Introduction

Haikai, a precursor of modern haiku, has long been enjoyed and valued for its sophistication since early modern times in Japan. It was further developed as haiku during the Meiji era through haiku kessha (haiku societies) and haiku mass media such as newspapers and magazines. Particularly important factors in the development of haiku are the relationships among haiku poets, such as the teacher-pupil relationship in a haiku kessha, because such relationships helped to spread haiku on a larger scale.

This research focuses on haiku history and will address haiku from a communication perspective in order to elucidate haiku’s poetical power and potential. From this viewpoint, haiku is a communication phenomenon among haiku poets, haiku societies, and haiku media. Haiku texts are produced by communication among these actors and institutions. This study emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach in order to facilitate understanding of the haiku phenomena as a whole.

The approach that is adopted for this research is systems theory. The word “system” in this context does not refer to the academic field of information engineering. Rather, it is used in relation to the whole phenomenon that emerges through the combined influence of authors, literary societies, and media. Our body is a good example of such a system because various body functions are not solely dependent on each internal organ.

The system theory viewpoint is a recent approach and is referred to as “neocybernetics”.³ One of the key concepts of neocybernetics is system observation. The word “observation” is used here in two contexts: First, it denotes a system that is observed by other systems and, second, it refers to a system that observes other systems. Neocybernetics not only analyzes a system objectively from the outside, but also analyzes the system from the inside. As such, neocybernetics considers subjectivity within a system’s operation, which in turn observes others and the overall system environment.

Observation conducted by a system is called “first-order observation” and observation of an observing system is called “second-order observation.” It is worth noting that secondorder observation includes a system’s self-observation, in other words, an observation of its observation. This multilayer analysis fundamentally characterizes second-order cybernetics. In fact, the term neocybernetics is a relatively new expression denoting second-order cybernetics.

Based on neocybernetics, this study focuses on modern haiku, in particular, shin keikō haiku (“new-trend” haiku) and dentō ha haiku (Hototogisu-school haiku). The primary proponent of shin keikō haiku was haiku poet Hekigoto Kawahigashi, and the main advocator of dentō ha haiku was Kyoshi Takahama. These two schools of haiku have very important positions in Japan’s modern haiku history.

The purpose of this study is to clarify how the works and actions of haiku poets, haiku societies, and haiku media influence and eventually comprise haiku communication (haiku phenomena) as a whole. Thus, the complex combination of authors, society, and media will be the focus in this study through a diachronic analysis of shin keikō haiku and dentō ha haiku from a systems theory perspective.

Fundamental informatics approach

Before considering shin keikō haiku and dentō ha haiku, the theoretical framework of this research should be introduced and explained in further detail. Past literary studies that employ systems theory were conducted in the 1970s, primarily in Germany and the Netherlands (Ohi 2010). Literary systems studies approached literature as a system with components being literary communication.

Specifically, the theoretical framework employed in existing studies has been radical constructivism and social systems theory, both of which are included in neocybernetics. The main advocate of radical constructivism was the philosopher Ernst von Glasersfeld, and for social systems theory, sociologist Niklas Luhmann was considered the leading advocate. Existing literary studies based on systems theory however, have mainly and almost exclusively focused on Western novels.

In order to fully analyze haiku, it is important to consider that the aforementioned necybernetic framework has certain limitations. To compensate for such theoretical weaknesses, this research will employ fundamental informatics. Fundamental informatics (FI) was proposed by informatics researcher Toru Nishigaki of the University of Tokyo in 2004. This can be recognized as an example of the development of neocybernetics from within Japan. Fundamental informatics can theoretically contribute to existing literary systems theory in two ways. First, fundamental informatics facilitates the analysis of power relations, which exist in haiku communication through the concept of hierarchical autonomous communication systems (HACS) (Nishigaki 2008:30-33). Typical examples of this include asymmetrical power relations between a member of a haiku society and the haiku society’s leader, or a haiku poet and haiku mass media. In these cases, both haiku society (to be more specific, its leader) and haiku mass media authoritatively assess a haiku poet and his/her haiku works. Existing literary systems studies have tended not to consider such relationships. It is conceptually important to note here that haiku authors, haiku societies, and haiku media can be thought of as autonomous subsystems of a haiku system. Haiku communication, which is produced through the relationship between these three subsystems, constitutes the haiku system as a whole. Furthermore, these operations of the haiku system construct a haiku world. The subsystems can be perceived as hierarchical relations, and thus the concept of HACS by FI is useful for haiku analysis.

