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The Haiku Handbook is one of the most authoritative books on haiku you will find. It contains 331 pages jammed full of haiku history, theory, practice, and of course, a lot of haiku. The book is a great guide for anyone new to haiku, and a handy reference and interesting read for those who aren't.

The book is broken into five sections - Haiku Old and New, The Art of Haiku, Teaching Haiku, Before and Beyond Haiku, and Reference Section. Throughout the book, the authors include haiku from around the world to illustrate their points. Many of the haiku are famous, but some, like this anonymous senryu from the 1800's, will be new to many readers:

"What's this for?"
Says the carpenter
As he cuts it off.

The first section, Haiku Old and New, begins with a discussion of why people write haiku. Higginson (a founding member of the Haiku Society of America) explains the purpose of haiku, illustrating his points with well-placed poems, including this one by Robert Spiess:

Snowing...
the dentist
polishes my teeth

This section also gives a history of the four haiku masters - Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki - and moves on to more contemporary Japanese poets. It also discusses the early English-language haiku movement, as well as the development of haiku across the globe.

Part two, The Art of Haiku, opens with the importance of season words in haiku, and how that importance has changed over the years (especially as haiku has spread around the world). The bulk of this part of the book is devoted to the form and craft of haiku, both in Japanese and English, and how the poem has evolved. Any haiku poet, new or old, can learn something from this section - especially those who think all haiku in English must be 17 syllables long.

Part three is one of the shorter parts - Teaching Haiku. It describes attempts to share haiku with schoolchildren, discussing what works and what doesn't work, and there is even included a sample lesson plan. Teachers wishing to introduce haiku into their curriculum will find this section invaluable.

Part four, Before and Beyond Haiku, describes other forms of Japanese poetry and their history - mainly tanka, renga, haibun, and senryu. The authors have included a great example of renga in English - "Eleven Hours," by Philip Meredith, Tadashi Kondo, Robert Reed, Kris Young, and Timothy Knowles.

The last part, Reference Section, is a good tool in itself for haiku poets. It includes a comprehensive Japanese season-word list, a glossary of haiku-related terms, and an index. The authors have also provided a list of other books that might be helpful or interesting to readers, with some brief descriptions and recommendations.

Throughout the book, Higginson includes many examples of haiku. Some have been widely published; others were only written in letters, like this one by Cor van den Heuvel:

the little girl
hangs all the ornaments
on the nearest branch

The Haiku Handbook contains enough information and instruction to be useful to any haiku poet, whether novice or expert. It is available from most major booksellers, including Barnes & Noble and Amazon, as well as on eBay.

Learn more about this author, Greg Schwartz.
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