Editing Senryū

{{short description|Form of short, comedic, Japanese poetry}}
{{multiple issues|
{{More citations needed|date=September 2011}}
{{Original research|date=September 2011}}
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{{Nihongo3|'''Senryū'''|川柳}} is a Japanese form of short [[poetry]] similar to [[haiku]] in construction: three lines with 17 {{Transliteration|ja|[[Mora (linguistics)|morae]]}} (or {{Transliteration|ja|[[On (Japanese prosody)|on]]}}, often translated as [[syllable]]s, but see the article on {{Transliteration|ja|[[On (Japanese prosody)|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.

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/> whose collection {{Nihongo||誹風柳多留|Haifūyanagidaru}} launched the genre into the public consciousness.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} 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 [[Internment of Japanese Americans|incarceration of Japanese Americans]] during World War II, 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>[http://simplyhaiku.com/ Simply Haiku]</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

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 (poetry critic)|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}}

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[[Category:Japanese poetry]]
[[Category:Japanese literary terminology]]
[[Category:Haikai forms]]
[[Category:Articles containing Japanese poems]]
[[Category:Japanese words and phrases]]