Waka

:See Waka (disambiguation) and Tanka (disambiguation) for other usages.

Forms of Waka

Ch?ka

Ch?ka consists of 5-7 syllable phrases repeated at least twice, and concludes with a 5-7-7 ending.

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The briefest ch?ka documented was made by Yamanoue no Okura in the Nara period, and goes:

Related Topics:
Yamanoue no Okura - Nara period

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????????????????????????????????????????????? (Man'y?sh?: 0337),

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which consists of a pattern 5-7 5-7 5-7 5-7-7:

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Tanka

Tanka consists of five units (often treated as separate lines when Romanized or translated) usually with the following mora pattern:

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:5-7-5 / 7-7.

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The 5-7-5 is called the kami-no-ku ("upper phrase"), and the 7-7 is called the shimo-no-ku ("lower phrase").

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Tanka is a much older form of Japanese poetry than haiku. In ancient times poems of this form were called hanka ("reverse poem"), since the 5-7-5-7-7 form derived from the conclusion (envoi) of a choka. Sometimes a choka had two envois.

Related Topics:
Haiku - Envoi

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The choka above is followed by an envoi; ?????????????????????, also written by Okura.

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Even in the late Asuka period, waka poets such as Kakinomoto Hitomaro made hanka as an independent work. It was suitable to express their private interest in life and expression, in comparison with choka, which was solemn enough to express serious and deep emotion when facing a significant event. The Heian period saw many tanka. In the early Heian Period (at the beginning of the 10th century), choka was seldom written and tanka became the main form of waka. Since then, the generic term waka became almost identical with tanka. The Heian period also saw the invention of a new tanka-based game: One poet recited or created half of a tanka, and the other finished it off. This sequential, collaborative tanka was called renga ("linked poem"). (The form and rules of renga developed further during medieval times; see the renga article for more details.)

Related Topics:
Asuka period - Kakinomoto Hitomaro - Heian Period - Renga

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Other forms

There are other forms of waka than the above two. In ancient times its syllabic form was not fixed, but used not only 5 and 7 but also 3, 4, 6, longer than 7 syllables part in a waka. Besides that, there were many other forms like:

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• Bussokusekika: This form carved on a slab of slate - the Bussokuseki (silhouette of Buddha's feet stone) - at the Yakushi-ji temple in Nara. Also recorded in Man'y?sh?. The pattern is 5-7-5-7-7-7.
• Sedoka: Man'y?sh? and Kokin Wakashu recorded this form. The pattern is 5-7-7-5-7-7.
• Katauta: Man'y?sh? recorded this form. Katauta means 'Half song' in Japanese. The pattern is 5-7-7, just same as a half part of Sedoka.

All of those three forms hasn't been shown in the middle of Heian period.

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