夜色楼台雪万家　与謝蕪村筆

Japanese IV: Haiku

In this course, you will study haiku poetry and also receive some orientation about different haiku-related genres of poetry, prose and visual art. You will read and analyze a number of texts in which poems and important concepts are explained and discuss. The book used in the course is an introduction to the genre, aimed at beginners. In addition to this, chapters and essays from a number of other publications will be made available here in the Canvas course room. Besides introductory texts, this will include essays in which the poets discuss the background to their own poems, as well as interpretations of the works of others. With the background knowledge of these readings you will interpret and analyze a large number of modern as well as classical poems. You will consider their historical and cultural context, and deepen your understanding of haiku aesthetics. In the course you will also approach the genre from a practical and creative point of view, as you will write a number of poems of your own and engage in creative and critical discussion about these and the poems of others.

Teaching

The classes mainly consist of discussions around difficulties found in the texts and around the poems introduced in these. It is therefore very important that you are well prepared before the classes. Some of the texts may be difficult, but we will hopefully make clear whatever difficulties you encounter in your reading.

Schedule

You find the schedule for the course seminars here: GJP37W Schedule Spring 2026.pdf

A detailed course outline with reading instructions will be published here in the week before the course starts.

Examination

There is no final exam, but you will make a number of submissions during the course. Some of them will be essays in which you make critical comparisons of the arguments found in the literature and offer your own interpretations of a selection of poems from different ages and styles. Other submissions will consist of your own poems written in Japanese and your own comments to these. The grading will be based on your submissions and on the quality of your participation in the classes. A few absences and a few late submissions may be accepted if there is a legitimate reason, but in order to pass the course, you are expected to actively take part in the classes, be well prepared and submit all homework in time.

Contact

If you have questions about this course that are not answered by the material here on Canvas, don't hesitate to contact the teacher: Herbert Jonsson <hjn@du.se>

Course literature

https://www.du.se/en/study-at-du/course-literature/?applicationcode=V3PU8 

The main course book is Natsui Itsuki's 世界一わかりやすい俳句鑑賞の授業 (ISBN: 9784569850863). This is not an academic textbook, but a handbook in the art of reading and composing haiku that is aimed at the general public. It is written by one of Japan's most popular contemporary haiku poets. In addition, critical texts by a few other poets will be made available in the course modules.

Besides these texts, you will need to have access to a saijiki, a dictionary of seasonal words. If you want to buy a printed saijiki, the compact volume published by Kadokawa is recommended (ISBN: 9784044004330). It can also be purchased as an Andriod app. A few free saijiki resources are available online. These are sometimes incomplete and lack many common words, but may be sufficient for this course. The following seem to be relatively reliable resources of this kind:

https://kigosai.sub.jp/001/ 
https://www.haikudiary.jp/