Japanese poetry is poetry typical of Japan, or written, spoken, or chanted in the Japanese language, which includes Old Japanese, Early Middle Japanese, Late Middle Japanese, and Modern Japanese, as well as poetry in Japan which was written in the Chinese language or ryūka from the Okinawa Islands: it is possible to make a more accurate distinction between Japanese poetry written in Japan or by Japanese people in other languages versus that written in the Japanese language by speaking of Japanese-language poetry.
Much of the literary record of Japanese poetry begins when Japanese poets encountered Chinese poetry during the Tang dynasty (although the Chinese classic anthology of poetry, Shijing, was well known by the literati of Japan by the 6th century). Under the influence of the Chinese poets of this era Japanese began to compose poetry in Chinese (kanshi); and, as part of this tradition, poetry in Japan tended to be intimately associated with pictorial painting, partly because of the influence of Chinese arts, and the tradition of the use of ink and brush for both writing and drawing. It took several hundred years to digest the foreign impact and make it an integral part of Japanese culture and to merge this kanshi poetry into a Japanese language literary tradition, and then later to develop the diversity of unique poetic forms of native poetry, such as waka, haikai, and other more Japanese poetic specialties. For example, in The Tale of Genji both kanshi and waka are frequently mentioned.
The history of Japanese poetry goes from an early semi-historical/mythological phase, through the early Old Japanese literature inclusions, just before the Nara period, the Nara period itself (710 to 794), the Heian period (794 to 1185), the Kamakura period (1185 to 1333), and so on, up through the poetically important Edo period (1603 to 1867, also known as "Tokugawa") and modern times; however, the history of poetry often is different from socio-political history.
Japanese poetry forms Since the middle of the 19th century, the major forms of Japanese poetry have been tanka (the modern name for waka), haiku and shi or western-style poetry. Today, the main forms of Japanese poetry include both experimental poetry and poetry that seeks to revive traditional ways. Poets writing in tanka, haiku and shi may seldom write poetry other than in their specific chosen form, although some active poets are eager to collaborate with poets in other genres. The history of Japanese poetry involves both the evolution of Japanese as a language, the evolution of Japanese poetic forms, and the collection of poetry into anthologies, many by imperial patronage and others by the "schools" or the disciples of famous poets (or religion, in the case of the Bussokusekika). The study of Japanese poetry is complicated by the social context within which it occurred, in part because of large scale political and religious factors such as clan politics or Buddhism, but also because the collaborative aspect which has often typified Japanese poetry. Also, much of Japanese poetry features short verse forms, often collaborative, which are then compiled into longer collections, or else are interspersed within the prose of longer works. Older forms of Japanese poetry include kanshi, which shows a strong influence from Chinese literature and culture.
Kanshi
Kanshi literally means "Han poetry" and it is the Japanese term for Chinese poetry in general as well as the poetry written in Chinese by Japanese poets. Kanshi from the early Heian period exists in the Kaifūsō anthology, compiled in 751.
Waka
Waka is a type of poetry in classical Japanese literature. Unlike kanshi, waka refers to poetry composed in Japanese. Waka is sometimes also used in the more specific and restrictive sense of poetry which is in Japanese and which is also in the tanka form. The anthology preserves from the eighth century 265 chōka (long poems), 4,207 tanka (short poems), one tan-renga (short connecting poem), one bussokusekika (a poem in the form 5–7–5–7–7–7; named for the poems inscribed on the Buddha's footprints at Yakushi-ji in Nara), four kanshi (Chinese poems), and 22 Chinese prose passages. However, by the time of the tenth-century Kokinshū anthology, waka had become the standard term used for short poems of the tanka form, until more recent times.
Tanka
Tanka is poetry of 31 characters. It is written in the rhythm of 5-7-5-7-7 in Japanese. The tanka form has shown some modern revival in popularity. As previously stated, it used to be called waka.
Collaborative verse
Much traditional Japanese poetry was written as the result of a process of two or more poets contributing verses to a larger piece, such as in the case of the renga form. Typically, the "honored guest" composing a few beginning lines, often in the form of the hokku (which, as a stand-alone piece, eventually evolved into the haiku). This initial sally was followed by a stanza composed by the "host." This process could continue, sometimes with many stanzas composed by numerous other "guests", until the final conclusion. Other collaborative forms of Japanese poetry also evolved, such as the renku ("linked-verse") form. In other cases, the poetry collaborations were more competitive, such as with uta-awase gatherings, in which Heian period poets composed waka poems on set themes, with a judge deciding the winner(s).
Haiku
Haiku is a short verse genre written in one line in Japanese and commonly three lines in English and other languages. It has achieved significant global popularity, having been adapted from Japanese into many other languages. Typical of Japanese haiku is the metrical pattern of 5, 7, and 5 on (also known as morae). Other features include the juxtaposition of two images or ideas with a kireji ("cutting word") between them, and a kigo, or seasonal reference, usually drawn from a saijiki, or traditional list of such words. Many haiku are objective in their depiction of personal experiences.
