Haiku is a kind of Japanese poetry

Haiku is a kind of Japanese poetry. It was given this name in the late 19th century by Japanese writer Masaoka Shiki from a combination of the older hokku and the haikai (or verses) in haikai no renga. Haiku, when known as hokku were the opening verses of a linked verse form, haikai no renga. In Japanese, hokku and haiku are traditionally printed in one vertical line (though in handwritten form they may be in any reasonable number of lines). In English, haiku are written in three lines to equate to the three parts of a haiku in Japanese that traditionally consist of five, seven, and then five on (the Japanese count sounds, not syllables; for example, the word "haiku" itself counts as three sounds in Japanese (ha-i-ku), but two syllables in English (hai-ku), and writing seventeen syllables in English produces a poem that is actually quite a bit longer,  with more content, than a haiku in Japanese).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku 

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