Form of short, comedic, Japanese poetry
Senry?
(
川柳
)
is a Japanese form of short
poetry
similar to
haiku
in construction: three lines with 17
morae
(or
on
, often translated as
syllables
, but see the article on
onji
for distinctions).
Senry?
tend to be about human foibles while haiku tend to be about nature, and
senry?
are often cynical or darkly humorous while haiku are more serious.
Like haiku, senry? originated as an opening part (
hokku
) of a larger Japanese poem called
renga
.
[1]
Unlike haiku,
senry?
do not include a
kireji
(cutting word), and do not generally include a
kigo
, or
season
word.
[2]
[3]
Form and content
[
edit
]
Senry?
is named after
Edo period
haikai
poet
Karai Senry?
(
柄井川柳
, 1718?1790)
,
[1]
whose collection
Haif?yanagidaru
(
誹風柳多留
)
launched the genre into the public consciousness.
[
citation needed
]
A typical example from the collection:
|
dorob? o
toraete mireba
wagako nari
|
When I catch,
The robber,
my own son
|
This
senry?
, which can also be translated "Catching him / I see the robber / is my son," is not so much a personal experience of the author as an example of a type of situation (provided by a short comment called a
maeku
or fore-verse, which usually prefaces a number of examples) and/or a brief or witty rendition of an incident from history or the arts (plays, songs, tales, poetry, etc.).
[
citation needed
]
|
kakurenbo
mittsu kazoete
fuyu ni naru
|
Hide and seek
Count to three
Winter comes
|
Senry? in the United States
[
edit
]
The first senry? circle in the United States was reportedly started by Japanese immigrants in
Yakima, Washington
during the early 1900s. Over time, other senry? circles were established in
Seattle
and other Japanese communities in the
Pacific Northwest
. In 1938, the
Los Angeles
?based Kashu Mainichi Shimbun published its first senry? section.
[1]
During the
incarceration of Japanese Americans
during World War II, senry? was a popular activity in the camps.
[1]
English-language
senry?
publications
[
edit
]
In the 1970s, Michael McClintock edited
Seer Ox: American Senryu Magazine
. In 1993, Michael Dylan Welch edited and published
Fig Newtons:
Senry?
to Go
, the first anthology of English-language
senry?
.
[4]
- Prune Juice
,
[5]
a journal of
senry?
and
kyoka
, is edited by Aaron Barry, Antoinette Cheung, and P. H. Fischer.
- Failed Haiku
[6]
is edited by Bryan Rickert and Hemapriya Chellappan.
- Simply Haiku
[7]
archives (final publication in 2009) contain a regular
senry?
column edited by
Alan Pizzarelli
.
Additionally, one can regularly find
senry?
and related articles in some haiku publications. For example, the
World Haiku Review
[8]
has regularly published
senry?
.
Senry?
regularly appear or appeared in the pages of
Modern Haiku
,
Frogpond
,
Bottle Rockets
,
Woodnotes
,
Tundra
,
Haiku Canada Review
,
Presence
,
Blithe Spirit
,
Kingfisher
, and other haiku journals, often unsegregated from haiku.
American
Senry?
awards
[
edit
]
The
Haiku Society of America
holds the annual Gerald Brady Memorial Award for best unpublished
senry?
.
[9]
Previous Winners of the Gerald Brady Memorial Award include:
[10]
- 1988: Frederick Gasser
- 1989: Brenda S. Duster
- 1990: John Thompson
- 1991: Leatrice Lifshitz
- 1992: Christopher Herold
- 1993: Tom Clausen
- 1994: David Carmel Gershator
- 1995: Michael Dylan Welch
- 1996: Sandra Fuhringer
- 1997: John Stevenson
- 1998: Carl Patrick
- 1999: Leatrice Lifshitz
- 2000: Yvonnne Hardenbrook
- 2001: Billie Wilson
- 2002: w. f. owen
- 2003: w. f. owen
- 2004: John Stevenson
- 2005: Emily Romano
- 2006: Roberta Beary
- 2007: Scott Mason
- 2008: David P. Grayson
- 2009: Barry George
- 2010: Garry Gay
- 2011: Ernest J. Berry
- 2012: Julie Warther
- 2013: Peter Newton
- 2014: Neal Whitman
- 2015: paul m.
