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Haiku is a traditional form of Japanese poetry. In Haiku in English (1967) Harold G. Henderson states: "As a general rule a classical Japanese haiku: 1. consists of 17 Japanese syllables (5-7-5) 2. contains at least some reference to nature (other than human nature) 3. refers to a particular event (i.e., not a generalization) 4. presents that event as happening now- not in the past." He continues: "Japanese haiku 'syllables' used for the 5-7-5 count are not English syllables. They are rather units of duration." The vast difference between the Japanese and English languages creates the confusion regarding the haiku 'syllables'. While English words are broken into syllables, the Japanese words are broken into onji (sound-symbols). Japanese onji are much shorter than English syllables (i.e. the single syllable English word "ran" breaks down into 2 Japanese onji, and the word "rain" breaks into 3 onji). Cor van den Heuvel, in the preface to The haiku Anthology, Expanded Edition (1999), details how this difference affects English Language haiku:"It is now known that about 12 - not 17 - syllables in English are equivalent in length to the 17 onji (sound- symbols) of the Japanese haiku." The comparison of English syllables to Japanese onji is not exact, in fact, Cor van den Heuvel describes haiku as: "... a short poem recording the essence of a moment keenly perceived in which nature is linked to human nature. A haiku can be anywhere from a few to 17 syllables, rarely more." And what dictates how many syllables you use? Simply the nature and language of your poem. In a poem about his brother, who was killed in The Vietnam War, Nicholas Virgilio wrote: Lily: out of the water . . . out of itself. (Nicholas Virgilio) He used eleven syllables in this beautiful haiku, which won a first place in the American Haiku and Japan Air Lines haiku contest in 1963 (out of over 41,000 English Language haiku submitted).