Crossword-Solution: HOKKU 5 letters, 1 clue 🏆 scrabble score: 16

The first hemistich which was composed of 17 syllables grew to be called the hokku, the second or finishing hemistich of 14 syllables was called ageku.

Composing hokku might, however, have remained a mere game of elaborate literary conceits and double meanings, but for the genius of one man.

During a life of extreme and voluntary self-denial and wandering, Basho[u] contrived to obtain over a thousand disciples, and to found a school of hokku writing which has persisted down to the present day.

The concluding hemistich, whereby the hokku becomes the tanka, is existent in the writer's mind, but never uttered.

The most famous hokku that Basho[u] wrote, might be literally translated thus: "An old pond And the sound of a frog leaping Into the water." This means nothing to the Western mind.