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Waka (和歌, literally, "Japanese poem") is a type of poetry in classical Japanese literature. Waka are composed in Japanese, and are contrasted with poetry composed by Japanese poets in Classical Chinese, which are known as kanshi. Although waka in modern Japanese is written as 和歌, in the past it was also written as 倭歌 (see Wa (Japan)), and a variant name is yamato-uta (大和歌).

The word waka has two different but related meanings: the original meaning was "poetry in Japanese" and encompassed several genres such as chōka and sedōka (discussed below); the later, more common definition refers to poetry in a 5-7-5-7-7 metre. Up to and during the compilation of the Man'yōshū in the eighth century, the word waka was a general term for poetry composed in Japanese, and included several genres such as tanka (短歌, "short poem"), chōka (長歌, "long poem"), bussokusekika (仏足石歌, "Buddha footprint poem") and sedōka (旋頭歌, "repeating-the-first-part poem"). However, by the time of the Kokinshū's compilation at the beginning of the tenth century, all of these forms except for the tanka and chōka had effectively gone extinct, and chōka had significantly diminished in prominence. As a result, the word waka became effectively synonymous with tanka, and the word tanka fell out of use until it was revived at the end of the nineteenth century (see Tanka).

Tanka (hereafter referred to as waka) consist of five lines (句, ku, literally "phrases") of 5-7-5-7-7 on or syllabic units.

Other forms of waka

The term waka originally encompassed a number of differing forms, principally tanka (短歌, "short poem") and chōka (長歌, "long poem"), but also including bussokusekika, sedōka (旋頭歌, "memorized poem") and katauta (片歌, "poem fragment"). These last three forms, however, fell into disuse at the beginning of the Heian period, and chōka vanished soon afterwards. Thus, the term waka came in time to refer only to tanka.

Chōka

Chōka consist of 5-7 on phrases repeated at least twice, and conclude with a 5-7-7 ending.

The briefest chōka documented is Man'yōshū no. 337, which is of a pattern 5-7 5-7 5-7 5-7-7. It was composed by Yamanoue no Okura in the Nara period and goes:

The chōka above is followed by an envoi (反歌, hanka), also written by Okura:

In the early Heian period (at the beginning of the 10th century), chōka was seldom written and tanka became the main form of waka. Since then, the generic term waka came to be almost synonymous with tanka. Famous examples of such works are the diaries of Ki no Tsurayuki and Izumi Shikibu, as well as such collections of poem tales as The Tales of Ise and The Tales of Yamato.

Minor forms of waka

Lesser forms of waka featured in the Man'yōshū and other ancient sources exist. Besides that, there were many other forms like:

• Bussokusekika: This form carved on a slab of slate – the "Buddha footprint" or bussokuseki – at the Yakushi-ji temple in Nara. Also recorded in the Man'yōshū. The pattern is 5-7-5-7-7-7.
• Sedōka: The Man'yōshū and Kokinshū recorded this form. The pattern is 5-7-7-5-7-7.
• Katauta: Man'yōshū recorded this form. Katauta means "half-poem". The pattern is 5-7-7.

History

Ancient

Early songs

Songs and poetry in the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki

The Man'yōshū

Classical

Rise of Japanese national culture

The first three chokusenshū

The first three imperially-commissioned waka anthologies (三代集, Sandai-shū) were the Kokin Wakashū, the Gosen Wakashū and the Shūi Wakashū. The Kokinshū was compiled by Ki no Tsurayuki, Ki no Tomonori, Ōshikōchi no Mitsune and Mibu no Tadamine on the orders of Emperor Daigo in 905. It collected roughly 1,100 waka that had not appeared in the Man'yōshū into 20 volumes, arranged by theme. The Kokinshū poems are generally considered to be reflective and idealistic.

Roughly half a century after the compilation of the Kokinshū, in 951, Emperor Murakami commanded the Five Men of the Pear Chamber to compile the Gosen Wakashū, in addition to preparing kundoku readings for the Man'yōshū, which by that time was already difficult for even educated Japanese to read. The selection of poems for the Gosenshū centered around "gift poems" (贈答歌, zōtōka) exchanged between members of Heian nobility, and the poetry showed a trend toward a more narrative style.

In 1005 Emperor Ichijō commanded the compilation of the Shūishū.

