Counting Japanese Sounds: How Morae Explain Haiku's 5-7-5

Tokyo has two syllables in English: To-kyo. In Japanese it has four beats: と・う・きょ・う.

The unit is called 拍 (haku) in Japanese schools and a mora in linguistics. It is what Japanese speakers count when they say a haiku has 5-7-5 sounds, and it is not the same thing as a syllable.

This article is for people learning Japanese who want to feel the rhythm of the language. The rules come first, then some famous haiku counted beat by beat.

Five rules

1. An ordinary kana is one beat. さくら (sakura, cherry blossom) is さ・く・ら, three beats.

2. A small っ is one beat. きって (kitte, stamp) is き・っ・て, three beats. It makes no sound of its own, but it takes up the time of one beat.

3. A long vowel adds one beat. ケーキ (kēki, cake) is ケ・ー・キ, three beats. The same goes for long vowels spelled with a kana: おとうさん (otōsan, father) is お・と・う・さ・ん, five beats.

4. ん is one beat. みかん (mikan, mandarin orange) is み・か・ん, three beats. In English, “kan” would be one syllable. In Japanese it is か・ん, two beats.

5. A small ゃ, ゅ or ょ joins the kana before it, and the pair is one beat. しゃしん (shashin, photo) is しゃ・し・ん, three beats, even though it is written with four characters.

So the number of characters and the number of beats only part ways at rule 5. Of the small kana, っ alone is a beat of its own. The others attach to what comes before them. Small katakana like ァ and ィ work the same way: ファイル (fairu, file) is ファ・イ・ル, three beats.

Hearing long vowels and small っ is covered in Hearing Long Vowels and Small っ in Japanese, and the contracted sounds themselves in Dakuon, Handakuon and Yōon.

Syllables and beats

A syllable and a beat often match, which is why the difference is easy to overlook. Here is where they come apart.

• Tokyo: 2 syllables in English, 4 beats in Japanese (と・う・きょ・う)
• Nippon: 2 syllables, 4 beats (に・っ・ぽ・ん)
• McDonald’s: 3 syllables in English, 6 beats in Japanese (マ・ク・ド・ナ・ル・ド)

The last one is a good example of how Japanese fits foreign words into its own rhythm.

One beat can change the word

Beats also separate meanings. The classic pair is this:

• びょういん (byōin, hospital): びょ・う・い・ん, four beats
• びよういん (biyōin, hair salon): び・よ・う・い・ん, five beats

A small ょ or a full-size よ. One beat is the difference between getting a haircut and being admitted. Another pair you will meet early:

• ビル (biru, building): ビ・ル, two beats
• ビール (bīru, beer): ビ・ー・ル, three beats

Counting famous haiku

These are all well-known poems. Older kana spellings are counted by how the poem is read.

Matsuo Bashō

古池や蛙飛びこむ水の音 (furuike ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no oto. An old pond. A frog jumps in. The sound of water.)

• ふ・る・い・け・や (5)
• か・わ・ず・と・び・こ・む (7)
• み・ず・の・お・と (5)

Every sound here is one kana and one beat, so this is the easy one to start with.

Kobayashi Issa

名月を取ってくれろと泣く子かな (meigetsu o / totte kurero to / naku ko kana. “Get me the harvest moon,” cries the child.)

• め・い・げ・つ・を (5)
• と・っ・て・く・れ・ろ・と (7)
• な・く・こ・か・な (5)

Skip the っ and the middle line comes up one short.

Masaoka Shiki

柿くへば鐘が鳴るなり法隆寺 (kaki kueba / kane ga naru nari / Hōryūji. I eat a persimmon, and a bell rings at Hōryūji.)

• か・き・く・え・ば (5)
• か・ね・が・な・る・な・り (7)
• ほ・う・りゅ・う・じ (5)

ほうりゅうじ is six characters but five beats, because the small ゅ joins り.

Masaoka Shiki

鶏頭の十四五本もありぬべし (keitō no / jūshigohon mo / arinubeshi. There must be fourteen or fifteen cockscombs.)

• け・い・と・う・の (5)
• じゅ・う・し・ご・ほ・ん・も (7)
• あ・り・ぬ・べ・し (5)

The middle line has a contracted sound, a long vowel and ん all at once.

Haiku that break the pattern

According to Shinji Fukazawa’s article on nippon.com (in Japanese), going one or a few beats over 5-7-5 is common. It is called 字余り (jiamari). Here is Issa again:

雀の子そこのけそこのけ御馬が通る (suzume no ko / sokonoke sokonoke / ouma ga tōru. Little sparrow, out of the way, out of the way, a horse is coming through.)

• す・ず・め・の・こ (5)
• そ・こ・の・け・そ・こ・の・け (8)
• お・う・ま・が・と・お・る (7)

That is 5-8-7, twenty beats in all. Not every haiku adds up to 17.

Practicing with your hands

Clap once for each beat, or fold a finger. On a small っ, clap without making a sound. On a long vowel, keep your voice going until the next clap.

Start with words close to you and work up to the haiku:

• Count words you already know. Start with your own name in katakana, then foods and places.
• Compare with the English word. コーヒー (kōhī, coffee) is コ・ー・ヒ・ー, four beats. ホテル (hoteru, hotel) is ホ・テ・ル, three beats.
• Look for five-beat words. ヨーグルト (yōguruto, yogurt) is ヨ・ー・グ・ル・ト, five beats. ぎゅうにゅう (gyūnyū, milk) is ぎゅ・う・にゅ・う, four beats, so it just misses.
• Clap through the haiku above. The Issa sparrow poem gives you eight claps in the middle line.

Using StudyX Japanese Letters Table

StudyX Japanese Letters Table is a kana chart app where every cell plays its sound. When you switch on the contracted sounds, きゃ or りゅ sits in a single cell, so one tap equals one beat.

Try ほうりゅうじ on the chart. It takes five taps: ほ, う, りゅ, う, じ. You press the ゃ button to get りゅ, turn it off for う, and use the ゛ button for じ. A six-character word ends in five taps, and you can feel that in your finger.

In the listening game (ききとりあそび), a word plays one character at a time and you tap the characters in the order you hear them. Since the sounds arrive one by one, it doubles as beat-counting practice.

In my developer interview I said: “I think apps and people should complement each other: people do what apps can’t, and apps do what people can’t.” Small っ and long vowels are for clapping out with someone.

It runs in landscape on both iPhone and iPad. It is a one-time purchase with no ads and no in-app purchases. The on-screen labels are in Japanese. For a first session, see Getting Started with StudyX Japanese Letters Table.