Japanese poetry are a short, 3-line verse form, which have achieved significant global popularity, and the haiku form has been adapted from Japanese into other languages. Typical of the haiku form is the metrical pattern of 3 lines with a distribution of 5, 7, and 5 "on" (also known as morae) within those lines. Other features include the juxtaposition of two images or ideas with a "kireji" ("cutting word") between them, and a "kigo", or seasonal reference, usually drawn from a "saijiki", or traditional list of such words. Much of Japanese poetry has been transmitted historically through published anthologies, many of them
Haiku Japanese masters and American and Canadian contemporary haiku authors. The former president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, is a "haijin" (, haiku poets) and known as "Haiku Herman." He published a book of haiku in April 2010. In the early 20th century, Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore composed haiku in Bengali. He also translated some from Japanese. In Gujarati, Jhinabhai Desai 'Sneharashmi' popularized haiku and remained a popular haiku writer. In February 2008, the World Haiku Festival was held in Bangalore, gathering "haijin" from all over India and Bangladesh, as well as from Europe and the United States. In