Kenneth Yasuda > Quotes > Quote > Mekiah liked it

“Consequently, to form the experience, the length of the line for a haiku thought must have the same length as the duration of the single event of “ah-ness,” which is a breath’s length, even as Igarashi has pointed out.15 Consequently, the length of a verse is made up of those words which we can utter during one breath. The length, that is, is necessitated by haiku nature and by the physical impossibility of pronouncing an unlimited number of syllables in a given breath.”
― Kenneth Yasuda, Japanese Haiku: Its Essential Nature and History