Haikai & Haiku: A Tan'Renga Interlude

Issue #9: And A Haikai Challenge!

The tan’renga is a tanka written by two people. Haikai renga is an extended tan’renga, having 36 verses. Every haikai renga, however, technically begins as a tan’renga, with the first poet writing a hokku in 5-7-5 and another poet providing the wakiku (reply) in 7-7, making a completed tanka, in 5-7-5-7-7. Let’s look at a few poems by the poet Bunko (1790-1855) and Issa (1763-1828)—one of the most well-loved haikai poets of all time—to illustrate this.

Bunko lived in Naganuma, in northern Shinano, and was the head student of Kobayashi Issa, who’s other students included fellow Naganuma poets, Kikuto, Sokyō, and Shunpo, et al. (udg, p110) In 1814 Bunko hosted Issa, and they collaborated on a kasen renga (i.e. ‘linked poem’) together, for which Issa wrote the hokku (‘opening verse’, 5-7-5), and Bunko the wakiku (‘second verse’, 7-7; together making a completed tanka). Note that the hokku can be read both as a standalone verse, and as part of the tanka it becomes;

    
              this corrupt world . . .
              blossom
              covered

              “spring equinox is here!”
              the warbler boasts

       此やうな末世を桜だらけ哉 [Issa]
       kono yōna / masse wo sakura / darake kana [idb; udg]
       this-type / corrupt-world < cherry-blossom / covered . . .

       今やひがんとほこる鶯 [Bunko]
       ima ya higan to / hokoru uguisu [udg]
       here ! spring-equinox “” / boasts <warbler
    

After the death of his wife Kiku in 1823, Issa again spent time “visiting his students in northern Shinano. Composing poetry with them was his usual way of overcoming loneliness,” (udg, p148) and he busied himself writing kasen, 5 of which have been preserved, including another collaboration with Bunko, for which Bunko wrote the hokku, and Issa the wakiku;

    
              except the moon
              nobody visits . . .
              this hut

              dew on the west hills
              dew on the north hills

       月の外人もさし来ぬいほり哉 [Bunko]
       tsuki no hoka / hito mo sashi konu / iori kana [nht; udg]
       moon 's <nothing-but / people too ! come-not / hut . . .

       露のにし山露の北山 [Issa]
       tsuyu no nishiyama / tsuyu no kitayama [nht; udg]
       dew 's western-hills / dew 's northern-hills
    

After Issa's death, Bunko wrote Issa-ō Shūen-ki (‘Master Issa's Last Days’, 1828), in remembrance of his friend and mentor's life.

    
              cool wind,
              not a single stone
              without moss

       凉風に苔のかゝらぬ石もなし [Bunko]
       suzukaze ni / koke no kakaranu / ishi mo nashi [nht; udg]
       cool-wind <in / moss 's covered-not / stone < no
     

While precedents for haiku can be found throughout the history of Japanese poetry, stretching back to the Kojiki and Nihongi (c. 700s), it was not until the development of haikai renga in the 1500s and 1600s that “haiku” proper began to take form. Haikai renga was a popular variety of linked-poem, in which a group of poets collaboratively wrote a 36-link poem together. To begin, the 1st poet offers a 5-7-5 hokku (starting verse), to which the 2nd poet responds with a 7-7 wakiku, together making a tanka. Then the 3rd poet responds to the 2nd in 5-7-5, and the 4th to the 3rd in 7-7, and so on, for a total of 36 stanzas. Significantly, the link between stanzas is not typically narrative driven, or “sensibly” constructed from “signifying statements” (in terms of Western linguistics). Rather, they are constructed from fragments which have a “suggestive sensibility” when combined: which are symbolically sympathetic to one another.

While haikai poets did not often write standalone tanka, every renga began with a tanka, made from the hokku and the wakiku, and when excerpted is a kind of tan’renga (‘short-linked poem’). Writing tan’renga can be a good way to get familiar with both haikai and tanka as forms, so I thought—why don’t we write one together? It requires absolutely no prior knowledge or study. All you need to do is read the following hokku (one of mine);

  
              dawn,
              even i consider
              crowing
 

Sit with it for as long as you need, and let your mind wander round the images, building associations. Then write a 2-line reply, with the 2-lines being roughly the same length, and less than 7 syllables each. To develop this further, try to make the couplet both stand-alone as a poem, and enrich the hokku. Looking forward to seeing what people come up with in the comments!

 
                            xoxo
                               dw

 

Haiku Thursdays

Notes for an unfinished miscellany on haiku in English, including poems, translations, histories, theories, et al. Explore the archive . . .