Haikai

Haikai (Japanese 俳諧 "comic, unorthodox") is the name of a poetic genre that includes a number of forms which embrace the aesthetics of "haikai no renga", and what Bashō referred to as the "poetic spirit" ("fūga"), including haiku, renku (haikai no renga), haibun, haiga and senryū [Higginson, William J. "The Haiku Seasons", Kodansha International, 1996, ISBN 4-7700-1629-8, p.9] (though not renga, tanka nor waka). The term could be translated as "haikai poetry" or "haikai art", and involved a combination of comic playfulness and spiritual depth. [Barnhill, David Landis. "Basho's Haiku: Selected Poems of Matsuo Basho", Suny Press, 2004, ISBN 0791461653, p.279]

"Haikai" is sometimes used as an abbreviation for "haikai no renga" (renku). [Higginson, p.19]

Bashō and the haikai spirit

Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694) was one of the most famous poets in the Edo period.

He defined “haikai spirit” as followingFact|date=May 2008: first of all, haikai spirit implied the interaction of diverse languages and subcultures, particularly between the new popular culture and the poetic tradition, and the humour and interest resulting from the sociolinguistic incongruity or difference between the two. Second, haikai spirit meant taking pleasure in recontextualisation: defamiliarisation, dislocating habitual, conventionalised perceptions, and their refamiliarisation, recasting established poetic topics into contemporary language and culture, the haikai spirit was also marked by a constant search for novelty and new perspectives. Finally, the haikai imagination implied the ability to interact in a playful, lively dialogue that produced communal art.

Bashō’s haikai treated of the ordinary, everyday lives of commoners. In contrast to traditional Japanese poetry, he portrayed figures from popular culture such as the beggar, the traveller and the farmer. In crystallising the newly popular haikai he played a significant role in giving birth to modern haiku, which reflected the common culture.

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