Waka (Japanese poem) 2015/11/09
Waka means, in wide sense, a poem made by or sung by Japanese original words. There are a variety of such styles and types of poems. Waka also means, in narrow sense, particular type of Japanese traditional poem, Tanka which is composed of 31 syllables with the fixed pattern of 5, 7, 5, 7, 7 syllables.
The origin of Waka is so old that we can not exactly trace it but it is presumed the mixture of myth, a ritual prayers in Shintoism and ancient songs. There are plenty of such poems cited in the oldest history book, Kojiki and Nipponnshoki (written in early 8th century).
According to the ancient legend, the first Waka was a romantic poem made by Susano-no-mikoto, popular hero in the old myth, at Suga shrine in Izumo district. The said first Waka is cited in Kojiki with the explanation on the background of the poem.
Manyoshu, the oldest anthology of Japanese Wakas contains more than 4500 Wakas, mostly made in ７th and 8th century. After Manyoshu, excellent anthologies followed consecutively and Waka has become the solid foundation of Japanese literature. Waka also had strong influences on various Japanese cultures such as Noh, Kabuki, flower arrangement, tea ceremony and so on. Haiku also has derived from Waka.
Many old wood strips for writing, presumably used in 8th or 9th century, were excavated from various parts of Japan. Several popular Wakas were written on those strips, presumably for excise. Above indicated Waka contributed lots to educate people and spread city’s cultures to rural districts.
Meiji government tried hard to introduce western style poems to modernize Japanese literature and society, however Waka still remains as a main stream of Japanese poems up to today.
Waka can be said as the hometown of Japanese soul.
