{{short description|Form of short, comedic, Japanese poetry}} {{multiple issues| {{More citations needed|date=September 2011}} {{Original research|date=September 2011}} }} {{Italic title}} {{Nihongo3|'''Senryū'''|川柳}} is a Japanese form of short poetry similar to haiku in construction: three lines with 17 {{Transliteration|ja|morae}} (or {{Transliteration|ja|on}}, often translated as syllables, but see the article on {{Transliteration|ja|onji}} for distinctions). {{Transliteration|ja|Senryū}} tend to be about human foibles while haiku tend to be about nature, and {{Transliteration|ja|senryū}} are often cynical or darkly humorous while haiku are more serious.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Senryū|url=https://poemanalysis.com/literary-device/senryu/|website=Poem Analysis|access-date=2025-11-30|language=en-US}}</ref>
Like haiku, senryū originated as an opening part (hokku) of a larger Japanese poem called renga.<ref name=kumei>{{cite journal |first=Teruko |last=Kumei |date=2006 |title="A Record of Life and a Poem of Sentiments": Japanese Immigrant "Senryu," 1929-1945|journal=Amerikastudien |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=29–49 |jstor=41158196 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41158196}}</ref> Unlike haiku, {{Transliteration|ja|senryū}} do not include a {{Transliteration|ja|kireji}} (cutting word), and do not generally include a {{Transliteration|ja|kigo}}, or season word.<ref name="Definition of Senryu">{{cite dictionary|last=Smith|first=Adrian|title=Senryu {{!}} Definition|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/senryu|dictionary=dictionary.com|access-date=2013-02-11}}</ref><ref name="Description of Senryu">{{cite web|last=Anon|title=What are Haiku, Senryu, and Tanaka?|date=25 April 2009 |url=http://akitahaiku.com/what-are-haiku-senryu-and-tanka/|publisher=Akita International Haiku Network|access-date=11 February 2014}}</ref>
==Form and content== {{Transliteration|ja|Senryū}} is named after Edo period {{Transliteration|ja|haikai}} poet {{nihongo|Karai Senryū|柄井川柳||extra=1718–1790}}.<ref name=kumei/> A typical example from the collection:
{{Verse transliteration-translation |lang=ja
|泥棒を 捕えてみれば 我が子なり
|dorobō o toraete mireba wagako nari
|When I catch, The robber, my own son}}
This {{Transliteration|ja|senryū}}, which can also be translated "Catching him / I see the robber / is my son," is not so much a personal experience of the author as an example of a type of situation (provided by a short comment called a {{Transliteration|ja|maeku}} or fore-verse, which usually prefaces a number of examples) and/or a brief or witty rendition of an incident from history or the arts (plays, songs, tales, poetry, etc.).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Senryu {{!}} Japanese, Poem, Haiku, & Examples {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/senryu |access-date=2024-10-17 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
{{Verse transliteration-translation |lang=ja
|かくれんぼ 三つ数えて 冬になる
|kakurenbo mittsu kazoete fuyu ni naru
|Hide and seek Count to three Winter comes}}
==Senryū in the United States== The first senryū circle in the United States was reportedly started by Japanese immigrants in Yakima, Washington, during the early 1900s. Over time, other senryū circles were established in Seattle and other Japanese communities in the Pacific Northwest. In 1938, the Los Angeles–based Kashu Mainichi Shimbun published its first senryū section.<ref name=kumei/>
During the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, {{Transliteration|ja|senryū}} was a popular activity in the camps.<ref name=kumei/>
===English-language {{Transliteration|ja|senryū}} publications=== In the 1970s, Michael McClintock edited ''Seer Ox: American Senryu Magazine''. In 1993, Michael Dylan Welch edited and published ''Fig Newtons:'' {{Transliteration|ja|Senryū}} ''to Go'', the first anthology of English-language {{Transliteration|ja|senryū}}.<ref name="billfrog">William J. Higginson, ''Frogpond'' XXV:1, Winter–Spring 1994, pages 103–105.</ref> *''Prune Juice'',<ref>[http://prunejuice.wordpress.com/ Prune Juice]</ref> a journal of {{Transliteration|ja|senryū}} and {{Transliteration|ja|kyoka}}, is edited by Aaron Barry, Antoinette Cheung, and P. H. Fischer. *''Failed Haiku''<ref>[https://failedhaiku.com/ Failed Haiku]</ref> is edited by Bryan Rickert and Hemapriya Chellappan. *''Simply Haiku''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://simplyhaiku.com/ |title=Simply Haiku |access-date=2006-08-27 |archive-date=2023-06-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230626002448/http://www.simplyhaiku.com/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> archives (final publication in 2009) contain a regular {{Transliteration|ja|senryū}} column edited by Alan Pizzarelli.
Additionally, one can regularly find {{Transliteration|ja|senryū}} and related articles in some haiku publications. For example, the ''World Haiku Review''<ref>[http://worldhaikureview.googlepages.com/ World Haiku Review]</ref> has regularly published {{Transliteration|ja|senryū}}. {{Transliteration|ja|Senryū}} regularly appear or appeared in the pages of ''Modern Haiku'', ''Frogpond'', ''Bottle Rockets'', ''Woodnotes'', ''Tundra'', ''Haiku Canada Review'', ''Presence'', ''Blithe Spirit'', ''Kingfisher'', and other haiku journals, often unsegregated from haiku.
