Senryū
 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
Senryū (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). Senryū tend to be about human foibles while haiku tend to be about nature, and senryū are often cynical or darkly humorous while haiku are more serious. Unlike haiku, senryū do not include a kireji (cutting word), and do not generally include a kigo, or season word.[1][2]
Form and content
Senryū is named after Edo period haikai poet Karai Senryū (柄井川柳, 1718–1790), whose collection Haifūyanagidaru (誹風柳多留) launched the genre into the public consciousness.[citation needed] A typical example from the collection:
|
泥棒を |
dorobō o |
When I catch, |
This senryū, 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]
|
かくれんぼ |
kakurenbo |
Hide and seek |
English-language senryū publications
In the 1970s, Michael McClintock edited Seer Ox: American Senryu Magazine. In 1993, Michael Dylan Welch edited and published Fig Newtons: Senryū to Go, the first anthology of English-language senryū.[3]
- Prune Juice,[4] a journal of senryū and kyoka, is edited by Aaron Barry, Antoinette Cheung, and P. H. Fischer.
- Failed Haiku[5] is edited by Bryan Rickert and Hemapriya Chellappan.
- Simply Haiku[6] archives (final publication in 2009) contain a regular senryū column edited by Alan Pizzarelli.
Additionally, one can regularly find senryū and related articles in some haiku publications. For example, the World Haiku Review[7] has regularly published senryū. Senryū 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.
Senryū awards
The Haiku Society of America holds the annual Gerald Brady Memorial Award for best unpublished senryū.[8]
Previous Winners of the Gerald Brady Memorial Award include: [9]
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 senryū contest, as part of its San Francisco International Haiku and Senryu Contest.[10]
See also
References
- ^ 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
- 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 senryū – Blyth mentioned that he could only introduce what the censors allowed; these are the type of senryū that were not allowed.
- Lorraine Ellis Harr (tombo), Selected Senryu. 1976, J & C Transcripts. One of the earliest English-language senryū-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 senryū)
External links
- 'A Brief Survey of Senryû by Women' by Hiroaki Sato in Modern Haiku, Volume 34.1, Spring 2003
