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Revision as of 17:19, 22 December 2012

Renku (連句, "linked verses"), or haikai no renga (俳諧の連歌, "comic linked verse"),[1] is a Japanese form of popular collaborative linked verse poetry. It is a development of the older Japanese poetic tradition of ushin renga, or orthodox collaborative linked verse. At renku gatherings participating poets take turns providing alternating verses of 17 and 14 morae. Initially haikai no renga distinguished itself through vulgarity and coarseness of wit, before growing into a legitimate artistic tradition, and eventually giving birth to the haiku form of Japanese poetry. The term renku gained currency after 1904, when Takahama Kyoshi started to use it.[2]

Development

The oldest known collection of haikai linked verse appears in the first imperial anthology of renga, the Tsukubashū (1356-57).[3]

Traditional renga was a group activity in which each participant displayed his wit by spontaneously composing a verse in response to the verse that came before; the more interesting the relationship between the two verses the more impressive the poet’s ability. The links between verses could range from vulgar to artistic, but as renga was taken up by skilled poets and developed into a set form, the vulgarity of its early days came to be ignored.

Haikai no renga, in response to the stale set forms that preceded it, embraced this vulgar attitude and was typified by contempt for traditional poetic and cultural ideas, and by the rough, uncultured language that it used. The haikai spirit, as it came to be called, embraced the natural humor that came from the combination of disparate elements. To that end haikai poets would often combine elements of traditional poems with new ones they created. A well-known example of this early attitude is the opening couplet, possibly by Yamazaki Sōkan (1464–1552), from his Inutsukubashū (犬筑波集, "Mongrel Renga Collection").

He was given the following prompt:

kasumi no koromo suso wa nurekeri
The robe of haze is wet at its hem

to which he responded:

saohime no haru tachi nagara shito o shite
Princess Sao of spring pissed as she started[4]

This poem clearly derives its humor from shock value. Never before in Japanese culture had anyone dared to talk of the goddess of spring in such a manner.[5] Taking an ostensibly traditional and poetic prompt and injecting vulgar humor while maintaining the connection of the damp hems and the spring mists was exactly the sort of thing that early haikai poets were known for.

A comparable, though less evolved, tradition of 'linked verse' (lién jù, written with the same characters as 'renku') evolved in Chin-dynasty China,[6] and it has been argued that this Chinese form influenced Japanese renga during its formative period.[7]

Outside Japan

During the last decades, the practice of renku has spread beyond Japan and established itself as a legitimate genre in English and in numerous languages around the world.[2] With the growth of the internet and of electronic communications, international renku collaborations have grown in popularity, chiefly in English.[citation needed] However, renku have also been published in French,[citation needed] Croatian,[citation needed] German,[citation needed] Italian,[citation needed] Afrikaans,[citation needed] Romanian,[citation needed] Russian[citation needed] and Esperanto.[citation needed] Sometimes, renku are composed simultaneously in two or more languages.[8]

Formats used in renku

Below is a list of the formats most commonly used in writing renku[9]

Name of format Number
of stanzas 		Number of kaishi
(writing sheets) 		Number
of sides 		Originator Date of origin
Kasen (poetic geniuses) 36 2 4 unknown 1423[10]
Han-kasen (half-kasen) 18 1 2 unknown 17th century
Shisan (four times three)[11] 12 2 4 Kaoru Kubota 1970s
Jūnichō (twelve tones)[12] 12 1 1 Shunjin Okamoto 1989[13]
Nijūin (twenty tones)[13] 20 2 4 Meiga Higashi 1980s
Rokku[citation needed] (six verses) variable variable variable Haku Asanuma 2000

Renku journals

Contests

Two English-language renku contests are held annually: the Journal of Renga & Renku contest,[14] and the Bernard Lionel Einbond Renku Competition, held by the Haiku Society of America.[15]

Notes

  1. ^ Crowley, Cheryl, translator of Horikiri Minoru. "Exploring Bashō's World of Poetic Expression: Soundscape Haiku" in Kerkham, Eleanor, editor. Matsuo Bashō's Poetic Spaces: Exploring Haikai Intersections. Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. ISBN 9781403972583 p159
  2. ^ a b Drake, Chris. 'Bashō’s “Cricket Sequence” as English Literature', in Journal of Renga & Renku, Issue 2, 2012. p7
  3. ^ Horton, H. Mack. 'Early Haikai Linked Verse', in Journal of Renga & Renku, Issue 2, 2012. p79
  4. ^ Sato, Hiroaki. One Hundred Frogs: from renga to haiku to English, Weatherhill 1983, ISBN 0-8348-0176-0 p.53
  5. ^ Keene, Donald 1999. World Within Walls: A History of Japanese Literature, Vol. 2 New York: Columbia University Press. p16
  6. ^ Reckert, Stephen, Beyond Chrysanthemums: Perspectives on Poetry East and West, Oxford University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-19-815165-9, p.43
  7. ^ Sato, 1983, p.11
  8. ^ Richards, Moira. Renku Editor's Notes in Simply Haiku 7:2 2009
  9. ^ Carley, John E. Common types of renku sequence
  10. ^ Drake, Chris. 'Bashō’s “Cricket Sequence” as English Literature', in Journal of Renga & Renku, Issue 2, 2012. p8
  11. ^ Journal of Renga & Renku, issue 2, 2012. p222
  12. ^ Carley, John. The Jūnichō Pattern in Simply Haiku 2:2, 2004
  13. ^ a b Higginson, William J. Shorter Renku in Renku Home
  14. ^ Journal of Renga & Renku contest
  15. ^ The HSA Bernard Lionel Einbond Renku Competition

See also

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