Patricia Donegan - Write Your Own Haiku for Kids: Write Poetry in the Japanese Tradition - Easy Step-by-Step Instructions to Compose Simple Poems

WRITE POETRY IN THE JAPANESE TRADITION

Easy Step-by-Step Instructions to Compose Simple Poems

Write Your Own Haiku

See the World Through
Haiku Eyes

PATRICIA DONEGAN

Dedicated to
all the worlds children who have the haiku eyes to bring about a more peaceful world

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Kazuo Sato, mentor and haiku master, for his suggestions on teaching haiku to children; to the JAL Foundation, especially Shunichi Shibohta and Ritsuko Kamata, for enthusiastically giving permission for use of materials on haiku and haiga from JAL Childrens Haiku Contest Anthologies; to Tadashi Kondo, for his advice and vision about renku; to Kris Young Kondo, for her materials for the renga chapter; to Eiko Yachimoto, for renku information about the shisan form; to late haiku master Seishi Yamaguchi, who taught me the importance of the kigo (season word); to the Fulbright Foundation, for a research grant to do the co-translation with Yoshie Ishibashi for the book Chiyo-ni: Woman Haiku Master, and thus learn about haiku more deeply; to meditation masters, for showing me the haiku moment; to Yoshie Ishibashi, for translation work and heart support; to my parents, Janet and Daniel Donegan, for encouragement and book suggestions; to Charles Trumbull, for haiku resource information; and to acquisitions editor Jennifer Lantagne, for asking me to do this project.

Preface

A s kids, you already have haiku eyesa way to see the world openly and freshly. Matsuo Basho (16441694), the most famous haiku poet, said that to write haiku you need to have the eyes and heart of a child. This books purpose is to show you the way to write haiku, to teach you to take your haiku eyes and put what you see and feel down on paper. It is an introduction to haiku, a unique part of the culture and arts of Japan.

You can use this book by yourself, or with your friends, your brother or sister, your parents, or even your teacher. You can write haiku by yourself or with others. You can use it any way you want. This book takes you through steps and explains what seeing the world with haiku eyes means. It explains what haiku is and is not; it gives you the seven keys to guide you to write haiku; it tells the importance of the seasons and nature in writing haiku; and it guides you to write what you see. It also covers other haiku activities, such as haiku with stories (haibun), haiku with drawings (haiga), and grouplike haiku with friends (renga).

For Adults

Although this book is aimed at children, it can also be used by teenagers and adultspeople of any age who are either beginners at haiku or needing to refresh their understanding. This simple and clear approach is an introduction to this amazingly small practice from Japanese culture, which can truly enrich our lives. Haiku can help kids and adults alike to connect to the world of nature and peopleto see the deep interconnectedness of our small world, perhaps even making a step toward peace.

This book is meant to guide children to create haiku on their own or with friends; however, the best way for children to learn is to practice with a parent, teacher, older child, or adult. It is important that we share with the children in our lives this way of looking at the world and recording haiku moments. Haiku may help us all to slow down, relax, and stop and see what is around us, so that we can appreciate our world and everyday life more.

So when children learn haiku, they are learning more than just poetry. They learn a fresh and sensitive way to see and connect to nature and the worldand usually become happier and more respectful. They also sharpen their skills in observing things around them. Children strengthen their language skills by learning to express their feelings and ideas more clearly in words and they also expand their creativity, just through this tiny form known as haiku. Best of all, they can always enjoy writing haiku!

Entering the Haiku World

old pond

frog jumps in

sound of the water

Matsuo Basho (Japanese poet, 16441694)

T hese three short lines make up a haiku, which is also one of the worlds most famous poems. It is simple: it tells something about nature and about one little moment in time taken from real experience. Haiku are always there, waiting to be noticed, waiting for us to stop and look and listen to what is happening around us.

Haiku is the worlds shortest poetry, but also the most popular form of poetry today. In fact, it is now so popular all over the world that some people dont know that it originated in Japan. Haiku became popular in Japanese culture over three hundred years ago and has now spread all over the world, even to you. Haiku isnt fancy poetry, but poetry for everyone. All kinds of people write haiku: Long ago in Japan, the samurai, geisha, shopkeepers, and farmers wrote haiku, and today anyone from schoolchildren to senior citizens write haiku as well. In fact, in Japan, haiku is still a part of everyday life: daily newspapers print haiku; Itoen prints haiku on its cans of green tea drinks; and almost every school and town has a haiku group or club that publishes its own haiku magazine. But anyone, not just people from Japan, can enjoy haiku.

What is it about haiku that people like? One thing is its simplicitythat is, simple noticing. Haiku is simply noticing, noting and recording moments that are happening around us all the timemoments that make us wake up and see and appreciate the world around us more. This moment could be something beautiful, such as a fresh breeze against ones face on a hot summer day, the first snowfall on the car windshield, the smell of the earth after a rainstorm. Or sometimes it could be a sad or bad thing, like a dead bird lying in the sidewalk, a fight with a friend, a homeless woman sleeping in the bus station. It could be something happening in the same space in which we breathe, or it could be an image we see in a movie on television or on the Internet, such as blue planet Earth floating in space, a starving child in a faraway land, people rescued after an earthquake, the planting of tree seedlings to protect the forests. As you can see, anything can be the subject of haiku, because haiku are happening around us all the time.

Capturing these little haiku moments in words is what makes a haiku, and that creation depends on how open our eyes are to the world around us. It is a matter of seeing with clear and open eyes what is in front of our noses right now. You can look up and see the big things, as in this haiku:

wild sea

lying over Sado island

the galaxy

Basho

Or you can look down to see the small things, as in this haiku:

butterfly

whats it dreaming

fanning its wings?

Chiyo-ni (or Kaga no Chiyo, Japanese poet, 17031775)

Often it is through the small things that we learn about the big things. The main point of haiku is to connect to things around us, especially nature, with an open eye and open heartthat is, seeing the world freshly, with haiku eyes.