Second, fundamental informatics provide haiku texts with a stable and clear position, including classified concepts of information, in the whole of haiku phenomena. Haiku texts here include examples such as haiku works, critical evaluations of haiku, and haiku studies appearing in a haiku magazine. Most of the major existing studies abroad have emphasized the social aspect or function of literature and, as such, the literary texts’ position has become ambiguous. In other words, through the previous two approaches, analyzing literature on the basis of the text has become difficult.

Concepts of information by FI that could facilitate literary systems studies based on texts are life information, social information, and mechanical information (Nishigaki 2004:125-6). Life information, such as feelings, is produced on the basis of physical experience. Social information is a type of life information embodied by symbols that are circulating in society and that include language. Mechanical information is a kind of social information in which meanings are temporarily latent, such as signals processed by a computer. As such, these three kinds of information are gradually connected to one another.

FI could extend the analytical range and potential of existing literary systems studies because FI provides literature analyses with a synchronic viewpoint by means of the above two conceptual contributions. In fact, existing literary systems studies have mainly had a diachronic analytical viewpoint, having understood modern literary history as a literary system’s birth and evolution. To fully clarify haiku phenomena, this study will employ both synchronic and diachronic viewpoints.

From a diachronic viewpoint, Japanese modern haiku history can also be understood as the birth and evolution of the modern haiku system (and it is important to note that this study addresses modern haiku rather than pre-modern haiku). Japanese society experienced radical changes during the Meiji era that became the background to haiku system emergence. The birth was signified by a paper titled “Haikai taiyo” (“The Essentials of Haikai”) written by Shiki Masaoka in 1895. The birth and evolution of the haiku system can further be explained theoretically as follows.

First, the birth of the modern haiku system can be understood as the formation of its operational mechanisms. The mechanisms, which have been formulated mainly by Luhmann, include “Erfolgs media” (with the German word erfolgen meaning “come about as a result of”), binary codes, and programs.⁴ They characterize communication produced by a system, thus determining a system’s identity. That is, Erfolgs media function as the semantic destination of a system’s communication. For example, according to Luhmann, Erfolgs media of an academic system is truth, which is the ultimate aim of academic communication.

Here, the concepts of binary codes and programs can be understood as the embodiment of Erfolgs media, actually helping specific kinds of communication emerge. For instance, in an academic system, a binary code is true or false, and programming is theory; academic communication is produced by means of being judged true or false while referring to the theory on which a study is based. An academic system can exist through such a process.

As for a modern haiku system, “stereotyped or subjective” can be thought of as its binary code. Before Shiki’s innovation of haiku, haiku that is based on the conventional form, to feel and express nature or other objects, has been highly evaluated. However, Shiki has severely criticized such formats and has approached haiku with a subjective element: Haiku that expresses feelings or thoughts that are unique to each haiku poet as an individual in modern times.

This binary code is judged through programs of haiku theory, many of which have been produced by important haiku poets since the innovation of haiku. The arrival of proper binary codes and programs has engendered haiku Erfolgs media, which is a concept of modern haiku work. This signifies the birth of a modern haiku system. Note that this process became possible through second-order observation of haiku communication. Criticizing haiku or producing haiku theory by Shiki and other major haiku poets are typical practices of second-order observation, which reflectively both problematizes and answers questions regarding modern haiku.

Second, the evolution of a modern haiku system could be understood as diachronic change in its program (haiku theory) diversifying the haiku system itself. In reality, in previous studies, modern literary history has also been considered a change in a literary system’s program (literary theory or different schools of thought on literature). Here, a new program would diversify literary communication rather than exclude the existing program. If so, what is the change in the program?

Thus, this concept can be understood as a change in a haiku system’s observation object. In one case, a haiku system observes other systems (for example, a political system or a life system); in another case, a haiku system observes itself (self observation). Note that both forms of observation are considered a haiku system’s second-order observation.

For example, when evaluating a haiku work whose main theme is a social situation with political circumstances, the program that mainly operates in a haiku system will be what makes the haiku system observe a political system in a society. On the contrary, when evaluating haiku works that are strictly based on a traditional sense of beauty in the haiku world, the program mainly operating in a haiku system will be what makes the haiku system observe itself.

