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.
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