What are the characteristics of a classical Japanese haiku?

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5-7-5, blah blah blah

The think is, with Haiku, to paint a picture in nature, then have a counter point, a dichotomy of sorts, that brings into focus both an image, and a deeper idea.

The beauty of the Haiku lies in perfect word choice and perfect image choice.The most successful of Haiku can be pondered for hours--taking you to distant (or not so distant) places in nature, and in the mind, soul and spirit.

Personally, I find it the most demanding type of poetry to write.

Anther note: a Haiku in English is analogous to Chinese (forgive my mixing of national food metaphors) food: it's very very good, but it is a Westernized approximation, not real Haiku. The Japanese language is so fundamentally different from English that no true emulation can occur.

Nevertheless, it is a poetic form of great beauty, complexity and intellectual merit. Please do explore further.

(I LOVE NEONMAN'S ANSWER!!!)

Five syllables first
Seven syllables come next
Five more syllables

^ that's a haiku

It consists of three lines with five, seven and five syllables each respectively.

It is usually about nature!

Example!! I just made it up on the spot. Its the Owakutani Valley near Mt Fuji... somewhere over there.
Sulphurous fumes rise (5)
From crevices in the rocks (7)
Clouding the valley (5)

it would be composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables, usually about some form of nature

Wikepedia
Thats where the answer does lie
Wikepedia

Definition of Haiku

1) An unrhymed Japanese poem recording the essence of a moment. Nature is combined with human nature. It usually consists of three lines of 5/7/5 (5 kana in the first line, 7 kana in the second line, and 5 kana in the third line) totaling seventeen kana.

2) A foreign adaptation of 1, usually written in three lines totaling 17 syllables or LESS.

As you will notice, there are two definitions. Definition #1 is where many get confused. People tend to confuse kana or a single unit in the Japanese language with the English syllable.

This is like comparing apples to oranges. Kana cannot be compared to syllables.

Unless you are Japanese, have been writing Japanese, or speak fluent Japanese, you will be writing definition #2.

The difference between the two is that in definition #2, you will be writing three lines of poetry, 17 syllables or LESS.

This means you do not have to write three lines of 5/7/5 (5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second line, and 5 syllables in the third line). You may do so, if you can do it well without fluff words (many can't). If you write 5/7/5, that does not make your poem more of a haiku than someone who does not write 5/7/5.

An ideal haiku should be short/long/short - but that depends on the haiku itself. There is nothing wrong with 5/7/5, if that is what you want to write. However, the majority of modern haiku in most of the journals are not 5/7/5. That doesn't mean that it doesn't have its place.

However, it is all "haiku," not "haiku" and "other." It's just haiku. If you like, you can refer to 5/7/5 as "traditional" -- but even that is not entirely accurate, as it is quickly becoming more traditional to veer away from 5/7/5. The plural of haiku is also haiku, NOT haikus.

After you have been writing and studying haiku for a while, you may be ready to break a rule. This is fine, if it is needed to improve the quality of an individual haiku.

However, before breaking any haiku rule, you must learn and practice the rules.

hope this helps