Such change of the dominant functioning program in a haiku system enriches the semantic base (Nishigaki 2004:178) and vice versa. The semantic base, which is a concept of FI, can be defined as a conceptual resource including excellent haiku works in the past and seasonal words. A haiku system refers to the semantic base when it operates, which means production of haiku communication. The evolution of a haiku system is a complex process in which both changing of the program and enriching of the semantic base occurs.

Through the considerations above, this research analyzes Japanese modern haiku history from the perspective of FI, while focusing on the change of programs in shin keikō haiku and dentō ha haiku. These two haiku theories with practices have emerged in the period when a modern haiku system with subsystems was in its infancy.⁵

shin keikō haiku to muki jiyūritsu haiku

Shin keikō haiku,⁶ which was proposed mainly by Hekigoto Kawahigashi, prevailed in the haiku world after the death of Shiki in September 1902.

From shin keikō haiku to muki jiyūritsu haiku

Hekigoto clearly stated that he values the Shasei method and pursues a new way of haiku expression in the Kayatsuri gusa published in August 1906. One of the new ways was embodied in Zoku shunka-shuto,⁷ in which the way of haiku expression by the Shiki group had been further developed. What Hekigoto highly valued in the haiku practice was “showing one’s personality”.⁸

In the beginning, shin keikō haiku was founded by Otsuji Osuga, who was a member of the Hekigoto group in the papers published in 1908 and entitled “Shin-haihu-ron”,⁹ “Haiku kai no shin keikō”,¹⁰ and “Nihon haiku hyōron”,¹¹ among others. In those works, Otsuji characterized shin keikō haiku through two characteristics. First, shin keikō haiku came to value a thought-provoking way of expression that would elicit lingering imagery, rather than expressing one’s feelings directly as they are, which had been valued in the Shiki group. Second, shin keikō haiku was characterized in that the “relations between a seasonal word and the rest of the haiku work is thought provoking and very complex. That is, shin keikō haiku interprets seasonal words freely and use them boldly” (Otsuji).

These are examples of haiku with the Shiki group’s way of expression:

Waka ayu no hutateni narite noborikeri (Shiki)

(Young sweetfishes went upriver through two ways)

Akai tsubaki shiroi tsubaki to ochinikeri (Hekigoto)

(A red camellia followed by a white camellia have fallen to the ground)

The haiku by Hekigoto successfully illustrated his impressions by expressing only limited facts such as the fact that camellias had fallen. In this haiku, the author’s recognition process—that is, his or her first-order observation itself—has been depicted clearly. On the contrary, this is a haiku with the way of expression in Hekigoto group (that is, the thought-provoking way of expression):

Omowazumo hiyoko umarenu huyusobi (Hekigoto)

(A chick has unexpectedly been born; A rose in winter)

In this haiku, the seasonal word “rose” that appears with the word “winter” (being an off-season juxtaposition) is effectively used to suggest a chick. Here, Hekigoto is demonstrating independence from existing kidai shumi (the traditional sense or way of feeling and expressing objects), connecting a winter rose to a chick on the basis of his own experience and personal feelings.

Although such works by Otsuji have been important, they have not always agreed with later practices by Hekigoto and other haiku poets in shin keikō haiku. Hekigoto basically agreed with Otsuji’s ideas, but attached greater importance to showing one’s personality than exhibited by Otsuji in depicting nature and using seasonal words in accordance with one’s own feelings (Kawahigashi 1909a). Literary naturalism, which had been popular during that time, affected the Hekigoto school’s way of using seasonal words. For example:

Nido mairu yamano shimizu ya waga inochi (Taizan)

(I went to worship twice at the clear water in the mountain; My life)

Hekigoto has explained this haiku by saying that its seasonal word “clear water” is positioned as a marginal part of its semantic structure, and thus, this haiku is based on personal experience rather than existing kidai shumi (Kawahigashi 1909b). At the point where shin keikō haiku tries to express the real world—which is in fact constructed by a haiku poet (precisely, a psychic system)—we could point to the effect of naturalism in haiku.¹²

