haiga 俳画

Simple paintings which accompany and interact with the 17-syllable poetic verse called haiku, 俳句. Haiga is thought to have been first created during the Meiji period, although the combining of painting and poetry dates to the 17th century. The paintings, like their poetic counterparts, are brief and suggestive, generally portrayed with only minimal ink brush strokes or light color. The subjects interplay with the verses and the viewer's interpretation of their meanings. Matsuo Bashō 松尾芭蕉 (1664-94), Morikawa Kyoroku 森川許六 (1656-1715), Sakaki Hyakusen 彭城百川, (1698-1753), and Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 (1716-83), are a few of the outstanding early practitioners of this art.