I recently read an English blog written by a British woman. She underscored the fact that many people in the UK loved innuendo and black humor. I believe that in many Western countries, a sense of humor is very important in human relationships.
In Japan, Senryu /川柳 has been very popular recently. Have you heard of it? Senryu is similar to Haiku /俳句 in construction. It's a form of short poetry that consists of 17 moras /syllables in three phrases of 5, 7 and 5 moras. Roughly speaking, 17 moras are equivalent to 17 Hiragana characters. Senryu has flexibility whereas Haiku is formal and has rules. Basically, other than the form, there aren't any specific rules of Senryu. People enjoy composing Senryu to describe their honest feelings or make satirical commentary on society. The number of words are so limited that your wit, sense of humor and ability to deliver are tested.
Businessmen/women Senryu Contest is a popular Senryu contest that is held by Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance company every year. The entry period ends in October, and top 100 Senryu are announced in January. After that, everyone can cast a ballot for his or her favorite senryu among them. A few days ago, the top 10 Senryu in the 23rd contest were announced. So, I'd like to introduce some of them.
The Senryu that took first place is below. It's very hard for me to explain to non-Japanese why it's very funny. However, I'll try to do that because it won the contest.
仕分け人
妻に比べりゃ
まだ甘い
It means that a certain well-known woman (*note 1) is still more indulgent and softer than my wife. To put it briefly, this Senryu implies a husband is under the control of his domineering wife. Many people seem to sympathize with the situation, which made the Senryu win the contest.
*note 1
Last year, right after our new government started in September, in order to review the entire national budget, it held an open meeting called 事業仕分け/project classification. Many taxpayer-financed projects were discussed at the meeting. Bureaucrats and other people in charge of the projects answered questions asked by members who had been chosen by the government. These members were called 仕分け人/Shiwake nin. Among them, a female member caught considerable public attention. She asked pointed, insightful questions in a forceful tone. She often put the male bureaucrats in a difficult position. She is the well-known woman referred to in the Senryu.
I'll introduce the others in my future entries.
