Count the sounds of a haiku or a tanka in Japanese, part by part, the way Japanese poets count them. Each part is shown with its sounds and marked just right, too many or too few; a short part is offered words that fill it exactly. Kanji are read for you. Your poem never leaves your computer.
Next A season word for your haiku · The readings over the kanji of a poem
How to Use It
- Write the poem in Japanese. One part to a line, or on one line with a space between the parts.
- Check the readings. Kanji are read for you. If a reading is wrong, write the poem’s reading in hiragana in the Reading box, in the same lines as the poem.
- Choose the form and count. Each part is shown with its sounds, one box to a sound, and marked just right, too many or too few; a short part is offered words that fill it, and a word pressed is copied. “Kana, one by one” counts every kana, small ones too, as word games such as palindromes count them.
Examples
Four haiku as this page counts them.
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古池や 蛙飛びこむ 水の音 Matsuo Bashō
ふるいけや 5かわずとびこむ 7みずのおと 5
The old pond — / a frog jumps in, / the sound of water
Seventeen sounds, five, seven, five. 蛙 is read kawazu in the poem: write the reading to count it so.
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柿くへば 鐘が鳴るなり 法隆寺 Masaoka Shiki
かきくえば 5かねがなるなり 7ほうりゅうじ 5
I eat a persimmon / and a bell rings — / Hōryūji
The small ゅ joins り into one sound, りゅ: ほうりゅうじ is five.
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痩せ蛙 負けるな一茶 これにあり Kobayashi Issa
やせがえる 5まけるないっさ 7これにあり 5
Skinny frog, don’t give in, Issa is here
The small っ in いっさ is a sound of its own, a short pause.
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枯朶に 烏のとまりけり 秋の暮 Matsuo Bashō
かれえだに 5からすのとまりけり 9あきのくれ 5
On a bare branch / a crow has settled — / autumn evening
The middle part has nine sounds, two too many: ji-amari, kept on purpose by the poet.
Sounds and Syllables
A haiku in Japanese has seventeen sounds, five, seven and five, and a tanka thirty-one, five, seven, five, seven and seven. These sounds are called on (音), and each kana is one: ふるいけや, furuike ya, is fu-ru-i-ke-ya, five sounds. A sound is shorter than an English syllable. Tokyo (とうきょう) has two syllables in English and four sounds in Japanese, to-u-kyo-u, because a long vowel counts twice.
A few kana are counted with care. A small ゃ, ゅ or ょ joins the kana before it into one sound: きょ, kyo, is one. The small っ, a short pause before a doubled consonant, is a sound of its own, and so are ん, the humming n, and ー, the mark that makes a vowel long.
Many who write haiku in English use fewer than seventeen syllables for the same reason: seventeen English syllables hold more than seventeen Japanese sounds. This counter counts Japanese. A name in Latin letters is written in katakana first, as Your Name in Japanese writes it, and counted in katakana.
Too Many, Too Few
A part with more sounds than its form is ji-amari (字余り, letters left over), one with fewer ji-tarazu (字足らず, letters short). Neither is wrong in itself: many old haiku have a part that runs over, some of Bashō's among them. For a short part the counter offers words of exactly the missing length from our Sound Database, to try in its place.
The words offered come from the Sound Database of our Language Research Institute (its report of 2013, in Japanese).
The sources of the dictionary data and their licences are listed here; kanji are read with the dictionary of our Furigana tool, the open-source kuromoji.js and mecab-ipadic (see here and here).
Questions People Ask
How many syllables does a haiku have?
In Japanese, seventeen sounds in three parts, five, seven and five. Many who write haiku in English keep to seventeen syllables too, but many use fewer, because an English syllable holds more than a Japanese sound: seventeen English syllables say more than a Japanese haiku says.
Is a Japanese sound the same as a syllable?
No. A Japanese sound (on, also called a mora) is a beat of equal length: one kana, a long vowel, the small っ or the ん. Tokyo has two syllables in English and four sounds in Japanese, と・う・きょ・う.
Does a haiku have to be 5-7-5?
Most are. Many famous old haiku have a part that is too long, ji-amari, and poets have always allowed it where the words need it. Since the early 20th century some poets have written free-verse haiku that keep no count at all.
What is the difference between a haiku and a senryū?
Both have five, seven and five sounds. A haiku names its season with a season word and looks at nature; a senryū looks at people, often with humour, and needs no season word. This counter counts both, and tanka, the older form of thirty-one sounds.
How are small kana and long vowels counted?
A small ゃ, ゅ or ょ joins the kana before it into one sound: きゃ is one. The small っ, the ん and the long mark ー are one sound each.