===American {{Transliteration|ja|Senryū}} awards=== The Haiku Society of America holds the annual Gerald Brady Memorial Award for best unpublished {{Transliteration|ja|senryū}}.<ref name="Gerald Brady Memorial Award">{{cite web| url = https://www.hsa-haiku.org/senryuawards/senryu.htm | title = Gerald Brady Memorial Award}}</ref>
Previous Winners of the Gerald Brady Memorial Award include:<ref name="Gerald Brady Memorial Award"/>
*1988: Frederick Gasser *1989: Brenda S. Duster *1990: John Thompson *1991: Leatrice Lifshitz *1992: Christopher Herold *1993: Tom Clausen *1994: David Carmel Gershator *1995: Michael Dylan Welch *1996: Sandra Fuhringer *1997: John Stevenson *1998: Carl Patrick *1999: Leatrice Lifshitz *2000: Yvonnne Hardenbrook *2001: Billie Wilson *2002: w. f. owen *2003: w. f. owen *2004: John Stevenson *2005: Emily Romano *2006: Roberta Beary *2007: Scott Mason *2008: David P. Grayson *2009: Barry George *2010: Garry Gay *2011: Ernest J. Berry *2012: Julie Warther *2013: Peter Newton *2014: Neal Whitman *2015: paul m. *2016: Tom Painting *2017: Sam Bateman *2018: Joshua Gage *2019: PMF Johnson *2020: Tony Williams *2021: Amy Losak *2022: Joshua St. Claire *2023: John Savoie *2024: Brad Bennett *2025: Matthew Markworth
Since about 1990, the Haiku Poets of Northern California has been running a {{Transliteration|ja|senryū}} contest, as part of its San Francisco International Haiku and Senryu Contest.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.hpnc.org/contest-information| title = San Francisco International Competition, Haiku, Senryu, Tanka and Rengay}}</ref>
==See also== *{{Transliteration|ja|Zappai}}
== References == {{reflist}}
==Bibliography and further reading== * J C Brown, ''Senryu: Poems of the People'', Simon & Schuster Ltd, 1991, {{ISBN|978-0-8048-1664-9}} *R. H. Blyth, translator, ''Senryu: Japanese Satirical Verses''. 1949, The Hokuseido Press, {{ISBN|0-8371-2958-3}}. Includes black and white sketches and some colored plates *''R. H. Blyth, translator, Japanese Humour.'' 1957, Japan Travel Bureau *R. H. Blyth, translator, ''Japanese Life and Character in Senryu''. 1960, The Hokuseido Press *R. H. Blyth, translator, ''Oriental Humour''. 1960, The Hokuseido Press *R. H. Blyth, translator, ''Edo Satirical Verse Anthologies''. 1961, The Hokuseido Press *Robin D. Gill, compiler and translator, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EDZoEZ4CS3AC&q=Octopussy,+Dry+Kidney+%26+Blue+Spots ''Octopussy, Dry Kidney & Blue Spots – dirty themes from 18-19c Japanese poems''], Paraverse Press, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-9742618-5-0}}. Chronicles 1,300 {{Transliteration|ja|senryū}} – Blyth mentioned that he could only introduce what the censors allowed; these are the type of {{Transliteration|ja|senryū}} that were not allowed. *Lorraine Ellis Harr (tombo), ''Selected Senryu''. 1976, J & C Transcripts. One of the earliest English-language {{Transliteration|ja|senryū}}-only publications *James Day Hodgson, ''American Senryu''. 1992, The Japan Times, {{ISBN|4-7890-0661-1}} *Howard S. Levy and Junko Ohsawa, ''One Hundred Senryu Selections''. 1979, So. Pasadena, CA, Langstaff Publications, {{ISBN|0-686-37532-7}} *Alan Pizzarelli, ''Senryu Magazine''. 2001, River Willow. Although this book looks like a regular journal, it is the effort of Alan Pizzarelli only, done as a parody of haiku journals. *Makoto Ueda, ''Light Verse from the Floating World: An Anthology of Premodern Japanese Senryu'', Columbia University Press, 1999. {{ISBN|0-231-11550-4}} cloth {{ISBN|0-231-11551-2}} *Michael Dylan Welch, ed. ''Fig Newtons: Senryu to Go'', Press Here, 1993 (the first anthology of English-language {{Transliteration|ja|senryū}})
==External links== {{Commons category|Senryū}} *[http://www.modernhaiku.org/essays/senryuWomen.html 'A Brief Survey of Senryû by Women' by Hiroaki Sato] in ''Modern Haiku'', Volume 34.1, Spring 2003
{{Japanese poetry}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Senryu}} Category:Japanese poetry Category:Japanese literary terminology Category:Haikai forms Category:Articles containing Japanese poems Category:Japanese words and phrases