Haiku a phrase in the remaining 12 "on" (it may not be apparent from the English translation of the Issa that the first five "on" mean "Edo's rain"). In comparison with English verse typically characterized by syllabic meter, Japanese verse counts sound units known as ""on"" or morae. Traditional haiku consist of 17 "on", in three phrases of five, seven and five "on" respectively. Among contemporary poems "teikei" ( fixed form) haiku continue to use the 5-7-5 pattern while "jiyuritsu" ( free form) haiku do not. One of the examples below illustrates that traditional haiku masters were not always constrained by
Haiku of the 18th century (in regard to this period of "haikai", it came to mean 'trite' and 'hackneyed'). Shiki also criticized Bashō. Like the Japanese intellectual world in general at that time, Shiki was strongly influenced by Western culture. He favored the painterly style of Buson and particularly the European concept of "plein-air" painting, which he adapted to create a style of haiku as a kind of nature sketch in words, an approach called "shasei" (, "sketching from life"). He popularized his views by verse columns and essays in newspapers. Hokku up to the time of Shiki, even when appearing