A Japanese long-poem form of alternating five- and seven-syllable lines closing with an extra seven-syllable line, the dominant verse form of the Man'yoshu anthology before the shorter tanka displaced it as the mainstream lyric form of the Heian court.
Facts
Place of OriginJapan, Nara period (8th century). 1 StructureAlternating lines of five and seven syllables, of indefinite length, closing with an additional seven-syllable line; often followed by one or more envoi tanka (hanka). 1 Notable ExampleKakinomoto no Hitomaro's choka in the Man'yoshu, Japan's oldest surviving poetry anthology. 1 Connections
Form Of Genre
Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
Influenced By
Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
Sources
1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
Princeton University Press
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.