📝 When is National Haiku Poetry Day 2020

When is National Haiku Poetry Day in 2020? This question sounds rather amazingly, however, only a few people, belonging to the definite circles, are really ready to answer it without any hesitations. The matter is that despite of being famous all around the planet, the name of this style of writing poetry is known only to the most devoted appreciators. We just meet it, read, enjoy, but don’t know for sure whether it is Haiku or other direction. To make the situation clear, we have made a decision to investigate this holiday in details.

History

The question like what day World Haiku Poetry Day in 2020 is needs a lot of clarifications as there are a lot of people, who have never heard either about this holiday or about its direction. The matters concerning the historical background are always in demand.

It is a traditional genre, which belongs to the well-known Japanese poetry. It is three-piece and consists of 17 syllables, 5 of which are arranged in the first line, 7 in their turn – in the second and the next 5 are in the third again). In accordance with the specialists’ points of view, The direction itself appeared from Hokku and thanks to the great poet called Matsuo Basho (1644 – 1694). Hokku literally means “initial stanza,” as the three-sided hokku was the first stanza of a more ancient poetic form.

Unfortunately, we don’t know for sure why we have to celebrate this holiday on April 17^th annually. And at the same time the names of the establishers haven’t been discovered yet.

Meaning

What does National Haiku Poetry Day mean? – Well, we are almost sure that it is impossible to give a definite reply to this question. Why? – You see, we don’t know you personally, that it why it is not a great surprise that we are not sure whether this special occasion is important for you or not.

Nowadays there are some artists, who are seeking to establish the definite rules and certain conventions, while others, in their turn, prefer to break them significantly. And this is true for the discovered  world. If the existing standard implies the use of a structure of 5-7-5 seasonal words and opposition with the help of the so-called “cutting words”, then for many years there have been innovators who have questioned or ignored these rules.

Definition

The question “When is International Haiku Poetry Day 2020?” needs some clarifications and explanations. This is the reason, why we are going to discover the matter in details.

As it has been already mentioned above the term “haiku” itself was created only in 1892 by the poet Shiki. However, it was not the beginning in the full sense of this word. There were some earlier works in this genre. The first samples were written by Basho as well as by other poets. The verses were quite similar to the contemporary direction, so that they are also called this word now. Hokku comes from the first part of longer poems, which gradually gained their own independent way of development.

Together with the appearance of the new literature term, many experimenters began to test the strength of the boundaries of the amazing genre, creating the existing samples without the necessary “cutting words” or the so-called seasonal markers. Up to the present moment it has been believed that the poems written in this direction, but without a seasonal word should be attributed to senry – another, humorous genre of poetry, written in the form of 5-7-5. The last one came back to the XVIII century. However, this approach does not take into account the existence of flour (off-season) samples, which preserve the general mood, but do not need to indicate the time of year.

Even the structure of 5-7-5 has undergone a review. This format has traditionally allowed for some changes, called jiamari (excess letters) and jitarazu (lack of letters), and many well-known samples have a slightly irregular shape.

Traditions

When is Haiku Poetry Day in 2020, calendar will surely remind you and this is not a serious problem, of course. Why? – You see, the matter is that this holiday is celebrated on the same date annually. It happens on April 17^th.

Of course, our readers won’t be rather surprised to find out that this special occasion is not celebrated officially. It is held, of course, but as a rule it happens only in definite circles, organized by the lovers of this genre.

If there are no any appreciators in your native town, you can organize something special by yourself. What about writing poetry? Would you like to try yourselves in this sphere?

1. Write the poetry in three lines. Do not exceed 10 syllables. There is no rhyme in the haiku, but there is a certain rhythm and harmoniousness, as in any poem. Read the poetry out loud, see if there is “free space”, or if words are not “crumpled”.
2. Try to demonstrate the “spirit of the direction”, and not the author’s assessment. An author in a haiku looks at himself/herself from the outside, as part of Nature. The author does not explain, does not evaluate, but simply shows what is.
3. Be attentive, leisurely and thoughtful in everyday life, imbued with the sad beauty of autumn and the aroma of tea. The direction is the moment of insight, arising in a calm mind.
4. And now imagine, for example, the rainy days, which are monotonous and gloomy. Depression and despondency are so typical for this season. And suddenly, in a series of monotonous colors and days, everything becomes clear and simple. The shades are observed during the tea action or during everyday tea drinking at work, through conscious contemplation or by chance – it does not matter. There are lively, sparkling shades, there is a feeling of warmth and roundness of the cup … And also an understanding that the sun is you.
5. Write without thinking about success, and then everything will turn out.

International Haiku Poetry Day Facts

The mentioned above question “What is the date of National Haiku Poetry Day in 2020?” has to be clarified to our followers. Why? – The matter is that this special occasion doesn’t belong to the most requested ones. There are a lot of contemporary people, who have never heard either about the holiday itself or about the special traditions devoted to it.

Frankly speaking it happens because this literature genre is not the most popular one nowadays. There are many people, who appreciate it, however, most part of them belong to the definite circle or society.

Today we are going to give some recommendations to people, who want to try themselves in this unusual sphere. Here is a list of the most typical tips of actions, you should not do when writing a sample:

• Do not write in rhyme, it gives a sense of false completeness, and in a sample there is always a slightly open and inviting notes of understatement.
• Do not write instructively, arrogantly or tentatively, do not give assessments.
• Do not invent a haiku “out of your head”, do not operate with an immaterial, abstract, but make the surrounding world and your own experience, even an imaginary one, a haiku.
• Do not try to explain something in a haiku, only show it.
• Do not write aphorisms, imposing the only representation that arose from you.
• Do not write a diary or a story on “How I spent the summer.”
• Do not write about other times than the present, or write through the prism of the present – a haiku should create the feeling that events are unfolding before your eyes.
• Try to avoid explicit metaphors, comparisons, avatars, etc. Metaphor is permissible, if both metaphorical and literal reading of it is equally possible.
• Reception for reception, beauty for beauty, etc. makes haiku flat and deprives immediacy. A play on words, graphic tricks, etc., are good only in the case of their semantic adequacy – as in any artistic text.