The history of the
modern haiku dates from Masaoka Shiki's reform, begun in 1892, which
established haiku as a new independent poetic form. Shiki's reform did
not change two traditional elements of haiku: the division of 17 syllables
into three groups of 5, 7, and 5 syllables and the inclusion of a seasonal
theme. Kawahigashi Hekigoto carried Shiki's reform further with two
proposals: 1.Haiku would be truer to reality if there were no center
of interest in it. 2.The importance of the poet's first impression,
just as it was, of subjects taken from daily life, and of local colour
to create freshness.
