Interesting question! Of course, to do what you are suggesting would require one to write the poem in Japanese first and then translate it into English. An interesting exercise that points out one very important thing: 17 sounds in Japanese is always shorter than 17 syllables in English.
Harold Henderson maintained that if one was going to count syllables in English, one ought to count syllables as the Japanese do. For example, "haiku" is two syllables in English, but three in Japanese: ha-i-ku. So, somewhat surprisingly, if one wants to write in truly authentic form, 17 sylables in English is way too long!
Lee
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