haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering! 29th March 2025

haikaiTALKS: Syllable Alliteration | a saturday gathering under the banyan tree

host: Srinivasa Sambangi

29th March 2025

haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering under the banyan tree

Your host for haikaiTALKS: Srinivas Sambangi

haikaiTALKS 29th March 2025

Oblique Alliteration:

This week we will deal with the oblique alliteration, the fourth of the six alliteration classifications.

My principal source of this write-up is the book Japanese Haiku – Its Essential Nature and History by Kenneth Yasuda.

As per Merriam Webster dictionary alliteration means “the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables”

Alliteration occupies a special place in haiku. The language of alliteration is gentle compared to the language of rhyme. Alliteration can be broadly categorised into six classifications: initial, stressed, syllable, oblique, buried and crossed alliteration.

This week we will focus on syllable alliteration.

Oblique alliteration:

Let’s summarise the three alliterations we discussed so far. In initial alliteration two or more words have the same consonant, it can be accented or unaccented. In stressed alliteration, we have two or more words have the same consonant which is stressed. Syllable alliteration has same syllables in two or more words.

Let’s move on to oblique alliteration. This too has the same initial consonant but the consonant that follow is different. Kenneth Yasuda say’s this different consonantal sounds provides a tonal rhythm. These minor differences may look tricky, but we can understand reading and writing more of them.

Oh, how small, my sweet

Is your painted parasol

In this intense heat

—Seiho

Notice the sounds small & sweet, painted & parasol and in & intense. They do not sound the same but it’s pleasant.

Some more examples:

learning to count a baker's dozen...sweet corn stand

—Anna Eklund-Cheong

(The words sweetcorn and stand)

The hills cast shadows

And pampas grass is swaying

In sunlit meadows.

—Buson

(The words shadows and swaying)

following freshly fallen snow a flame robin’s song

— Gavin Austin

(The words freshly and flame)

Please quote some examples of yours or other poets this week. You may try to write a new poem as well. You may wish to give a note how it’s an oblique alliteration and mention if your poem has other alliterations as well

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KIGO WORDS

Shall we please try to include a kigo word in all the poems we share here?

Give the season and the word—under your poem.

I'm quoting Lev Hart's request here: "This week’s goal is to compose two verses with toriawase, blending wabi, sabi, karumi, mono no aware, and/or yugen. Tell us which aesthetic concepts you mean to express in a line below the verse. Strive for originality. Avoid stock phrases and shopworn images."

For seasonal references, please check these lists:

“A Dictionary of Haiku Classified by Season Words with Traditional and Modern Methods,” by Jane Reichhold:

https://thehaikufoundation.org/omeka/files/original/7fb6654a1dfd1afef97369da920530f8.pdf

indian subcontinent SAIJIKI:

https://www.trivenihaikai.in/indian-saijiki

The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words:

http://www.2hweb.net/haikai/renku/500ESWd.html

The World Kigo Database:

https://wkdkigodatabase03 .blogspot.com/

The Yuki Teikei Haiku Season Word List:

https://yths.org/season-word -list/

Thank you for this post, Srinivas.