in which i love poems that are short

[rhyll]

i invite you all to leave comments of tiny poems (haiku, renga, or otherwise) on here.

i would enjoy it! and so would you!

Comments

From "A History Of Japan", Cassell, 1972.

[phester.livejournal.com]

Chapter Six: Heian Literature
section 1: Poetry

(Sky, this is quite long, and so please excise large chunks as you see fit. It's your LJ, after all- DM)
_____
A great deal of poetry, however, has been preserved. The government gave it special encouragement, and from early in the tenth century the court issued a series of imperial (i.e. official) collections of Japanese poems. The most important of these is the first, the 'Kokinshu' ('Poems Ancient and Modern'), completed about 905. The 'Kokinshu' has a total of 1,111 poems, divided into twenty books. The seasons or nature constitute the theme of the first six books; love accounts for another five. Other topics are parting, travel, laments, and auspicious occasions (for example, occasions designed to exalt the imperial persons, as Shonagon accounts in her 'Pillow Book'- DM). A small group of courtier poets, under the direction of Ki no Tsurayuki (?-946), was responsible for collecting and editing the poems.

Although the 'Kokinshu' contains some old poems, the majority of poets represented were still alive at the time of compilation. One result of this is that whereas the 'Manyoshu' is noted for its relatively large number of long poems, most Kokinshu verses are short poems or 'tanka'. This was a refined form which had five lines arranged in 5, 7, 5, 7, 7 syllables. It was favoured by ninth century poets, and so great was the prestige of the first imperial anthology that 'tanka' became the standard form of classical Japanes poetry.

Not only in the form of its poems, but also in their authorship and underlying spirit, the 'Kokinshu' stands as a monument to the general attitudes of the age that produced it. It includes some notable pieces by women, and the studied elegance, wit and technical skill which characterise the collection are hallmarks of a cultivated society with a good knowledge of Chinese literary traditions. Several of these traits appear in the following poem, which is one of the many contributed by Tsurayuki himself.

'Sakurabana,
Chirinuru kaze no,
Nagori ni wa

Mizu naki sora ni,
Nami zo tachikeru.'

(In the eddies,
Of the wind,
That scattered the cherry blossoms

Waves indeed rose,
In a waterless sky.)

Here, strict form is combined with a pleasing succession of sounds. Furthermore, there is a brilliant picture in terms of sea and sky and fallen blossom being blown up and down in the wind.

Even when nature was their theme, Heian poets usually saw it through the eyes of inveterate city-dwellers who were mainly concerned with the private emotional satisfaction of social relations. Heian society was definitely urban, not rustic; and its poetry was man-centred (!- DM), not god- or nature-centred. One 'tanka' by Ono no Komachi, a famous ninth century beauty and poetess whose triumphs must have aroused much envy, expresses this clearly. Komachi's idea is that there is no hatred so bad as self-hatred, and she wrote:

'Utsutsu ni wa,
Sa mo koso arame,
Yume ni sae,
Hitome wo moru to,
Miru ga wabishisa.'

(In reality,
It may well have to be;
But even in my dreams,
To see myself shrink from others' eyes,
Is truly sad.)

The two following 'Kokinshu' poems are probably fairly early works, as their authorship was no longer known at the beginning of the tenth century. Each in its own way is an example of Heian poetry at its best, with technique used to enhance genuine feeling rather than simply for its own sake, and although they both rely on nature to some extent, the feeling they evoke is directed more toward some other person:

'Aki no ta no,
Ho no ue wo terasu,
Inazuma no,
Ware ya wasururu.'

(Can I forget you-
Even for the time it takes,
A flash of lightning,
To shine across,
The autumn fields of corn?)

'Honobono ta,
Akashi no ura no,
Asagiri ni,
Shimagakureyuku,
Fune wo shi zo omou.'

(My thoughts are with a ship,
That slips island-hid,
Dimly, dimly,
Through the morning mist,
On Akashi bay.)
_____

Re: From "A History Of Japan", Cassell, 1972.

[phester.livejournal.com]

OT, this is completely bizarre. It's 2:15am, and Sean 'Puffy' Combs is on an informercial hawking Pro-Active Formula. Apparently, Pro Active is his solution to healthy skin.

Re: From "A History Of Japan", Cassell, 1972.

[tiny-monster.livejournal.com]

It's nice to know he has a career.