Haiga is a form of painting inspired by haiku. The term haiga literally means "haiku painting": "hai" comes from haiku and "ga" is the word for painting. It was Yosa Buson who more or less invented the word "haiga". Buson was a great painter himself. With his trained hand he made quick brush drawings and wrote haiku on the same sheet of paper. He called it "haikai mono no sohga": "haikai" is what haiku used to be called; "mono" means a thing, but in this context, means literature; and "sohga" means abbreviated sumi-brush painting. Later, shortening occurred combining "hai" and "ga", and this type of painting began to be called "haiga". Haiga is an interesting form of visual art; it casually mixes words and visual image on the same picture plane. The haiku poem has its own artistic world with its own aesthetics, grammar (or set of grammar rules), and manner of appreciation. Painting also does. In haiga, these two worlds happily coexist. The challenge for an artist who tries haiga is to find ways to realize such coexistence so that both worlds can express the best of their aesthetics.