Waka is the genre of classical Japanese-language poetry that developed as the country's native counterpart to poetry written in Chinese, with its dominant tanka form built from thirty-one syllables arranged in five lines of 5-7-5-7-7. The earliest waka appear in the eighth-century Kojiki and Man'yoshu, and the genre was standardized by the Kokin Wakashu anthology presented to the emperor in 905; other early forms such as the longer choka and the sedoka gradually fell out of use as tanka became dominant through the Heian period. Waka addressed love, grief and other everyday subjects, and later gave rise to satirical offshoots such as kyoka, though its prestige declined during the Edo period from 1603 to 1867 before later revivals.
Facts
Place of Origin Notable ExampleThe Tales of Ise and The Tales of Yamato 1 Defining TraitClassical Japanese poetry, in its later and now standard sense a 31-syllable form in five lines of 5-7-5-7-7 1 In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Japan, originated there.
Sources
1. Waka (poetry) (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Wikipedia article Waka (poetry), Etymology section
the later, more common definition refers to poetry in a 5-7-5-7-7 metre.
Wikipedia article Waka (poetry), Choka section, early Heian tanka discussion
Famous examples of such works are the diaries of Ki no Tsurayuki and Izumi Shikibu, as well as such collections of poem tales as The Tales of Ise and The Tales of Yamato.
Wikipedia article Waka (poetry), lead paragraph
is a type of poetry in classical Japanese literature.
View the Source Frequently Asked Questions
What does the 5-7-5-7-7 pattern in waka mean?
Waka in its standard sense is a thirty-one syllable poem in five lines of 5-7-5-7-7.
In its later and now standard sense, waka refers to a poem of thirty-one syllables arranged in five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7 and 7 syllables. This form is called tanka, and it became dominant through the Heian period while longer forms such as the choka and the sedoka gradually fell out of use.
Which works are famous examples of waka literature?
The Tales of Ise and The Tales of Yamato are famous examples.
Famous examples include The Tales of Ise and The Tales of Yamato, collections of poem tales in which waka are set within short narratives. The genre was standardized by the Kokin Wakashu anthology presented to the emperor in 905.
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