Japanese and Western Literature. Armando Martins Janeira

of its development and its widely consecrated technique it is the one that has less deepened the movements of the heart, and explored less the fields of human destiny. As Michel Revon put it, Japanese poetry has more finesse than inspiration.

      Japanese poetry, which expresses through a very limited range of notes the feelings of the heart and the pleasures of the spirit in the pure contemplation of natural beauty, seems perhaps too sky and self-contained to a foreigner accustomed to the vast flights of thought of great Western poets. The self-imposed formulas of the tanka, a form of 31 syllables, and. haiku, with 17, of course cannot allow the range of poetic eloquence necessary to express the raptures, the indignations, the fertile rebellions of the spirit. This explains the fundamental tone of Japanese poetry—a delicate serenity, a refined spiritual sadness, a quintessence of the deep feeling of communion of man with nature.

      The shortness of the poem has, in addition, the disadvantage that its creation is too easy for bad poets; therefore, there is the danger of seeing it debased to becoming the routine of a literary school or a mere technical exercise. This happened, in China with a concentrated form, tz'u, which, though longer than tanka, obeyed strict rules precisely establishing the number of lines of the poem, the number, length, and distribution of tones in each verse.

      Tanka, a form of waka, appeared very early in Japanese poetry. The Manyoshu consists of a collection of 4,516 poems, all tanka with the exception of 262 longer poems known as choka. The choka, or long narrative poem, never exceeded 150 lines, and was not continued after the eighth century.

      THE CLASSIC ANTHOLOGIES

      In the Manyoshu we see how soon Japanese poetry reached maturity, creating forms which have prevailed since then. The predominant lyric tone, the genuine simplicity, the atmosphere of peace and melancholy, the concentration, the subtle delicate suggestion, and the highly polished phrase remain as permanent qualities. That is why the Nara period is considered by Japanese to be the golden age of poetry. "Never since has the native muse been so delicate in sentiment, refined in language, or displayed such exquisite skill in phrasing and composition."

      Among the 450 poets of the Manyoshu, of which 70 are women, there are people of all classes, from emperors to beggars; this contributes to its fresh spontaneity and poetic sincerity, unmatched in Western mediaeval anthologies. The poetry or me Manyoshu is great poetry.

      A collection of ancient Japanese songs, collectively known as Nihon Jodai Kayo, has recently been translated into English by Donald Philipi. It includes 313 poems or songs; the majority were probably sung and handed down until the time they were put into writing. Philipi's translation is entitled This Wine of Peace, This Wine of Laughter. They belong to the pre-Nara and Nara period (710-794) and some of them were contemporary with the Manyoshu; they were selected from a number of other sources, mainly from the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters) and from the Nihongi (Chronicles of Ancient Japan). These ancient songs have a charming simplicity, the freshness and perfume of wild flowers.

      After the Manyoshu, poets began to give more attention to form, and decadence was the result. The official prestige of poetry continued the same, nevertheless, and twenty-one anthologies were made by imperial command between the tenth and the fifteenth centuries. The first of the anthologies, the Kokinshu (Collection of Poems, Ancient and Modern), was compiled about 905 by Ki no Tsurayuki—one of the principal poets of anthology. The Kokinshu has 1,111 poems, only 5 of which have more than 31 syllables. Many of these poems were composed in court poetry tournaments, like those of some European anthologies. The use of words is most elaborate; technique is much improved, but there is nothing of the spontaneity and vigour of the Manyoshu. Japanese poetry, bent towards aestheticism, had taken the progressively sterile path of concentration in form. This tendency towards decadence is accentuated in the Shin Kokinshu (New Kokinshu), published at the beginning of the thirteenth century, the last of the three classic anthologies most esteemed by the Japanese.

      Besides the official anthologies, there were private compilations called kashu made within certain families. Teika Fujiwara (1162-1241) produced a collection of eighty-three poems collected over a period of five centuries called Kindai Shuka (Superior Poems of Our Time). The most famous of all private anthologies is the Ogura Hyaku-nin-isshu (One Hundred Poems from One Hundred Poets), organized in the first half of the thirteenth century, perhaps by Teika Fujiwara also. It has the peculiarity of containing poems following a chronological order, rather than the system of classification by topics adopted in the official anthologies; it includes poems from the seventh century until the time it was published. Indeed, the existence of these anthologies indicates the volume of rich Japanese poetry and its social importance.

      Tanka was the dominating poetic form for centuries. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, with the rising of a wealthy middle class, new poetic liberties were required in form and in subject, A new form appeared, the haikai, consisting of 36, 50, or 100 lines. The first verse, hokku, became independent later, and was called haiku. This short poem of 17 syllables continues to be the favourite form of Japanese people today.

      Basho, in the seventeenth century, brought the haiku form to perfection. With the creation of this new form poetic expression became still briefer, more dependent on the powers of concentration and suggestion; technically, it requires greater skill. Basho wrote that "he who creates three to five haiku poems during a lifetime is a haiku poet. He who can create ten is a master."

      Tetsujiro Inoue has rebelled against the constraint of the traditional forms: "Tanka, in form and content, is incapable of satisfying today's aspirations. The poets who are still attached to tanka and to the other old forms waste their energy in putting into words old fashion ideas; by nature these old forms belong to the past and are no longer good for our time.

      There are modern poets, though, that maintain the old devotion for the traditional forms. Santei (Masao Kume) writes: "Often I wonder why I did not spend my whole life as an artist, as a pure haiku poet. In regard to a unity in life, art, and mental attitude, there is no other artist for whom it is so harmonized as for the haiku poet."¹

      THE CONCEPT OF POETRY

      The concept of poetry that we can find in the classic forms could correspond in a general way to the one expressed by Ki no Tsurayuki (884-946) in the preface of the Kokinshu:

      Japanese poetry has its roots in the human heart and flourishes in countless thoughts. As people in the world are interested in so many kinds of things, it is in poetic words that they shape the meditations of their hearts on what they see and they hear. Who shall not be touched hearing the warbler sing among the blossoms and the frog in his water dwelling? It is poetry which moves heaven and earth, moves god and devils to pity, softens man and woman, consoles the hearts of fierce warriors.

      About the subjects fit for poetry, Tsurayuki writes:

      Pleasure livens the spirit of the poet; joy overflows his heart. He compares his love to the rising smoke of Mount Fuji; he remembers a friend when he hears an autumn insect chirp; he makes companions of the pine trees of Takasaeo and Suminoe; he is reminded of the old days of Otoko-yama, and consoles himself by composing verses even when dejected. He sees the blossoms scatter in a spring morning and hears the leaves fall in an autumn evening. He looks in the mirror and is sad he is growing old, and considers the inconstancy of life at the sight of dew in the grass and of foam on the water. He was prosperous yesterday, and today is poor; he feels abandoned in the world; his mends leave mm. He pledges his love swearing to god, meets clandestinely, passes a sleepless night, and is peevish in the morning. Sometimes he will confide his grief and feel indignation; he hears smoke rises no more from Mount Fuji and that old Nagae bridge is newly spanned. Then he feels relieved by betaking himself to poetry.

      Lyricism animated by the pleasure of contemplating the beauty of nature, the joys and sorrows of love, parting and death, and the melancholy towards the passing of time are the main subjects of Japanese classic poetry. The tone is nearly always emotional, and melancholy is its prominent note. There are few exceptions which reach the plane of intellectual or moral reflexion, as happens often with the great Chinese poets.

      In the anthology Kindai Shuka, we can see that the main emphasis is on life's sadness. In the curious preface, the author, Teika Fujiwara, writes the following about Tsurayuki, his predecessor:

      Tsurayuki,