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Over the years I suppose I’ve become known more as a writer of senryu than of haiku and the amount of humour in my work has often been pointed out. The above title should, therefore, not be a surprise to those who know my work. This short article is intended to present a personal perspective on this rather than act as any kind of academic argument.
Humour is a human characteristic rather than a natural phenomena and, as a result, in relation to the writing of haiku is sometimes considered as an inferior form of observation, parcelled off into the sub-category of senryu and not worthy of serious haijin consideration. I believe this comes from a misconception regarding haiku in the West, namely that it must be solely about nature, that it must be devoid of the human, and that, in particular, it should have a meditative zen-like quality. I’m not suggesting these qualities are wrong, they produce wonderful haiku. What I am saying is that the very act of writing places a human into the haiku — the perception, the moment, are given to us by the haijin. There is no separation between human nature and the world of nature. They coexist.
But, of course, the category of senryu is a category of haiku and is generally seen as the form that deals with humour. Which indeed it does. But, to my mind, the presence or lack of humour is not what differentiates haiku and senryu. Without entering into the long and complex debate of definitions, let me offer, in my own simple uneducated way, how I generally differentiate between the two. Haiku, for me deal with nature and the natural world but can contain a human perspective or sensibility. Senryu, on the other hand, deal with human nature, in particular human foibles, and will generally not deal with the natural world. Of course, to confuse matters, some poems may fall somewhere in between or be open to interpretation. So perhaps it is a matter of degree and you will have to make up your own minds. An example of a haiku (as opposed to a senryu) containing humour would be where human sensibilities are involved when observing nature.
And, of course, senryu needs more than humour to work. Okashimi, or humour, is just one of the characteristics of a good senryu. But karumi (lightness) and ugachi (insightful observation) are also generally required.
I believe we can find moments of beauty and joy, wherever we are, if we look. It could be watching the fall of a young girl’s hair as she stoops to pick something up. It could be the way the clouds are reflected in the sides of a glass tower. For me it is the openness to such moments that define spirituality and meaning and it is such moments, whether meditative or humourous, that result in the best haiku and senryu. My hope is to observe and enjoy such moments and, when I remember, to render them into words. This, of course, is where it all comes apart as I am limited by my ability, as we all are. More often than not the moments that I observe contain those foibles that are part of the human condition and part of what I love in the world. So humour is a large part of what I write and like to read: humour that come out of the experience of living in the ordinary world. Karumi is found in the ability to laugh at oneself and ugachi from the insight into human behaviour that is illustrated.
One of the characteristics of the haiku masters is that they never take themselves too seriously.
Smiling at ourselves is a universal language that crosses all known borders. It’s all about seeing the funny side of life in a captured moment. May we all continue to find such moments and enjoy them.
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haijinx IV:1 (March 2011)
Copyright © 2001-2011 Mark Brooks (haijinx). All rights reserved.
The copyrights of individual poems, articles, translations, and images belong to their individual authors. The editors do not necessarily endorse the opinions of authors, nor do they assume responsibility for factual errors, infringements of copyrights, or omissions in acknowledgements.
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