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Responding to Your Community Through HaikuVisual Haiku: HaigaHaiga is the term used to describe visual haiku. It comes from the combination of the Japanese words "hai", meaning poem, and "ga", meaning painting. Traditional haiku masters used brush and ink to write their poems, it was a very natural transition for the masters such as Basho (1644-1694) to illustrate their words. They followed the precepts of written haiku by representing nature and daily life with simplicity, spontaneity and often with humor. Haiga can incorporate three images, mimicking the standard three-line form of haiku.
"The form [of haiga] originated in seventeenth-century Japan and was used to decorate scrolls, albums, screens, and fans. You always find three elements in haiga: an ink-brush or watercolor painting, a poem or poems, and calligraphy. The form is characterized by a fresh and spontaneous rendering of ordinary, everyday life--very much in the haiku spirit--as well as by simple subjects, loose and fluid brushstrokes, and plenty of white space. It is usually very sketch-like with spare images expressed with just a few lines, little detail, and one or two colors for added visual interest." 
Peter DeLory, "Tight Steel Collection #2" August 2007 Contemporary haiga often makes use of drawing, painting, collage or photography, incorporating the haiku text within the image much as traditional masters created images using ink, pen and brush techniques. Many poets work in collaboration with visual artists to create the haiga. Sometimes such collaborations begin with image which is then shared with the poet to inspire her to write the haiku, or with the haiku to inspire the visual artist to turn the poem into a visual image or sculpture. |
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