In this paper I will present a research project which aims to understand the processes affecting a literary genre, when it is moved from the specific context of its original culture and becomes adapted to, and developed in, an entirely foreign environment. The genre in question is the Japanese haiku, which originated some 500 years ago, and which still is practiced actively in Japan and abroad.
More than a century has passed since the haiku started its journey over the world. Today, haiku-poetry has become an almost global movement, and there is a growing population of haiku enthusiasts, especially in Europe and North and South America. As in Japan, haiku is poetry that is written as much as it is read. A demand for receiving guidance in the art has created a market for introductory works and handbooks of various formats. Such educational texts give a view into the aims, aesthetics, values, and even preconceptions of the people engaged in this form of poetry. In Japan, a very large number of such handbooks have been published, often by leading poets. In other languages, the number of such publications is naturally smaller, but it is still large enough to make meaningful a comparative study of the views about haiku within different cultural contexts.
My aim is to cover the most important works of this kind written in English and Swedish and compare the arguments in these with a selection of handbooks written in Japanese, which are chosen from poets of different backgrounds, covering the spectrum from traditionalists to avant-garde poets. Thus, the diversity within the Japanese haiku scene will be reflected. I will discuss some of the differences found concerning attitudes towards, realism, metaphors, seasonality, language rhythm and prosody.
2022.