Hekigoto has further developed shin keikō haiku theory in accordance to naturalism, proposing muchūshinron (a haiku without one main clear theme). It aims to depict an event or nature as it is, without focusing on a specific object, and it can be understood as a concrete program of a haiku system. This program attaches greater importance to one’s own experience and feelings than to an existing sense of beauty. Thus, in this program, the seasonal word has become unessential.¹³ This haiku style is considered to be “unti-pause,” approaching tanshi (a short poem) with a prose-like nature. The following is an example:

Sumo noseshi binsen no nado shiketo nari (Hekigoto)

(A ship with a sumo wrestler; somehow caught in stormy weather)

This haiku has the kigo or seasonal word of sumo, which is classified as an “autumn” word, but the term has not been used with specific meaning. Rather, this haiku only expresses the author’s impression of a fact. The main object observed in this haiku seems to be a fact rather than personal feelings. Therefore, muchūshinron would consider the subjective expression based on kidai shumi as less important.

However, haiku works based on muchūshinron have sometimes been accompanied by a loose style, so shin keikō haiku began to emphasize “humanity.”¹⁴ To express humanity, Hekigoto has proposed chokusetsuteki hyōgen” (direct expression)¹⁵ of observed content by a haiku poet, including his or her feelings as its critical expression. With direct expression, a haiku poet does more than merely depict something.¹⁶

In accordance with direct expression, Hekigoto started to employ jiyūuritsu (freerhythm style) from around 1914. On one hand, muchūshinron doubts the importance of a seasonal word. On the other hand, direct-expression theory, whose purpose is to express one’s psychic content as it is, aims not to depend on the fixed form.¹⁷ Both theories have been influenced by naturalism and can be said to have criticized the traditional symbolic technique of expression, which is based on kire (pause). Here is a haiku work at that time.

Sumi hiku tebukuro no teshite hahayo (Hekigoto)

(Gloves used to cut charcoal; My mother’s hands)

This haiku expresses Hekigoto’s understanding and his affection toward his mother, who works hard to cut charcoal while wearing dirty gloves. In this haiku, the seasonal word of charcoal is only an element in the scene, and its rhythm style is very simple. Therefore, Hekigoto should have tried to directly depict his act of observing his mother, rather than highly valuing the haiku expression technique.

Similar to Hekigoto’s haiku note above, haiku works in Kaiko, a haiku magazine published by Hekigoto and his collaborator, generally and more gradually become simplified. In addition, the haiku works in Kaiko also started to include some haiku based on colloquial expressions. This is because some haiku poets in Kaiko may have thought that colloquial expressions would be useful to directly convey one’s personal experiences and impressions. 18 The following haiku is a typical example of this trend:

Kumono mine inaho no hashiri (Hekigoto)

(The highest column of cloud; moving ears of rice)

We can immediately understand that this haiku, whose seasonal phrase is “the highest column of cloud,”—that is, a thunderhead cloud in ummer—is based on a short rhythmic style. However, one should remember that Hekigoto did not promote subjective expression but emphasized objectively grasping a series of feelings based on one’s personality, as shown in the haiku below:

Daikon wo nita yumeshi no kodomotachi no nakani oru (Hekigoto)

(Being among children; dinner of boiled and seasoned Japanese white radish)

This haiku is an example of the trial of embodying a rhythmic content of feelings that does not rely on kidai shumi through a method that is not limited to haiku’s teikei (fixed form) and literary style.¹⁹ At that time, Hekigoto had criticized the teikei rule because he considered it a limitation to showing feeling, which he viewed as the pure embodiment of humanity. This is why Hekigoto came to approve not only jiyūritsu haiku (a haiku with a free rhythm style), but also even a haiku without seasonal words.

However, haiku poets of the shin keikō haiku school tend to emphasize expression techniques rather than expressions of feelings when they created haiku, and this style has sometimes been criticized. Against this backdrop, Hekigoto should have focused rather on the dynamic process of one’s recognition or observation of an object. An example of this is given below.

Komakusa ni ishi nadare yama nioitatsu (Hekigoto)

(A stone has fallen on dicentra; the smell of a mountain)

The free-rhythm style of this haiku successfully enables the reader to feel the author’s vivid impression, but at the same time, it also limits lingering imagery because jiyūritsu haiku tend to get closer to the explanation of the recognition process. As such, jiyūritsu haiku make the nature of haiku closer to that of literary prose.

