Foundation.

Here’s how to follow the haiku trail in the country where it was born.

What is a haiku?

An illustration of a older man sitting under a tree.

This illustration of Matsuo Basho, the 17th-century master of haiku, is by the renowned artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). In Japan, many of Basho’s short poems are reproduced on monuments and historic buildings.

Illustration By Katsushika Hokusai, via History / Bridgeman Images

As Julie Bloss Kelsey writes in the Haiku Foundation’s New to Haiku column, modern-day haiku has developed beyond traditional confines.

“In Japanese, haiku is written in 17 on, or sound units. On don’t translate directly into English-language syllables. Some haiku scholars believe this misconception has led to English-language haiku that are too wordy,” she says. “This is why you often see modern haiku with a syllable count of less than 17. Haiku can be written with one, two, three, four, or more lines. Although three-line English-language haiku have historically been most common, one-line haiku, or monoku, are growing in popularity.”

(Follow in the steps of samurai on this ancient Japanese trail.)

That’s not the only change since Basho’s days. While haiku typically contain a seasonal word (or kigo in Japanese), they don’t just have to be about ephemeral cherry blossoms or autumnal leaves. Human emotion, life’s little moments, or a beloved chihuahua are equally good subjects. Likewise, a haiku can channel melancholy, humor, and many things between.

Colorful images are projected onto the floor as two people walk across the open annex.

One of Japan’s oldest bathhouses, Dogo Onsen Honkan in Matsuyama has a haiku box where people can deposit their own poems.

Photograph By Seonjae Kang

Best places to experience haiku

Traveling around Japan today, it’s not uncommon to encounter haiku in some form or other. Several sites boast a link to one of the “big four” poets of the haiku world: Yosa Buson (1716-1784), Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828), Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902), and, the most famous of all, Basho.

Basho wandered the Tohoku region, in the north of Japan’s main island, on a five-month trek documented in the classic haiku-punctuated travelogue Oku no Hosomichi (Narrow Road to the Deep North). You can follow in his sandal-clad footsteps to the mountainside temple of Yamadera, where the tranquil wooded trail inspired Basho to write one of his most celebrated poems:

stillness
the cries of cicada
sink into the rocks

Also in Tohoku, you could visit the town of Hiraizumi, inspiration for Basho’s mournful, “summer grass / all that’s left / of ancient warriors’ dreams.” But there’s a lot more left to Hiraizumi than green fields, including the UNESCO-listed Chusonji Temple and its golden Konjikido hall.

A fan with a painting.

A painted fan by 18th-century artist Yosa Buson illustrates an episode from the haiku poet Basho’s travelogue, Oku no Hosomichi (Narrow Road to the Deep North).

Image By Yosa Buson, Mary Griggs Burke Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Elsewhere in Japan, there’s the Basho Museum in the once rural part of eastern Tokyo that Basho called home—now within the urban sprawl of Tokyo’s central 23 wards. There are other Basho Museums: in his birthplace in Iga-Ueno, in Mie prefecture; and in towns along his Oku no Hosomichi route. Basho really did get around.

Then there’s Matsuyama, Japan’s haiku capital. Located on the smallest of the country’s four main islands, Matsuyama was the birthplace of Masaoka Shiki, who, before dying of tuberculosis at just 34 in 1902, coined the term haiku (meaning “word play”) and injected new life into the art by encouraging broader subject matter and the use of nontraditional language. He even wrote the first baseball haiku:

summer grass
baseball players far off
in the distance

You can’t spend a day in Matsuyama without noticing the haiku connections. As well as on trams, you’ll find a haiku box at the hilltop castle and by the Dogo Onsen Honkan, one of Japan’s oldest bathhouses—in case a haiku comes to mind while having a soak. Matsuyama has also set up haiku boxes in sister cities overseas, including Brussels, Belgium; Freiburg, Germany; and Taipei, Taiwan. 

A biker rides a winding road outside a large building.

The Dogo Onsen bathhouse is one of several sites in Matsuyama, Japan, with connections to haiku.

Photograph By Seonjae, Kang

Rob Goss is a Tokyo-based writer and very amateur haikuist. Follow him on Instagram.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : National Geographic – https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/haiku-sites-japan

Tags: JapanesescienceThese
Previous Post

4 herbal traditions used every day, all over the world

Next Post

See how ancient Indigenous artists left their mark on the landscape

Rice Museum: Architecture Rooted in Rural Memory and Ecology – ArchDaily

Rice Museum: Architecture Rooted in Rural Memory and Ecology – ArchDaily

July 11, 2025
Japan Shifts Space Policy from Science to Security – JAPAN Forward

Japan Shifts Space Policy from Science to Security – JAPAN Forward

July 11, 2025
Scientists Develop Glowing Tool To Reveal Cancer Cells – Newsweek

Scientists Develop Glowing Tool To Reveal Cancer Cells – Newsweek

July 11, 2025
The Real Lifestyle And WILDGO Partner To Transform Tokenized Real Estate – BlockchainReporter

The Real Lifestyle And WILDGO Partner To Transform Tokenized Real Estate – BlockchainReporter

July 11, 2025
A Lean World Health Organization for the Global Good – Center for Global Development

Transforming the World Health Organization for Greater Global Impact

July 11, 2025
I upgraded to premium economy for a 13-hour flight on a budget airline. It lacked some perks, but it was still worth the price. – Business Insider

I Upgraded to Premium Economy on a 13-Hour Budget Airline Flight – Here’s What It Was Really Like

July 11, 2025

Givēon’s Soul-Stirring Old-School R&B Heartbreak

July 11, 2025
Blanchard Valley Health System Announces Changes to the Board of Trustees – Bluffton Icon

Blanchard Valley Health System Announces Exciting Updates to Board of Trustees

July 11, 2025
IRS clears way for churches to endorse political candidates – Fox Business

IRS clears way for churches to endorse political candidates – Fox Business

July 11, 2025
Stallion Uranium Provides Update on Technology Data Acquisition Agreement – GlobeNewswire

Stallion Uranium Announces Exciting Progress in Technology Data Acquisition Agreement

July 11, 2025

Categories

Archives

July 2025
MTWTFSS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031 
« Jun    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (716)
  • Economy (739)
  • Entertainment (21,626)
  • General (15,836)
  • Health (9,776)
  • Lifestyle (746)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (741)
  • Politics (749)
  • Science (15,957)
  • Sports (21,237)
  • Technology (15,724)
  • World (722)

Recent News

Rice Museum: Architecture Rooted in Rural Memory and Ecology – ArchDaily

Rice Museum: Architecture Rooted in Rural Memory and Ecology – ArchDaily

July 11, 2025
Japan Shifts Space Policy from Science to Security – JAPAN Forward

Japan Shifts Space Policy from Science to Security – JAPAN Forward

July 11, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version