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is a Japanese form of short
poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
similar to
haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 Mora (linguistics), morae (called ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' in Japanese) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a ''kire ...
in construction: three lines with 17 (or , often translated as
syllable A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...
s, but see the article on for distinctions). tend to be about human foibles while haiku tend to be about nature, and are often cynical or darkly humorous while haiku are more serious. Like haiku, senryū originated as an opening part ( hokku) of a larger Japanese poem called renga. Unlike haiku, do not include a (cutting word), and do not generally include a , or
season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
word.


Form and content

is named after
Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
poet , whose collection launched the genre into the public consciousness. A typical example from the collection: This , which can also be translated "Catching him / I see the robber / is my son," is not so much a personal experience of the author as an example of a type of situation (provided by a short comment called a or fore-verse, which usually prefaces a number of examples) and/or a brief or witty rendition of an incident from history or the arts (plays, songs, tales, poetry, etc.).


Senryū in the United States

The first senryū circle in the United States was reportedly started by Japanese immigrants in Yakima, Washington, during the early 1900s. Over time, other senryū circles were established in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
and other Japanese communities in the
Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...
. In 1938, the
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
–based Kashu Mainichi Shimbun published its first senryū section. During the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, senryū was a popular activity in the camps.


English-language publications

In the 1970s, Michael McClintock edited ''Seer Ox: American Senryu Magazine''. In 1993, Michael Dylan Welch edited and published ''Fig Newtons:'' ''to Go'', the first anthology of English-language .William J. Higginson, ''Frogpond'' XXV:1, Winter–Spring 1994, pages 103–105. *''Prune Juice'', a journal of and , is edited by Aaron Barry, Antoinette Cheung, and P. H. Fischer. *''Failed Haiku'' is edited by Bryan Rickert and Hemapriya Chellappan. *''Simply Haiku'' archives (final publication in 2009) contain a regular column edited by Alan Pizzarelli. Additionally, one can regularly find and related articles in some haiku publications. For example, the ''World Haiku Review'' has regularly published . regularly appear or appeared in the pages of '' Modern Haiku'', '' Frogpond'', ''Bottle Rockets'', ''Woodnotes'', ''Tundra'', ''Haiku Canada Review'', ''Presence'', ''Blithe Spirit'', ''Kingfisher'', and other haiku journals, often unsegregated from haiku.


American awards

The Haiku Society of America holds the annual Gerald Brady Memorial Award for best unpublished . Previous Winners of the Gerald Brady Memorial Award include: *1988: Frederick Gasser *1989: Brenda S. Duster *1990: John Thompson *1991: Leatrice Lifshitz *1992: Christopher Herold *1993: Tom Clausen *1994: David Carmel Gershator *1995: Michael Dylan Welch *1996: Sandra Fuhringer *1997: John Stevenson *1998: Carl Patrick *1999: Leatrice Lifshitz *2000: Yvonnne Hardenbrook *2001: Billie Wilson *2002: w. f. owen *2003: w. f. owen *2004: John Stevenson *2005: Emily Romano *2006: Roberta Beary *2007: Scott Mason *2008: David P. Grayson *2009: Barry George *2010: Garry Gay *2011: Ernest J. Berry *2012: Julie Warther *2013: Peter Newton *2014: Neal Whitman *2015: paul m. *2016: Tom Painting *2017: Sam Bateman *2018: Joshua Gage *2019: PMF Johnson *2020: Tony Williams *2021: Amy Losak *2022: Joshua St. Claire *2023: John Savoie Since about 1990, the Haiku Poets of Northern California has been running a contest, as part of its San Francisco International Haiku and Senryu Contest.


See also

*


References


Bibliography and further reading

* J C Brown, ''Senryu: Poems of the People'', Simon & Schuster Ltd, 1991, * R. H. Blyth, translator, ''Senryu: Japanese Satirical Verses''. 1949, The Hokuseido Press, . Includes black and white sketches and some colored plates *''R. H. Blyth, translator, Japanese Humour.'' 1957, Japan Travel Bureau *R. H. Blyth, translator, ''Japanese Life and Character in Senryu''. 1960, The Hokuseido Press *R. H. Blyth, translator, ''Oriental Humour''. 1960, The Hokuseido Press *R. H. Blyth, translator, ''Edo Satirical Verse Anthologies''. 1961, The Hokuseido Press * Robin D. Gill, compiler and translator
''Octopussy, Dry Kidney & Blue Spots – dirty themes from 18-19c Japanese poems''
Paraverse Press, 2007. . Chronicles 1,300 – Blyth mentioned that he could only introduce what the censors allowed; these are the type of that were not allowed. *Lorraine Ellis Harr (tombo), ''Selected Senryu''. 1976, J & C Transcripts. One of the earliest English-language -only publications * James Day Hodgson, ''American Senryu''. 1992, The Japan Times, *Howard S. Levy and Junko Ohsawa, ''One Hundred Senryu Selections''. 1979, So. Pasadena, CA, Langstaff Publications, * Alan Pizzarelli, ''Senryu Magazine''. 2001, River Willow. Although this book looks like a regular journal, it is the effort of Alan Pizzarelli only, done as a
parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...
of haiku journals. * Makoto Ueda, ''Light Verse from the Floating World: An Anthology of Premodern Japanese Senryu'', Columbia University Press, 1999. cloth *Michael Dylan Welch, ed. ''Fig Newtons: Senryu to Go'', Press Here, 1993 (the first anthology of English-language )


External links


'A Brief Survey of Senryû by Women' by Hiroaki Sato
in ''Modern Haiku'', Volume 34.1, Spring 2003 {{DEFAULTSORT:Senryu Japanese poetry Japanese literary terminology Haikai forms Articles containing Japanese poems Japanese words and phrases