Types of Japanese Poetry

8/3/2019 Types of Japanese Poetry

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/types-of-japanese-poetry 1/4

Types of Japanese Poetry

Haiku

The form of Haiku poetry originated from the Renga. The Haiku is atype of Japanese poetry that is short in length and has been around the

longest. Basho, the famous Japanese poet, contributed to making thistype of poetry well known. Even though it's survived all these years,

people still enjoy writing this form of poetry today.

The structure of the Japanese Haiku has changed tremendouslyovertime. In the 15th century, the original form contained up to one

hundred verses. Each verse still had a specific number of syllable,similar to the Renga. The first Haikus were created by two poets

working together on one poem. The more recent Haiku consists of 17syllables. Over time, the Haiku has changed it's structure, but one thing

that has never changed is the set number of syllables.

Need some help and ideas to create your Haiku? In order to write aHaiku you must be in a state of relaxation. You might want to listen to

some Japanese inspirational music to help your ideas start flowing.Haikus can be written about anything. Most people write their Haikus

on nature and their daily lives. The three lines of the Haiku create afeeling which describes a poet's emotions.

Tanka

Another type of Japanese poetry is the Tanka. It's older than the famousHaiku, but not as well known. The Tanka has been a well known type of

poetry in Japan for about 1300 years. After every special event or occasion a Tanka was written about the event. Tanka tends to be longer

than the Haiku so it allows the poet to express his or her feelings inmore depth. Typically the Tanka is written about one's feelings. In order

to write this type of poetry, one must write about something they have agreat love for and are passionate about. For example, nature, a place,

family, a loved one, or their own daily life, most likely whatever youfeel is right. A well written Tanka creates a vivid image which is related

to emotions. This type of poetry gives poets the opportunity to expresstheir own feelings in an unique way.

Renga

Another type of Japanese poetry is the Renga. Throughout history,

Japanese poetry was continually changing. Over time, a techniquedeveloped so that two poets could enjoy creating one poem at the same



time, this concept was known as the Renga. The idea behind the Renga

is that one poet writes a section on their own ideas and the next poetadds the next section. Two poets combining their own ideas forming one

poem, soon became a popular pass time and a form of entertainment.Many people thought of Renga as playing a competitive game. In order

to participate in this game-like fashion, being a fast thinker with a goodsense of humor was a requirement. People had parties were they used

this form of entertainment. Renga poems are known to be longer thanother types of Japanese poetry and they can reach up to 100 verses.

Renga poetry is a fun form of entertainment that anyone can enjoy.

Techniques of Japanese Poetry

Haiku

To start off, you need to know what the basic layout for a Haiku is. A Haiku has at least 17

syllables with 3 lines. The order of the syllables is 5,7,5. When getting ready to write your Haiku, you should brainstorm some ideas. Be sure to choose something simple and not too

complicated. When choosing a theme for your Haiku, make sure to choose something peoplealready know about and then provide them a way to look at familiar situations and experiences in

a different way. It may be helpful to look around at your surroundings to choose a topic.Specifically, when writing my Haiku, "Fallen," I got my idea from just looking out my window

and seeing the leaves on the ground.

Tanka

The basic technique of writing a Tanka poem is that it has 31 syllables with 5 lines. The order of the syllables are 5,7,5,7,7. This is how people in America write Tanka poetry; however, in Japan

it would be written in one straight line. When reading aloud this type of poetry, you need two people. One person reads the first verse and the other reads the next. A well written Tanka

usually consists of one theme that describes a general idea throughout the whole poem. Whenwriting my Tanka poem called "Morning," I thought about what I do daily to come up with my

idea. Thinking about your daily life and your experiences might help you come up with a themeof your own.

Renga

Another type of Japanese poetry is Renga. The Renga has the same format as the Japanese

Tanka. Renga poems can have as many verses as you want. Each verse has 31 syllables with 5lines. The syllables per line are 5,7,5,7,7. It's practically the same as the Tanka, except for the

fact that the Renga is like a competition. There are two poets, one takes the first two lines, andthe other takes the last three lines. The way the challenge starts is the first poet composes the first

two lines in a way that makes it difficult for the other poet. They have to be clever in order to add



on to the first two lines. When Samantha and I composed "The Crush", she was responsible for writing the first two lines of the verse and I wrote the last three lines. This format continued until

we had completed our Renga. It was challenging to think of the next three lines to add to the previous two lines Samantha had written. First, I thought of a line that would flow with what

Samantha had written. Then I had to make sure I had the accurate amount of syllables that

followed the 5,7,5,7,7 pattern.

Overview of Japanese Animation

Japanese Animation is a style of animation that originated in Japan. There are many differences between American and Japanese Animation. How can you tell the difference between the two

pictures below:

The one on the left is Japanese and the one on the right is American. Can you see the difference?

The one on the right looks simple and the other one looks more complicated. Not all JapaneseAnimation looks that simple. In fact, some Japanese animation looks MORE complicated. The

best way to tell is by looking at the eyes of a human character. The eyes will always besomewhat simple in the American style.

Not only the animation is drawn a different way, it is also used differently. In America, as you

may already know cartoons are for children. In Japan it is for all age groups children, teens, andadults. For them, animation is just as good as "live action!"

Another difference is that the Japanese story line is more interesting. In America it is all about a

hero, or a group of heroes and heroines, that fight ugly evil people continuously. In Japan, it is adifferent story. First of all, the hero is different. Most of the time it is about normal people in

their every day environment. Now wait a minute, doesn't that sound boring? Actually it's not, letme explain. Let's take Ranma 1/2, for an example. It is about a boy that turns into a girl with cold

water and goes on all these marital arts adventures. Now, that is normal to him because he was born in this strange world. That isn't so boring is it?

Also, the enemies are different, as well. For one thing, they are not all ugly. In fact, some of them are really cute. They don't attack people for any reason either. They ALWAYS have a

reason. Sometimes it's revenge and sometimes it's to rule the world (because they were just born power hungry). In Japanese animation, it also shows more of what the enemies' perspective is;

why they are being "evil".



The story itself isn't always good against evil. In Japan, it can be about saving the world indifferent ways as well. Lets look at "Slayers TRY," there really wasn't a real, real bad guy. It's

about the gods wanting a clear universe and the people of the universe didn't understand that, butin the end it all gets explained. They die, get married or go their own way, that way you'll never

know what the ending is going to be, just like life..

Overview of Japanese Poetry

Japan didn't have its own writing system until the 8th century. Japanese poetry was recited orally

and later became the foundation of the first books in Japan. Throughout the past both women andmen used poetry as a way to communicate. Often the Japanese wrote letters which included

poetry.

There are many different types of Japanese poetry. Our website addresses the following types of Japanese poetry: Haiku, Tanka, and Renga. Typically, these traditional Japanese styles of poetry

reflect daily live, love, and nature.

Each one is special in its own way because it has its own unique layout and structure. In our website you will not only learn the history and technique of writing poetry, but how to illustrate

your poetry through the use of Japanese animation.

Get ready to let your imagination go wild!!

"Old Pond...

a fro g l eaps in

water' s sound."

--M atsuo Basho

Documents

Types of Japanese Poetry