Estonian haiku (Estonian: Eesti haiku) is a short poem in Estonian language which has adopted the form and style of the original Japanese haiku. Estonian haiku was first introduced in 2009.^[1] The so-called "Estonian haiku" is shorter than the Japanese one; the syllable count in Japanese haiku is 5+7+5, while Estonian haiku also goes in three lines but only comprises 4+6+4 syllables. Estonian authors claim that this is a distinctively Estonian form.

History

Traditional haiku have been developed in Estonia since 1960s.^[2] Andres Ehin (1940–2011) was the most prominent Estonian-language haiku writer of the 20th century; his bilingual English-Estonian collection Moose Beetle Swallow was published in Ireland in 2005.^[3] Estonian poets Arvo Mets and Felix Tammi wrote haiku in Russian.^[4]

Asko Künnap is credited as the inventor of Estonian haiku. The first collection of Estonian haiku was published in 2010: Estonian Haiku by poets Asko Künnap, Jürgen Rooste, and Karl Martin Sinijärv. An Estonian-language haiku competition was organized at the 2011 Helsinki Book Fair where Estonia was the guest of honor. A selection of Estonian haiku has been published by the Estonian Writers' Union's magazine Looming ("Creation"). Estonian haiku have been actively translated into Finnish.

References