Traditional Japanese poems from waka to haiku and tanka

Poems have been one of the most familiar forms of art and entertainment in Japan for a long, long time. The oldest surviving compilation of traditional poems, 和歌 (waka), is called “万葉集 (Manyo-shu),” which dates back to as old as 7th or 8th century. Waka is the grandfather of 俳句 (haiku) and 短歌 (tanka), and although haiku and tanka emerged after more than a thousand years from the era of Manyo-shu, the fundamental format hasn’t changed at all. They consist of two types of verse: one with 5, 7, 5 syllables and the other with 7 and 7, and used to describe the transient and elusive beauty of nature, of which humans were the part.

Vocal structure of traditional Japanese poems

As you can imagine from these musical notes, the reason why Japanese poems kept the same brief, phonetic format was because they were meant to be recited, as much as they were read, ever since the era of waka. Yet, they maintained their status as poems and developed separately form lyrics that were accompanied by music (Japan had the form of art similar to troubadours in the Middle Age Europe, but it’s a different story).

It may be possible that waka chose not to be accompanied by music because of so-called 余韻 (yoin), which plays a big part in traditional Japanese culture. It is a very difficult notion to explain, but most online dictionaries define it as: reverberation; swelling (of a hymn); trailing note. lingering memory; aftertaste. suggestiveness (of a book, poem, etc.).

As yoin literally means “lingering” + “sound (or reverberation),” it’s been used to describe aesthetic/emotional impressions or feelings that remain inside you after an arresting presentation, display, or event was over. The impression could be about the quality of the entire event, or about transitional moments such as a series of notes in music.

In traditional Japanese poems, yoin is amplified by both visual and acoustic effects: when written, these poems, especially haiku, leaves ample margins which can become a theater screen for readers who would project their own images which are inspired by the poems. When they are recited, yoin will emerge when there are rests (See the figure above. There is a quarter rest that is inserted after the 5 syllable part, and an eighth rest can substitute the first note in the 7 syllable part). It was thanks to those spatial and temporal rooms created around them that allowed Japanese poems to capture the beauty of overwhelmingly large nature and/or ever so subtle and elusive emotion people felt toward others (poems were also used as love letters) in a radically short format. Music didn’t have to marry them, because people wanted to insert yoin spontaneously depending on the season, weather, audience and the surrounding environment at the time the poem was written or recited.

和歌 Waka

Waka is the oldest form of Japanese poems, whose exact origin is too old to trace back. It is believed that people already had the basic format even before Japanese finally established their writing systems toward the 11th century. What we can see is the works after people started jolting down what they created. Due its long history, there are several periods of waka.

Manyo era

Heian (Kokufu) era

Middle Age

Modern

連歌 Renga

Renga means “series of poems” or “chains of poems.” It was an intellectual entertainment for aristocrats in the Middle Ages, who hosted renga-writign socials on a regular basis at which people kept adding new verses to someone else’s to collectively make a long narrative (both story-wise and technique-wise) and see who could create the most impressive verse. Reciting part played a big role here, so you may infer some similarities with to a live rap battle of today, where MCs perform on the same stage to see who can improvise the better verses. (There were no dissing” or bragging involved, though.) Renga started as a highbrow entertainment among aristocrats (because you had be literate and had access to historical anthologies so as you could learn all about waka), and it had become an important platform for political turf war as well as aesthetic trend-setting.

俳諧 Haikai

As time went by, renga became popular among ordinary citizens due to its social gathering/entertainment aspect. By the Edo era (1603-1868), haikai emerged as an adulterated version of renga to become one of the most popular pass time for people as it introduced – among other elements – a betting feature (albeit it was considered illegal), which gave prizes to the person who wrote the best additional verse.

As haikai became popular among citizens, different schools and variations emerged: some were focused on fun elements, while others pursued artistic elevation. The first led to the emergence of senryu, for example, which were satire, caricature, humor of what was going on in the society. The latter became haiku, especially as popular haikai poets started make living off of writing and teaching haikai, many of whom traveled extensively for creative inspiration and teaching opportunities. In a sense, poems took roots in ordinary people’s lives.

Then, Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) entered increasingly commercialized haikai society and raised the aesthetic bar by focusing on discovering beauty in nature (he traveled a lot) or tranquil, solitary way of living. Other important haikai poets during the Edo era include Yosa Buson (1716-1784) and Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828).

Then, Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) entered increasingly commercialized haikai society and raised the aesthetic bar by focusing on discovering beauty in nature (he traveled a lot) or tranquil, solitary way of living. Other important haikai poets during the Edo era include Yosa Buson (1716-1784) and Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828).

俳句 Haiku

俳句 (haiku), as it has come to be known as world’s shortest form of poems, was established in the 19th century during the Meiji era as a counter to haikai, its predecessor that had lost its aesthetic soul towards the end of Edo era. Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) criticized the status of haikai and attempted to elevate its artistic creativity to become one of the finest modern art in Japan.

Haiku is basically the first verse of renga, which consists of 5+7+5 syllables. It has kigo (a word that suggests the season), and kireji (cutting word), usually with one of two syllables, which is used to end a verse and functions as an implicit exclamation that expresses different emotions while adding clean rhythm. If you remember the rhythm notations above, kireji fits into where the quarter rests are, or the last two notes in 7 the syllables part.  

短歌 Tanka

短歌 (tanka) uses both the first (5, 7, 5 syllables) and the second verse (7, 7) of traditional waka format. It emerged during the Meiji era just like haiku. Whereas it uses the exact same format as waka, tanka is a modern art that captured the life and beauty lived by modern people using the modern language.