Motoko - Folktales from Asia

How to Create Haiku Riddles

A haiku (high-coo) is a traditional Japanese form of poetry. A haiku consists of three lines. The first line has five syllables. The second line has seven, and the last line has five. A haiku usually is about something simple from nature that suggests a season. There is no rhyme in haiku.

Here are some examples of traditional haiku. What season does each poem suggest?

Here are some examples of traditional haiku. What season does each poem suggest?

Above the mountain
a singing skylark flies high
breathing in sun-mist

When my canary
flew away, that was the end
of spring in my house

A tree frog trilling
softly, the first drop of rain
slips down the new leaves

Listen! What stillness!
Cicadas buzzing in the sun,
drilling into rock

Now the moon goes down
Slow through the forest, shadows
drift and disappear

Poor crying cricket
Perhaps your little husband
was caught by our cat

Over the wintry
forest, winds howl in a rage
with no leaves to blow

Snow fell until dawn
Now every twig in the grove
glitters in sunlight

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For our writing project, we are going to create several haiku that work as riddles. This means that your poem is about a thing (or an animal), but the poem does not say exactly what the thing (or the animal) is. The poem only gives clues, and the reader must guess what it is talking about.

First choose your answer to the riddle you are going to make from the following categories.

1. An animal (pet, farm animal, wild animal, fish, bird, insect, etc.)
2. A thing from nature (sun, moon, cloud, rain, ocean, mountain, river, flower, plant, fruit, etc.)
3. A man-made thing (food, tool, toy, clothes, appliances, etc.)

Please make sure about the following.
&Mac183; Be specific about the answer. Do not say “a fruit”, but say “a banana”. Don’t say “a bird”, but “a dove”.
&Mac183; The answer to the riddle must be something your main character is familiar with. You already decided who your main character is and where s/he lives. If your main character is a woodcutter who lived in a small village a long time ago, he probably does not know anything about a skyscraper or a computer. Since your main character will be solving the riddle in your story, you must pick something from his/her world.
&Mac183; Your choice must be non-violent (No weapons) and school appropriate.

Let’s say, as an example, that you picked the word, “book”. Now consider the following questions and make brainstorming webs.
o What does it look like? (Color, size, shape, etc.)
o What is it made of? What are its parts?
o What does it do? What is it for?
o In case of an animal, what does it eat? Where does it live?

Example: Book---made of paper---made from a tree; has words---printed with ink; people read for fun or for study; bookstores and libraries have them; can have pictures and illustrations; authors write books, etc, etc.

Then create a haiku using words associated with your answer, but not the answer itself. Here is an example of haiku riddle, whose answer is a “book”.

Snow white, ruby eyes
I can hear you from afar
with my floppy ears

Morning sun shines on
teardrops from a frozen spear
piercing winter sky

Big fish made of wood
People cross the deep water
in its empty belly

No doors, no windows
A small red house on a tree
Inside lives a star

Twin brothers of steel
Come apart, come together
Cut one into two

Seven sisters dance
Each wears a lovely color
on the sky-bound bridge

Dew drops make me shine
I reach out from tree to tree
A net yet a house

You can not see me
But my rhythms make you move
Your ears welcome me

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