Dodoitsu – The Japanese Limerick

Dodoitsu is a form of Japanese poetry written about love or work and is typically comical


Dodoitsu

What Is Dodoitsu?

Dodoitsu is a form of Japanese poetry written about love or work and is typically comical. It is dubbed the “Japanese Limerick”. It is one stanza made up of four lines. The first three lines are seven syllables. The final line is five syllables. Its goal is to quickly capture a moment or thought. It is unrhymed and has no meter. 

How Do You Write Dodoitsu?

  1. It is one stanza made up of four lines 
  2. The first 3 lines are 7 syllables. The last line is 5 syllables.
  3. Typically a moment or thought quickly captured.
  4. It is unrhymed and has no set meter.

Examples of Dodoitsu:

Five Minutes to Five
Thursday afternoon is dead,
phones become silent and wait
until five minutes to five
to ring, on Friday

Judi Van Gorder

“what’s that smell?”
 I can’t cook to save my life
The click of the stove burner
Is a mocking laugh at me
Is something burning?

-C.W Bryan

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Sam and Corey started Poetry is Pretentious to demystify poetry. More importantly, their 5th grade teacher told them they couldn’t go through life as a team. 18 years later they’re here to prove her wrong.

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