The five later-Heian anthologies

The above three court anthologies, in addition to the five following anthologies, are known as the "Collections of Eight Ages" (八代集, Hachidai-shū), and were all compiled during the Heian period.

Medieval

Early modern

Modern

Well-known waka poets

• Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
• Yamabe no Akahito
• Ōtomo no Yakamochi
• Henjō
• Ariwara no Narihira
• Fun'ya no Yasuhide
• Kisen
• Ono no Komachi
• Ōtomo Kuronushi
• Izumi Shikibu
• Kūkai
• Ki no Tsurayuki
• Murasaki Shikibu
• Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241)
• Saigyō (1118–1190)
• Minamoto no Sanetomo (1192-1219)
• Emperor Go-Toba (1180–1239)
• Kamo no Chōmei (1155–1216)
• Motoori Norinaga (1730–1801)
• Ueda Akinari (1734–1809)
• Ryōkan (1758–1831)
• Princess Kazu (1846–1877)

Famous waka collections

• Nijūichidaishū – The collective name for all 21 Imperially-commissioned waka anthologies
• Hyakunin Isshu - Fujiwara no Teika's collection of 100 poems by 100 poets

Glossary of terms related to waka composition

Bibliography of waka anthologies in English translation

• Brower, Robert H., and Earl Miner, Japanese Court Poetry, Stanford University Press, 1961. ISBN 0-8047-1524-6 pbk

527 pp., a standard academic study.

• Carter, Steven D., editor and translator, Traditional Japanese Poetry: An Anthology. Stanford University Press, 1991

Waka, tanka, renga, haiku and senryū with translations and annotations

• Carter, Steven D., editor and translator, Waiting for the Wind: Thirty-Six Poets of Japan's Late Medieval Age, Columbia University Press, 1989
• Cranston, Edwin, editor and translator, A Waka Anthology, Volume One: The Gem-Glistening Cup, Stanford University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-8047-1922-5 cloth ISBN 0-8047-3157-8 pbk

988 pp. includes almost all waka from the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters completed 712) through the Man'yōshū (Collection for Ten Thousand Generations c.759) and also includes the Buddha's Footstone Poems (21 Bussokuseki poems carved in stone at the Yakushi-ji temple in Nara, c. 753)

• Cranston, Edwin, editor and translator, A Waka Anthology, Volume Two: Grasses of Remembrance, Stanford University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8047-4825-X cloth
• Keene, Donald, compiled and edited, Anthology of Japanese Literature from the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century, Grove Press, 1955
• Keene, Donald, Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature of the Modern Era - Poetry, Drama, Criticism (A History of Japanese Literature, Volume 4), Columbia University Press, 1999
• McCullough, Helen Craig, Brocade by Night: 'Kokin Wakashū' and the Court Style in Japanese Classical Poetry, Stanford University Press, 1985
• McCullough, Helen Craig, Kokin Wakashū: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry, with 'Tosa Nikki' and 'Shinsen Waka', Stanford University Press 1985
• Miner, Earl, An Introduction to Japanese Court Poetry, Stanford University Press, 1968.

Based on Brower and Miner

• Philippi, Donald, translator, This Wine of Peace, the Wine of Laughter: A Complete Anthology of Japan's Earliest Songs, New York, Grossman, 1968
• Rodd, Laurel Rasplica, and Mary Catherine Henkenius, translated and annotated, Kokinshu: A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern. Cheng & Tsui Company, 1996
• Sato, Hiroaki, and Burton Watson, editors and translators, From the Country of Eight Islands: An Anthology of Japanese Poetry, multiple editions available
• Reichhold, Jane, and Kawamura, Hatsue. Trans. A String of Flowers. . . Untied: Love Poems from the Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu. Berkeley, CA: Stonebridge Press. 2002

Notes

1. Kakinomoto Hitomaro on Brittanica.com
2. Wright, Harold. Songs of Mountains and Coves: Japanese Ancient Pre-haiku Poetry in Simply Haiku, Spring 2006
3. Sato, Hiroaki and Watson, Burton. From the Country of Eight Islands: An Anthology of Japanese Poetry. Columbia University Press, ISBN 0-231-16395-4 p.619
4. English translation by Edwin A. Cranston, from A Waka Anthology: Volume One: The Gem-Glistening Cup, Stanford University Press © 1993

• Japanese literary terms
• Japanese literature
• Japanese poetry
• Stanzaic form
• Waka (poetry)