The lengthy history behind how haiku came to be is often overlooked because the poem itself is only three lines long. Like any civilization, written and spoken word are the two most important ways of passing down culture, lifestyles, and overall history of that land. Japan used poetic literature to preserve its long and quite complicated history. And just like Japan's history, its own literature has a complicated past, as well. Haiku is a massive melting pot that has been refined to its purest state. The creators and innovators of the haiku, the most important being Matsuo Basho, used a culmination of poetic forms of the time to create what we know to be the haiku. “The term haiku is derived from the first element of the word haikai (a humorous form of renga, or linked-verse poem) and the second element of the word hokku (the initial stanza of a renga). The hokku, which set the tone of a renga, had to mention in its three lines such su bjects as the season, time of day, and the dominant features of the landscape, making it almost an independent poem.” (H7) Haiku can't truly be described as the best form of poetry to ever come out of Japan because it’s origins reside in many other types of poetry. There is no haiku without the creators of these other types of poems, just like there is no Japan without all of the historic events and people molding it into what it is today. The best type of poetry portrays different feelings and opinions and, in totality, can represent the culture and history of a civilization:
Tanka - “A Japanese poem consisting of five lines, the first and third of which have five syllables and the other seven, making 31 syllables in all and giving a complete picture of an event or mood.”
Renga - “Renga or linked verse, which began to be written in the Heian period, was originally considered a diversion by which poets could relax from the serious business of composing Waka poetry”. (H1)
Hokku - “The Hokku was the start to a long poem known as a haikai that alternate Haikus and 7-7 syllable verses” (H1)
Haikai - “an informal type of linked verse originated by Bashō, a 17th-century Japanese poet.” (H8)
Haiga - “...haiku pictures, AKA haiga, are illustrations that really paint the image into the beholder of the poem’s head. These images are usually painted in the top right corner in “calligraphic brush style.” (J2)
Haibun - “The haibun is the combination of two poems: a prose poem and haiku. The form was popularized by the 17th century Japanese poet Matsuo Basho.” (H9)
P.S I am very sorry but I used more cites after we finalized the bibliography so I am going to put the citations below