Express Monday Crossword. My edition of the paper says 21d Japenese poem in three lines of five, seven, three syllables;'amusement verse. Haiku fits in but the definition given by Oxford Concise dictionary is contraction of haikai no ku 'light verse' and says 5 7 5 syllables. Help please.
It's almost certainly 'haiku'. This is a complicated subject. Japanese 'on' are similar to but not the same as our syllables so although Japanese 'on' are 5, 7,5, the English version can have between 10 -14 syllables in all and still be considered a haiku. Hope this helps.