Stalking the Wild Onji:

Ontology of scansion in Japanese. A purpose-built ontology.

ABSTRACT

Many challenges confront poets and educators in the burgeoning international haiku and tanka poetry movements who, researching Japanese forms of poetic composition in English translation, wish to better understand these genres and skillfully emulate them. Differences between the two languages and inadequate presentations of these differences have created confusions, misusage of terms, and in some quarters a reductionistic sensibility regarding formal aspects of Japanese poetry. Onji, the Japanese term commonly used in the West to count up and define Japanese "syllables," has had a contentious history in North America, having served as one of several loci of controversy regarding how the haiku, particularly, is best emulated in English. This paper investigates the historic usage of onji as a linguistic term in Japan and presents an argument for its removal from usage, as currently construed, by the international haiku community. Linguistic terms that are in widespread use within contemporary Japanese haiku circles are described, defined, and suggested as replacements. It is hoped that such reparations may effectively halt a rapidly escalating situation of cross-cultural miscommunication, occurring in both directions. A brief overview of the evolution of the Japanese writing system and issues relating to the modern Language Reform Movement provides an historical context for terms and concepts discussed.