What’s so special about the syllable number in haiku lines? Who and why decided on the standard?
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The 5-7-5 pattern is a holdover from an earlier form of poem called *renga*. The opening stanza had this structure, and over time that opening stanza started to be written as a standalone poem, which eventually became the *haiku* that we know today. For what it’s worth, 5-7-5 in Japanese measures *morae*, sound lengths, rather than syllables that we’d think of in English. Certain long vowels are considered to be two *morae* for example, and I believe there are other distinctions that make them a little different to syllables, as you or I might think of them.
The actual reason for 5-7-5 is basically arbitrary – early on they decided that it sounded good and matched the natural flow of the language, and future haiku emulated that structure. There are plenty of haiku that deviate from that pattern as well as other typical rules of haiku (references to a season, use of a “cutting word” in the structure, etc.). But it’s a handy baseline to the format.
Think of it like iambic pentameter in English. Sonnets, many classic plays, and many other poetic forms are written in iambic pentameter – 10 syllable lines, stresses on every second syllable (aka 5 *iambs*), as in “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield” from *Ulysses*. There’s no great reason for that particular number, except that it lends itself nicely to brief, memorable lines that flow well together. And there are plenty of classic lines that break the rules, like “To be or not to be, that is the question,” which tacks on a bonus 11th syllable.
Bashō is essentially the creator of the haiku— the core concept was that the entire poem could be said in one breath.
Check out [this site](https://www.writebetterpoems.com/articles/how-to-write-haiku). It explains haiku pretty well, but the key point is that a definite haiku is broken into two parts: an observation and an insight. The 5-7-5 mostly doesn’t make sense in English, because it’s based on something in Japanese that doesn’t translate over.
What’s special about it is… nothing. But it’s familiar, and it’s mistakenly the “key feature” that people think of about haiku. If you want your poetry to be recognized as haiku, writing it 5-7-5 is the easiest way to do it. As to who decided that, I have no idea. But the obvious explanation is that someone had a loose idea of morae, and figured syllables were close enough to match it. People unfamiliar with it just ran with it from there.
What is so special
About the syllable count
In haiku poems
It was right there!
Poetry is fun. There aren’t many rules for many types of poems and some are more strict. It’s just a standard. What’s up with the number of lines in a limerick? Anyway, you can make a poem that is like a haiku with say 5-8-5 but it wouldn’t be a haiku, strictly speaking.
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