What is a Haiku?
The Americanized haiku is a poem with three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. Here is a traditional example by Kijo Murakami (1865-1938):
First au·tumn morn·ing: (5)
the mir·ror I stare in·to (7)
shows my fa·ther’s face. (5)
There is much debate on what is actually the correct form for the poetry. Some insist that to truly be a haiku it must be in Japanese. Haiku Circus is probably more similar to Senryu which has different thematic guidelines. Here is a more thorough exploration of haiku.
About Haiku Circus
Haiku Circus is a marriage of mediums, a juxtaposition of words and pictures. While the haiku form has existed for centuries, Haiku Circus strives to push the boundary of language by creating works that perhaps only make sense or are fully revealed when viewing the accompanying drawings.
About the Author
The author, Ken Yukio Sakamoto, was born in Tokyo, Japan and grew up near Berkeley, CA, USA. His mother is American, his father is Japanese. He has two Japanese American sisters. He lives in New York City, teaches yoga and is a freelance artist.
Despite thinking he had dreamed up a clever and original idea, Haiku Circus is not the first haiku comic strip. Floating Henry Rollins Head Haiku first appeared on the Internet in August of 2000 and ran for about a year.
What inspires the comic?
Growing up I loved the movie Charlotte’s Web and the book Animal Farm. That’s probably where a lot of the anthropomorphism comes from.
You have an interesting drawing style.
It’s more sketchy than anything. I’m not the best drawer in the world but I think I’m an OK sketcher. Respect to Red Meat for bringing credibility to minimalist comic strips.
Don’t you think the old masters would cringe if they knew how you were bastardizing their poetic form?
No. Haiku was a celebration of nature; haiku was not a celebration of 5-7-5 syllables. They would, I believe, feel more distress over what’s happening ecologically (e.g. deforestation, global warming, over-population, etc.) rather than what’s happening poetically. Besides, I don’t do haikus. I do Haiku Circuses.
