a japanese waka
寝られない
この遅く夜
多くに成る
もう早かったのは
朝に無く成った。
The Japanese waka is the early precursor to the popular and well-known haiku: like the haiku it uses the 5-7-5 syllabic pattern for the first three lines, however unlike the haiku it has subsequent lines depending on the poem's subcategory: the chouka, which ended up being very long poems, used a 5-7-5-7-5 etc. pattern until the end, in which the last line, instead of being 5 syllables were another 7. The tanka, the other subcategory, was essentially the haiku's big brother: 5-7-5-7-7. Short, sweet, and laden with imagery. Japanese is very easy to rhyme, so the trick is to be able to double up meanings, make mythological references, etc. For the most part, poetry was huge in the Nara/Heian period because it was essentially the only way you could pick up chicks. Apparently, one-nighters and extra girlfriends were big too, so everyone was sneaking around.
Anyway, this my lameass attempt at one that I had to do for an assignment - it's supposed to occur in the autumn collection of the Kokinshuu, right around all the tanka about midnight trysts and then separation. Hopefully it somewhat alludes to the whole "yearlong wait" and the lengthening nights of Tanabata, but oh well.
In other news, it's STILL snowing. We now have FEETS of snow! FEETS!
この遅く夜
多くに成る
もう早かったのは
朝に無く成った。
The Japanese waka is the early precursor to the popular and well-known haiku: like the haiku it uses the 5-7-5 syllabic pattern for the first three lines, however unlike the haiku it has subsequent lines depending on the poem's subcategory: the chouka, which ended up being very long poems, used a 5-7-5-7-5 etc. pattern until the end, in which the last line, instead of being 5 syllables were another 7. The tanka, the other subcategory, was essentially the haiku's big brother: 5-7-5-7-7. Short, sweet, and laden with imagery. Japanese is very easy to rhyme, so the trick is to be able to double up meanings, make mythological references, etc. For the most part, poetry was huge in the Nara/Heian period because it was essentially the only way you could pick up chicks. Apparently, one-nighters and extra girlfriends were big too, so everyone was sneaking around.
Anyway, this my lameass attempt at one that I had to do for an assignment - it's supposed to occur in the autumn collection of the Kokinshuu, right around all the tanka about midnight trysts and then separation. Hopefully it somewhat alludes to the whole "yearlong wait" and the lengthening nights of Tanabata, but oh well.
In other news, it's STILL snowing. We now have FEETS of snow! FEETS!