OKASHIMI (humour) is the most important of all characteristics of modern Japanese senryu (i.e. after Meiji: 1868 onwards). So much so that if one seeks OKASHIMI one cannot go too wrong in senryu. Needless to say, the better OKASHIMI, the better senryu.
The usual characterisation derived from the erroneous distinction between nature (haiku) and human (senryu) is thus not only a gross over-simplification but also a harmful convention as it misleads us and muddies the water. This is because we humans have many non-humorous elements which would not lend themselves to senryu and therefore anything which talks about these elements cannot possibly be senryu. (We are not using the term 'humour' in this study in the sense it was used in the ancient Greek philosophy)
Another reason is that nature as we know it is herself seldom humorous. Cats may grin and mountains may laugh ('yama-warau'!) but on the whole humour belongs, as the term itself has been saying it all along, to us human beings, or more symbolically human nature. What may be funny about nature is the humour we humans read into nature. So, to say that senryu is not about nature but about human beings is really not saying anything at all.
Considering the duality of human tragi-comedy, starving senryu of humour and thus making it 'emaciated' is as bad as expelling humour from haiku. It would only be to half understand humanity, if at all, and the half thus understood may well be questionable without at the same time understanding the other half.
OKASHIMI is one of the three main characteristics of Japanese senryu, the other two being KARUMI (lightness) and UGACHI (insightful observation). OKASHIMI ranges from the coarse and base to the subtle and sophisticated. What seems to happen is that the former is sought but ends up in the latter.
During the elementary stages of our study of senryu, we try out all kinds of humour. Only then will we be in the position to be able to discern different types of humour and thus to start thinking which ones to include or exclude in our senryu. OKASHIMI can be classified from different points of view. The following is one such view:
(1) Crude (low) sense of humour [lavatory jokes, sex, jest, banter]
(2) Refined (high) sense of humour [subtle, sophisticated or refined witticism]
(3) Critical (cruel) sense of humour [satire, sarcasm, mockery, derision, caricature, ridicule, irony, tease, poking fun, poignancy]
(4) Home truths ('ugachi') [satire, mockery, pointed criticism, jiji senryu (As we have already seen, it is a moot point whether certain UGACHI senryu can lack humour]
As has been pointed out, one can make the most of all sorts of literary devices such as play on word, parody, allusion or irony. Many people worry about or just assume senryu as being a form of poetry. 'You say this is senryu. But is it a poem in the first place?' is the kind of thing I am referring to. At the elementary stages of learning senryu, this question is unimportant. In fact, it will hinder our progress. We can leave that question till the last.
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A Study of True Senryu (PART I) : OKASHIMI, or humour (2)
Let me use actual senryu works (yours and mine) to show OKASHIMI at work. They are presented here primarily for the purpose of explaining OKASHIMI. Therefore, whether they are good senryu or bad is immaterial, though one would of course have hoped they ARE! As in the case of haiku, good senryu are few and far between anyway but once you know what OKASHIMI is then you would be able to start trying to write good ones with OKASHIMI. Let me stick my neck out first:
[1] My senryu works with OKASHIMI
[Based on a true story in Japan]
the first gunshot...
three policemen were the first
to scamper away
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A Study of True Senryu (PART I) : OKASHIMI, or humour (3)
Now WHCsenryu members' works which I think contain OKASHIMI to varying degrees. From these a selection will be made for the next issue of World Haiku Review. Please come forward if you do NOT wish to grant copyright permission :
[2] WHCsenryu Members' Senryu Works
the president says
the president will investigate
the president . . .
Bill Kenny, US
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