Hokku is the verse form written in Japan by Onitsura and Bashō and others in the 17th century, as well as by those who came after, all the way up to the latter part of the 19th century when, due to massive cultural change, it began to be replaced by revisionist and increasingly more Westernized forms of verse.
Hokku is also the modern verse form of the same name that — in whatever language or country — follows the essential principles and standards of the old hokku. Its subject is Nature and the place of humans as a part of Nature. It is set in the context of the seasons, and it is rooted in non-dogmatic spirituality.