In fact, Hekigoto employed mukijiyūritsu haiku (a haiku embodying the free-rhythm style yet do not contain seasonal words) and referred to this type of haiku as tanshi (short poems), without distinguishing haiku from other poetic styles such as tanka. That is, Hekigoto basically valued the characteristics of haiku²⁰ that are common to other styles of literature and aimed to focus on the operation of our observing consciousness by means of the tanshi.

Mukijiyūritsu haiku can be assessed as the radical rethinking of the existing haiku form and rule or, in other words, a haiku poet’s observing framework itself. However, at the time, the Hekigoto school program was yet to fully achieve an expression of feelings that were based on modern individuals’ personalities. Therefore, the concept of modern haiku works, which is Erfolgs media of a haiku system, should have been constructed at that time.

The aim of shin keikō haiku to directly show the act of observation itself was very important for the psychic system of a haiku poet to be established (Ohi 2011). In fact, one study has suggested that naturalism in novels, which influenced shin keikō haiku, separates the observing subject and the observed object, constructing a modern individual who will “find” nature as an object of literature for the first time.²¹ Against this backdrop, it should be emphasized that a modern haiku system’s program of shin keikō haiku and mukijiyūritsu haiku can be understood as having been produced basically through second-order observation of other systems, especially literary systems.

In addition to this, however, shin keikō haiku possesses another important role in establishing a modern haiku system. That is, it began with haiku creation in accordance with specific haiku theory, and as such, also created haiku criticism. Specifically, on one hand, Hekigoto has kept his haiku theory up to pace with the actual creation of haiku works, but on the other hand, Otsuji provided the origins of full-fledged haiku criticism.

This practice has made haiku poets fully aware of haiku theory that establishes the foundation for modern haiku creation. In this sense, these practice are second-order observation conducted from the inside of a haiku system. That is, this phenomenon is second-order observation of haiku communication (or a haiku system) itself. The commencement of the two types of second-order observation, which are that of other systems and that of the system concerned, must have contributed to establish a modern haiku system.

Finally, the influence of the mass media, such as newspapers and magazines, greatly contributed to the spread of shin keikō haiku program throughout Japan. Hekigoto a was wellknown newspaper journalist and had a national reputation at the time. This has promoted the propagation of the haiku theory based within Hekigoto’s haiku school. Furthermore, such effect of the haiku mass media brought about the later establishment of haiku kessha systems.

Dentō-ha haiku

Contrary to shin keikō haiku, dentō-ha haiku, which was started and developed by Kyoshi Takahama, highly valued the yuki teikei rule. As such, Kyoshi and his haiku society (known as Hototogisu, or little cuckoo) will be discussed below.

The effect of Hototogisu on ordinary people

From 1913 on, Kyoshi proposed the haiku concepts of kyakkan shasei (objective sketching) and kachō huei (expressions of nature).²² His activities with these two haiku concepts have had a major influence on haiku poets, and Hototogisu developed to become one of the major haiku societies in Japan.

Kyoshi spread dentō-ha haiku throughout Japan and, in the process, contributing to the popularity of haiku among people of all social classes, including students and women. In fact, having produced many female haiku poets is one Kyoshi’s of major accomplishments. In this manner, the development of a haiku mass media system, including the growth of haiku magazines such as Hototogisu, became the basis of the spread of dentō-ha haiku.

Hototogisu also tried to construct a new haiku world in the Taishō era by rearing young talent, having coalesced several haiku groups composed of students. The groups included the Kyōdai sanko haikukai at the University of Kyoto, which was established by Sojo Hino and Noburo Suzuka, and the Todai haikukai, based at University of Tokyo, which was restarted by Shuōshi Mizuhara.²³

Modern haiku kessha has also played a very important role in popularizing haiku, especially because of the strict hierarchical structure among its members. Modern haiku kessha has a haiku leader with a specific haiku concept or haiku philosophy, such as kyakkan shasei. Its stable structure is clearly different from other haiku groups that were called ren or za in pre-modern times. Thus, the formation of modern haiku kessha can be understood as a renovation of existing haikukai networks.

