Poetry and Song 1

I came across this passage in a book of translations of Tanka from the Manyoshu, the earliest collection of Japanese poetry:

“Japanese poetry finds its origins in poetry sung to quadruple-time music, and the Tanka retains the traits of an elegant quadruple-time song. The five 5-7-5-7-7-syllable lines are equal in duration both when read and sung. This is the basis of the euphony of Japanese poetry. In the 7-syllable line, one syllable is sustained for two beats. In order to make the 5-syllable line and 7-syllable line equal in length, three syllables in the shorter line must be lengthened. In reading, all five lines are lengthened to the same eight-beat duration. This formality of poetry recitation results in the 5-syllable lines sounding rather drawn out, while the 7-syllable line sounds somewhat breezy. It is this contrast that contributes to the emotionality of sung or recited Japanese poetry.”

(Written on Water: Five Hundred Poems from the Manyoshu, translated by Takashi Kojima, page 14, Charles E. Tuttle Company, Rutland, Vermont, 1995)

I understand this passage to mean that each line of a Tanka consists of two measures of 4-4 time; that is to say each line of a Tanka occupies eight beats. In a five syllable line, the last syllable would be held for four beats, or one entire measure. In a seven syllable line, the last syllable would be held for two beats, or one half of a measure.

I have known for some time that the Tanka form is rooted in song. The earliest name for the Tanka form that I know of is “Uta”, which means “song”.

To non-musicians the point being made here may seem difficult to grasp. The point, however, is simple and easily applicable to reading a Tanka. (Note that the author states that the lines are of equal duration whether they are read or sung.) Basically, the idea is that each line of a Tanka has the same duration. In practice what this means is that at the end of a five-syllable line there is a significant pause, or caesura. At the end of a seven-syllable line there is a very brief pause, just a slight touch. These pauses fill out the line such that both the five-syllable lines and the seven-syllable lines have the same duration.

The best way of understanding this approach to Tanka is to try reading Tanka in this way. The pauses referred to are not exaggerated; they should sound natural, yet they should also be present. In my own study of Tanka, once I got the hang of reading Tanka in this way what emerged was what I refer to as the “Tanka Pulse”. There is a beautiful, steady, flow in Tanka that emerges from taking Tanka’s origin in song into account when reading Tanka. This particularly applies when one is reading a series of Tanka, such as one finds in the classic collections like the Kokinshu. Given a series of Tanka on a particular topic, like Spring or Parting, reading Tanka in the series in the way described gives the reading an underlying pulse which carries the reader along, like the flow of a stream, from Tanka to Tanka.

This way of reading also applies to Renga because the overall syllabic structure of Renga verses follows that of traditional Tanka. Finally, this way of reading also applies to Haiku for the basic syllabic structure of Haiku follows the 5-7-5 of the first three lines of Tanka.

The author describes the effect of this way of reading Tanka is a kind of euphony. I have found this to be the case. This way of reading Tanka is pleasing to the ear, gives the reader a sense of rhythm and flow, and reveals an inspired lyricism at the heart of the Tanka tradition.