is a form of

Japanese poetry Japanese poetry is poetry typical of Japan, or written, spoken, or chanted in the Japanese language, which includes Old Japanese, Early Middle Japanese, Late Middle Japanese, and Modern Japanese, as well as poetry in Japan which was written in t ...

rooted in ''

haikai ''Haikai'' (Japanese 俳諧 ''comic, unorthodox'') may refer in both Japanese and English to ''haikai no renga'' (renku), a popular genre of Japanese linked verse, which developed in the sixteenth century out of the earlier aristocratic renga. I ...

''. It is related to, but separate from,

haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...

and

senryū is a Japanese form of short poetry similar to haiku in construction: three lines with 17 (or , often translated as syllables, but see the article on for distinctions). tend to be about human foibles while haiku tend to be about nature, and a ...

Lee Gurga Lee Gurga (born July 28, 1949 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American haiku poet. In 1997, he served as president of the Haiku Society of America. He was the editor of ''Modern Haiku'' magazine from 2002 to 2006, and is the current editor of the Mode ...

defines zappai as a form of poetry that "includes all types of seventeen syllable poems that do not have the proper formal or technical characteristics of haiku." The

Haiku Society of America The Haiku Society of America is a non-profit organization composed of haiku poets, editors, critics, publishers and enthusiasts that promotes the composition and appreciation of haiku in English. Founded in 1968, it is the largest society dedicate ...

mentioned zappai while defining similar forms though their comments were later rebutted by Richard Gilbert and Shinjuku Rollingstone.Simply Haiku, vol. 3, iss. 1
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Notes

Japanese poetry Japanese literary terminology Haikai forms {{japan-lit-stub