The important thing to note here is that asymmetrical power relations between leaders and members in haiku kessha have been key to the promotion of modernization and widespread popularization of haiku. In other words, hierarchical relations between a haiku kessha system and a psychic system of a haiku poet, both of which are understood as important subsystems of a haiku system, enable a haiku kessha to function as a kind of educational mechanism. Typically, in the case of Hototogisu, it was useful in providing people with a realist means of expression. Against the background of the stable structure of a haiku kessha, people of all social classes could cultivate their identity as modern individuals through selfexpression based on the kyakkan shasei concept. This is the social function of modern haiku.

Modernistic interpretation and usage of seasonal words

Kyakkan shasei and kacho huei are programs of a haiku system proposed by dentō-ha haiku. On one hand, kyakkan shasei is a way of expressing the reality of life with objects depicted as they are. Through depicting things as they are, a haiku poet can paradoxically reflect subjectivity. That is, kyakkan shasei leads a haiku poet to realize the modern self that observes objects. Therefore, kyakkan shasei can be understood from FI’s perspective as a form of expression that can bring about second-order observation.

On the other hand, kacho huei embodies the Japanese traditional sense of beauty— which is typically symbolized by flowers, birds, wind, and the moon—by using seasonal words. Kyoshi valued such sense of beauty based on seasonal words as the essence of modern haiku. In fact, such conventional rules concerning a sense of beauty have connected ordinary people, facilitated the establishment of poetic societies, and even have become part of Japanese cultural identity since Japanese pre-modern times (Ikegami 2005). This sense of beauty, which is a Japanese cultural resource, is grasped as the semantic base of a haiku system. Therefore, Kyoshi’s activities have further propagated this sensitive cultural resource.

Literary critic Masaru Nihira connects kyakkan shasei and kacho huei by saying that:

Kyoshi has aimed at further modernizing haiku by using both kacho huei and kyakkan shasei. That is, he tried to connect the modern method of realistic shasei to kidai shumi (the traditional way of understanding and expressing an object based on a common regard of beauty), which has a pre-modern nature (Nihira 2010:137-8).

That is, Kyoshi tried to modernize and renew kidai shumi as a traditional cultural resource by using it not as a formal rule but as a useful concept to express one’s feelings. More concretely, he tried to do so through rhetoric (Nihira’s term) based on kyakkan shasei as second-order observation. Such practice—in other words, the tenet of dentō-ha haiku—can be understood as having emerged through self-observation of a haiku system. The following are examples of Kyoshi’s haiku:

Toyama ni hi no atari taru kareno kana

(The sun shines on a far mountain; a wintry field)

Kiri ichiyo hi atari nagara ochini keri

(A paulownia leaf has fallen after being shined on by the sun)

The seasonal phrase in the first haiku is kareno (a wintry field) and that in the second haiku is kiri ichiyo (a paulownia leaf). Nihira explains these haiku poems as follows:

They are very popular haiku as typical examples of shasei by Kyoshi. Without the shasei method, such expression of sunlight could have not been produced. That is, before the concept of shasei, no one tried to depict “a far mountain” or “a paulownia leaf” in terms of the sunlight that shines on them…Even the static scene of a far mountain can be activated by sunlight because the sunlight will make us feel the passing of time …through shasei that connects the image of sunlit mountain to the reader’s memory of the actual scene. The function of creating such connections is the core principle of the shasei method (Nihira 1996:61-2).

As Nihira explains, the haiku poems shown as examples allow us to feel the author’s subjectivity based on his experience. Thus, the meaning of the haiku cannot be completely reduced to existing kidai shumi. Concretely, Kyoshi’s individuality and creativity appears when he focuses on the sunlight. As such, this demonstrates that a haiku poet has begun to realize himself or herself as an observing subject of nature, which signifies second-order observation (self-observation).

Related to this, Nihira points out that Kyoshi created the haiku noted above by depicting his actual experience with the shasei method (Nihira 1996:64). In terms of systems theory, Kyoshi’s psychic system has conducted second-order observation of his previous experience, in which he saw a falling leaf, and has created the haiku. As such, shasei, the method of second-order observation, has greatly influenced the birth of the haiku poet (or his/her psychic system) as a modern subject.

Here, one should remember that haiku in the Kyoshi style has fundamentally “tried to interpret kidai shumi using the shasei method in a modern manner” (Nihira 1996:62-63). That is, in the process of haiku creation, the psychic system of a haiku poet interprets the real world by referring to the semantic base of kidai shumi. Understanding such symbolic expression as the essence of haiku has been useful in popularizing haiku because people could express their feelings based on their ordinary lives with the second-order observation (i.e. symbolic expression).

