haiku

[Toshiyuki Sakabe]

Haiku is a three-line poem with seventeen syllables in the 
pattern of 5-7-5. Including a seasonal word is an important 
aspect of this poem. SOme of the most famous haiku poems were 
written by Matsuo Basho in the seventeenth century.

There is Tanka which is a slightly longer poem similar to haiku.
 It has five lines with thirty-one syllables in the pattern of 5
-7-5-7-7. This traditonal form of poetry originated in the 
sevnth century

Tosh