- 2016: Tom Painting
- 2017: Sam Bateman
- 2018: Joshua Gage
- 2019: PMF Johnson
- 2020: Tony Williams
- 2021: Amy Losak
- 2022: Joshua St. Claire
- 2023: John Savoie
Since about 1990, the Haiku Poets of Northern California has been running a
senry?
contest, as part of its San Francisco International Haiku and Senryu Contest.
[11]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
Kumei, Teruko (2006).
"
"A Record of Life and a Poem of Sentiments": Japanese Immigrant "Senryu," 1929-1945"
.
Amerikastudien
.
51
(1): 29?49.
JSTOR
41158196
.
- ^
Smith, Adrian.
"Senryu | Definition"
.
dictionary.com
. Retrieved
2013-02-11
.
- ^
Anon (25 April 2009).
"What are Haiku, Senryu, and Tanaka?"
. Akita International Haiku Network
. Retrieved
11 February
2014
.
- ^
William J. Higginson,
Frogpond
XXV:1, Winter?Spring 1994, pages 103?105.
- ^
Prune Juice
- ^
Failed Haiku
- ^
Simply Haiku
- ^
World Haiku Review
- ^
"Gerald Brady Memorial Award"
.
- ^
"Gerald Brady Memorial Award"
.
- ^
"San Francisco International Competition, Haiku, Senryu, Tanka and Rengay"
.
Bibliography and further reading
[
edit
]
- J C Brown,
Senryu: Poems of the People
, Simon & Schuster Ltd, 1991,
ISBN
978-0-8048-1664-9
- R. H. Blyth
, translator,
Senryu: Japanese Satirical Verses
. 1949, The Hokuseido Press,
ISBN
0-8371-2958-3
. Includes black and white sketches and some colored plates
- R. H. Blyth, translator, Japanese Humour.
1957, Japan Travel Bureau
- R. H. Blyth, translator,
Japanese Life and Character in Senryu
. 1960, The Hokuseido Press
- R. H. Blyth, translator,
Oriental Humour
. 1960, The Hokuseido Press
- R. H. Blyth, translator,
Edo Satirical Verse Anthologies
. 1961, The Hokuseido Press
- Robin D. Gill
, compiler and translator,
Octopussy, Dry Kidney & Blue Spots ? dirty themes from 18-19c Japanese poems
, Paraverse Press, 2007.
ISBN
978-0-9742618-5-0
. Chronicles 1,300
senry?
? Blyth mentioned that he could only introduce what the censors allowed; these are the type of
senry?
that were not allowed.
- Lorraine Ellis Harr (tombo),
Selected Senryu
. 1976, J & C Transcripts. One of the earliest English-language
senry?
-only publications
- James Day Hodgson
,
American Senryu
. 1992, The Japan Times,
ISBN
4-7890-0661-1
- Howard S. Levy and Junko Ohsawa,
One Hundred Senryu Selections
. 1979, So. Pasadena, CA, Langstaff Publications,
ISBN
0-686-37532-7
- Alan Pizzarelli
,
Senryu Magazine
. 2001, River Willow. Although this book looks like a regular journal, it is the effort of Alan Pizzarelli only, done as a
parody
of haiku journals.
- Makoto Ueda
,
Light Verse from the Floating World: An Anthology of Premodern Japanese Senryu
, Columbia University Press, 1999.
ISBN
0-231-11550-4
cloth
ISBN
0-231-11551-2
- Michael Dylan Welch, ed.
Fig Newtons: Senryu to Go
, Press Here, 1993 (the first anthology of English-language
senry?
)
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Senry?
.
|
---|
Major forms
| |
---|
Poetry works and collections
| |
---|
Individuals and groups of Japanese poets
| |
---|
Individual poems
| |
---|