However, in accordance with the great prosperity of Hototogisu and the widespread popularity of haiku, unlike the essence of Kyoshi’s haiku practice, the dentō-ha haiku program has begun to function as a kind of ideology in limiting the haiku’s content, subject matter, and even method of expression. As a result, the structure of a haiku kessha has also become too inflexible to create and try new haiku ideas; for example, criticism concerning the kessha Hototogisu have mentioned that Kyoshi and his family, such as his son and grandchild, have become too powerful.

Originally, the dentō-ha haiku program has risked not valuing personal feelings, thought, and personality, because both kyakkan shasei and kacho huei theory have attached importance to kidai shumi, which has become deeply infiltrated into the way one observes nature, rather than personal feelings. As such, kyakkan shasei has inherited the characteristic of being entertainment based on kidai shumi and applied it to the essence of haiku. In this sense, the dentō-ha haiku program will be evaluated as having limited modern potential in terms of expression method of realism, which focuses on one’s feelings, thought, and criticism of society. Noticing this limitation, the ensuing program of shinko haiku (emergent haiku), whose main advocates have been Shuohshi Mizuhara and Seishi Yamaguchi, has renovated the concept of shasei.

From the perspective of an observer in systems theory, the limitation of dentō-ha haiku is that the program tends to presuppose a transparent observer who depicts his or her outer world in detail. Of course, the strict practice of shasei, which is not necessarily dependent on kidai shumi, enables a realistic and powerful expression of object such as Suju Takano’s haiku. However, regarding a haiku poet as a transparent observer without personal feelings or one who depicts the world independently from his or her self, has limited the nature of modern haiku as nationalistic literature. This phenomenon has arisen because the key concept in modern haiku has been second-order observation by which a haiku poet understands that his or her act of observation (i.e., the creation of a haiku) is inseparable from the construction of his or her reality (i.e., the world) and incorporates the poet’s their identity as an observing individual.

Conclusion

From the perspective of FI, this study has considered the two haiku schools of shin keikō haiku and dentō-ha haiku that emerged when Japan’s modern haiku system was in its infancy. During this period, haiku was working to establish itself as modern literature. Here, the two haiku theories in practice are the programs of a haiku system and its evolutionary process, and they also constitute important parts of modern haiku history. To illuminate the complex process of evolution, this study has especially focused on the formation of modern haiku poets, the birth of modern haiku societies, and the function of haiku mass media.

As a result, the nature of haiku as a communication phenomena has been demonstrated. Such haiku communication is based on second-order observation and, through haiku communication, a modern haiku poet with subjectivity is eventually constructed as an observer.

As for the program of shin keikō haiku, on the one hand, the following two points have been made clear: First, shin keikō haiku characteristically reconsiders the yuki teikei rule, which functions as an observational framework used by a haiku poet’s psychic system; and second, shin keikō haiku has played a very important role in establishing a haiku system by means of having made the haiku system observe itself. Specifically, creating criticism of haiku and referring to specific haiku theory when a poet produces haiku are both understood as examples of self-observation by a haiku system.

As for the program of dentō-ha haiku on the other hand, this point has been clarified: Dentō-ha haiku has aimed to promote ordinary people’s haiku creation based on people’s observations and expressions of their own feelings, and recognizes people as modern individuals. This practice has reformed cultural resources such as seasonal words and the haikai network, and has modernized resources and networks among haiku creators. The practice has also popularized haiku considerably, having played a major role in making haiku a representative of Japanese national literature. In this practice, the dentō-ha haiku school has fully utilized hierarchical relations between a haiku poet and a haiku society.

In the beginning, modern haiku history can also be considered on the basis of information; that is, history is constructed by changes in social information such as haiku theories and haiku works. Note that such social information is understood from several perspectives: First, it is a program of a haiku system, which is a referential framework of observation conducted in a haiku system; and second, it incorporates various kinds of haiku texts, which are produced as a result of such observation. As such, social information is embodied in two ways. Ultimately, haiku texts and their program—or, in other words, the products and operation mechanism of a haiku system—are fundamentally interconnected.

Haiku systems studies have only just begun. This study has considered only a part of the rich modern haiku history. In future studies, analysis of the rest of modern haiku history from a systems theoretical perspective is needed.