Waka

Waka has more than one meaning.

Table of contents

1 Japanese

1.1 Tanka
1.2 Choka

2 Maori

Japanese

Waka (和歌) or Yamato uta is a genre of Japanese poetry. Waka means verbally japanese poem in Japanese: a counterpart to Kanshi, chinese poem, hence its possible form are varied principally. Waka can consists therefore of many styles: Tanka (短歌 lit. short poem) or Choka (長歌 lit. long poem). Waka, though, usually means Tanka.

There are other styles, Bussokusekika, Sedoka and Katauta. These three were however earlier obsolated at the beginning of Heian period and soon after also Choka.

Obsolation of other styles made the term waka be equal to Tanka. The term Tanka has a short history. Japanese poet and critic Masaoka Shiki created this term for his statement Waka should be inovated and modernized. Until then Waka has been referred to as Waka or Uta(song, poem) simply. Haiku is also a word of his invention on the same idea. For economy of thought we use here the term Tanka for further description.

Tradionally Waka in general has no concepts of lines. Thus there is no idea of rhymes. In stead of line concept waka has a unit(連） and phrase(句）.

Tanka

Tanka is consists of five units with a pattern of syllables in each line as follows basically: 5-7-5 / 7-7. The part of 5-7-5 is called kami-no-ku(upper phrase) and 7-7 shimo-no-ku(lower phrase).

Tanka is a much older form of Japanese poetry than haiku. In the ancient it was called Hanka (reverse poem), since it was made for an conclucial addition to a Choka.

There were in Heian period selected poets called Six best Waka poets and Thirty-six best Waka poets.

In the middle of Heian period peers invented a new game. One recited or created kami-no-ku or shimo-no-ku and require another to make a new addition. This sequencial collaborated Tanka was called Renga. In the beginning of Renga it was collaborated tanka, but this form developed during the medieval. For further information, see the article Renga.

Choka

Choka consists in at least twice repeated 5-7 syllables phrase and concludes of a 5-7-7 ending. The briefest Choka documenteted was made by Yamanoue no Okura in Nara period, that is, 瓜食めば子ども思ほゆ栗食めばまして思はゆ何処より来りしものそ眼交にもとな懸りて安眠し寝さぬ　(Manyoshu: 0337), which consists in pattern of 5-7 5-7 5-7 5-7-7.

Maori

The Maori of New Zealand call their canoes waka. More recently the term has also been applied to other forms of transport such as an automobiles.

This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.