Haiku

Haiku is a traditional Japanese poetry form essentially consisting of three lines of 5-7-5 syllables, respectively. In modern localizations, the people from towns modeled after Japan, such as Jipang and Hotto, tend to speak almost exclusively in it.

Terminology

Technically, not every 5-7-5 poem in Japanese is a haiku; such a poem is broadly called a hokku, which also includes forms such as the senryu. Hokku originated as the first stanza of a type of collaborative Japanese poem called a renga. However, 5-7-5 poems are best known as haiku in English.

"Haiku speech" in Dragon Quest localizations usually lacks seasonal references and "cutting," a two-way division that is introduced in Japanese with special words called kireji (cutting words). Cutting in translation tends to either be implied or expressed with a dash.

Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation

Haiku speech is the norm for people from Jipang in modern localizations of Dragon Quest III, including that of the Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. A couple from Jipang moves to the underworld and migrates to Kol, where the husband picks up the local dialect while the wife continues to speak in haiku.

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

Haiku speech is typical of adults from Hotto in the localization of Dragon Quest XI.

See also

• Mermaids, who speak in rhyme in localization.

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