Haiku rules and examples: syllables, season words and the cut
The rule most of us learned at school is that a haiku has three lines of five, seven and five syllables. That is a fine starting point and what most assignments expect, but it is a simplification: Japanese haiku count sound units that are shorter than English syllables, and the form is defined as much by its season reference and two-part structure as by its count. Here is how it works, with original examples you can check in the syllable counter.
The 5-7-5 rule
In the classroom version, a haiku has three lines: five syllables, then seven, then five, seventeen in all. It does not rhyme, it usually has no title, and it captures one moment, often in the present tense. If a teacher or a competition asks for 5-7-5, write 5-7-5; that is the convention you will be marked against. The form grew out of the opening verse, the hokku, of linked Japanese poems. Matsuo BashΕ, writing in the 17th century, is its most famous master, and the standalone poem was given the name haiku by Masaoka Shiki at the end of the 19th century.
What Japanese haiku count
Japanese haiku count on, sound units usually compared to morae, not syllables. An on is often shorter than an English syllable: a long vowel or a final n counts as an extra unit, so TΕkyΕ has four on (to-u-kyo-u) but only two syllables in English. Seventeen English syllables therefore hold noticeably more words and images than seventeen on. That is why many English-language haiku poets write shorter poems, typically well under seventeen syllables, in three short lines with no fixed count. Both approaches are legitimate; they answer to different conventions.
Season words and the cut
Two features matter more to haiku poets than the count:
- Kigo (season word): a word or image that places the poem in a season, such as cherry blossom or frogs for spring, cicadas for summer, the harvest moon for autumn, or frost and first snow for winter. Traditional Japanese haiku include one; many English haiku keep a seasonal or nature image even without a formal kigo.
- Kireji (cutting word): Japanese uses special words to split the poem into two parts that sit side by side. English haiku usually mark the cut with a line break, a dash or a colon, setting two images against each other so the reader makes the connection.
Haiku also tend to show rather than explain: concrete things seen, heard or felt, with the emotion left to the reader. Short poems in the same form that focus on human nature, often with humour, are traditionally called senryΕ«.
Examples
These are my own, written for this guide. The first two follow 5-7-5:
- Spring rain on the roof / the kettle starts its thin song / nobody answers (5-7-5)
- Low tide at evening / gulls argue over a crab / the moon not yet up (5-7-5)
In the first, spring rain is the season word, and the cut falls after the first line: rain outside, a quiet kitchen inside, and an absence nobody mentions. The second sets a noisy shore against a calm moon that has not yet appeared. The next one is in the shorter, free-count style many English haiku poets prefer:
- first frost / on the bus-stop glass / a child draws a cat (2-5-5)
It has only 12 syllables, but it still has a season word, a cut after the opening phrase, and a single concrete moment.
How to write one
- Start with something you noticed, not an idea: a sound, a smell, a small movement.
- Find a second image that sits beside it, and put the cut between them.
- Cut every word that explains. Words like beautiful, sad or peaceful tell the reader what to feel; replace them with the thing that made you feel it.
- Fit the count last. Adjust with shorter or longer words that mean the same thing (sea or ocean), which the synonym finder helps with, rather than padding with words like so or very.
If you need a subject, the story prompt generator can suggest one; strip it down to a single moment before you start.
Checking your count
Paste a three-line poem into the syllable counter and it shows each word's count, each line's total, and whether the poem fits 5-7-5. It counts by spelling rules plus a list of exceptions, so it is right for most words but can disagree with you on words like fire, flower or every, which people say with different numbers of syllables; How to count syllables: simple methods, rules and tricky words explains those. When it does, go with how the poem should sound read aloud. The word counter is handy when a contest limits words rather than syllables.
Sources and further reading
The claims in this guide rest on these references, which were checked when the guide was last updated. Spotted an error? The contact page says how to report it.