A Brief History Of Haiku (II)

 At the end of the Heian Period (A.D. 794-1185), a new poetry trend developed among the aristocracy of Japan:  the renga (連歌).

A renga (Japanese:  Linked Poem) is exactly that:  a set of linked verses. Two or more poets would create the poem:  the first poet would choose a theme and create a hokku (発句), literally the "starting verse" of 5-7-5 syllables. The next poet would have to continue the theme, using a verse of 7-7 syllables.  The next entry (be it the same poet or a new one) had to continue on the them, but again create a verse of 5-7-5; the following poet with a verse of 7-7, and so on.

A gathering of poets for such an event was called a renju, involving up to 7 or 8 poets.  There was a Master, who would set the tone and oversee the aesthetic progression of the poem.  There was a scribe, whose job it was to both write down the verses as they came as well as enforce the rules the particular genre.  Each participant would recite their verse to the scribe, who had to check it for infractions of the rules before inscribing it (Often younger aspiring poets, they had to have a prodigious memory to quickly remember every verse and compare the current verse to the previous verses.  They also had to serve as a master of ceremonies, as unlike earlier poetry, reiju could be attended by multiple social classes of people). 

There, were, of course, multiple conventions:  How the poems were to be transcribed (typically 4 sheets of paper front and back, with the first and last pages having 8 verses and the others 16 verses), the use of particular words such as a kireji (cutting word) and kigo (seasonal word).  Some phrases could only be used once, some had to be repeated if the theme demanded it.

In A.D. 1356 the first renga anthology was published. The great rengu masters often traveled from place to place and were sought after as guests of honour for renga writing.

A renga from Willian Scott Wilson's A Beginner's Guide to Haku.  This renga involved six poets:

The moon on the dry beach
where geese return
full of peace.

The boat beckons them away

with trailing white waves.

Today, leaving the capital,

how many days

has it been?

More and more the storm

on my sleeves of the journey.

On faraway fields

the sun burns the haze

at the beginning of dusk.

But with what colour,

the cloud-darkened pines?

Works cited:

Renga

Wilson, William Scott.  A Beginner's Guide to Japanese Haiku:  Tuttle Publishing, New York:  2022.