Japanese poetry anthologies
Much of Japanese poetry has been transmitted historically through published anthologies, many of them with imperial patronage. Important collections are the , , Shin Kokin Wakashū, and the .
Early history and prehistory
The history of Japanese poetry is tied to the history of Japanese literature, that is in the purely historical sense of having extant written records. However, the early pre-history and mythology of Japan involve or include some references to poetry. And, the earliest preserved works in the Japanese language also preserve some previous poetry from this earlier period.
Mythology
According to Japanese mythology, poetry began, not with people, but with the celestial deities, the goddess Izanami and the god Izanagi. They were said to have walked around the world pillar, and encountered each other. The goddess spoke first, saying the following verse:
What joy beyond compare To see a man so fair!
The male god, angry that the female had spoken first told her to go away and return later. When they again met, the male god spoke first, saying the following verse:
To see a woman so fair— What joy beyond compare!Graves, 393: his translation.
Chinese influence
Chinese literature was introduced into Japan ca the 6th century CE, mostly through the Korean peninsula. Just as the Chinese writing itself, Chinese literature, historical writings, religious scriptures and poetry laid the foundation for Japanese literature proper. Such influence is somewhat comparable to the influence of Latin on the European languages and literature.
In the court of Emperor Tenmu ( – 686) some nobles wrote Chinese language poetry (kanshi). Chinese literacy was a sign of education and most high courtiers wrote poetry in Chinese. Later these works were collected in the Kaifūsō, one of the earliest anthologies of poetry in Japan, edited in the early Heian period. Thanks to this book, the death poem of Prince Ōtsu is still extant today.Konishi Jin'ichi. A History of Japanese Literature: The Archaic and Ancient Ages. Princeton, NJ : Princeton Univ. Pr., 1984, pp. 310–23.
The strong influence of Chinese poetics may be seen in Kakyō Hyōshiki. In the 772 text, Fujiwara no Hamanari attempts to apply phonetic rules for Chinese poetry to Japanese poetry.
Many of the Tang Dynasty poets achieved fame in Japan, such as Meng Haoran (Mōkōnen), Li Bo (Ri Haku), and Bai Juyi (Haku Kyo'i). In many cases, when these poets were introduced to Europe and the Americas, the source was via Japan and a Japanese influence could be seen in the pronunciations of the names of the poets, as well as the accompanying critical analysis or commentary upon the poets or their works.
Nara period
The Nara period (710 to 794) began in Japan, in 710, with the move of the Japanese capital moved from Fujiwara (today's Asuka, Nara) to Nara. It was the period when Chinese influence reached a culmination. During the Nara period, Tōdai-ji ("Great Temple of the East") was established together with the creation of the Great Buddha of Nara, by order of Emperor Shōmu. The significant waka poets in this period were Ōtomo no Tabito, Yamanoue no Okura, and Yamabe no Akahito.
Early poems recorded The oldest written work in Japanese literature is Kojiki in 712, in which Ō no Yasumaro recorded Japanese mythology and history as recited by Hieda no Are, to whom it was handed down by his ancestors. Many of the poetic pieces recorded by the Kojiki were perhaps transmitted from the time the Japanese had no writing. The Nihon Shoki, the oldest history of Japan which was finished eight years later than the Kojiki, also contains many poetic pieces. These were mostly not long and had no fixed forms. The first poem documented in both books was attributed to a kami (god), named Susanoo, the younger brother of Amaterasu. When he married Princess Kushinada in Izumo Province, the kami made an uta, or waka, a poem.
This is the oldest waka (poem written in Japanese) and hence poetry was later praised as having been founded by a kami, a divine creation.
The two books shared many of the same or similar pieces but Nihonshoki contained newer ones because it recorded later affairs (up till the reign of Emperor Tenmu) than Kojiki. Themes of waka in the books were diverse, covering love, sorrow, satire, war cries, praise of victory, riddles and so on. Many works in Kojiki were anonymous. Some were attributed to kami, emperors and empresses, nobles, generals, commoners and sometimes enemies of the court. Most of these works are considered collectively as "works of the people", even where attributed to someone, such as the kami Susanoo.
Heian period
The Heian period (794 to 1185) in Japan was one of both extensive general linguistic and mutual poetic development, in Japan. Developments include the Kanbun system of writing by means of adapting Classical Chinese for use in Japan by using a process of annotation, and the further development of the kana writing system from the Man'yōgana of the Nara period, encouraging more vernacular poetry, developments in the waka form of poetry. The Heian era was also one in which developed an increasing process of writing poems (sometimes collaboratively) and collecting them into anthologies, which in the case of the Kokin Wakashū were given a level of prestige, due to imperial patronage.
Waka in the early Heian period It is thought the reached its final form, the one we know today, very early in the Heian period. There are strong grounds for believing that Ōtomo no Yakamochi was the final editor but some documents claim further editing was done in the later period by other poets including Sugawara no Michizane.
Though there was a strong inclination towards Chinese poetry, some eminent waka poets were active in the early Heian period, including the six best waka poets.
Man'yōshū anthology