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Concept
Waka (poetry)
Summary
Waka is a type of poetry in classical Japanese literature. Although waka in modern Japanese is written as 和歌, in the past it was also written as 倭歌 (see Wa, an old name for Japan), and a variant name is yamato-uta.
The word waka has two different but related meanings: the original meaning was "poetry in Japanese" and encompassed several genres such as chōka and sedōka (discussed below); the later, more common definition refers to poetry in a 5-7-5-7-7 metre. Up to and during the compilation of the Man'yōshū in the eighth century, the word waka was a general term for poetry composed in Japanese, and included several genres such as tanka, chōka, bussokusekika and sedōka. However, by the time of the Kokinshūs compilation at the beginning of the tenth century, all of these forms except for the tanka and chōka had effectively gone extinct, and chōka had significantly diminished in prominence. As a result, the word waka became effectively synonymous with tanka, and the word tanka fell out of use until it was revived at the end of the nineteenth century (see Tanka).
Tanka (hereafter referred to as waka) consist of five lines of 5-7-5-7-7 on or syllabic units. Therefore, tanka is sometimes called Misohitomoji, meaning it contains 31 syllables in total.
The term waka originally encompassed a number of differing forms, principally tanka and chōka, but also including bussokusekika, sedōka and katauta. These last three forms, however, fell into disuse at the beginning of the Heian period, and chōka vanished soon afterwards. Thus, the term waka came in time to refer only to tanka.
Chōka''' consist of 5-7 on phrases repeated at least twice, and conclude with a 5-7-7 ending
The briefest chōka documented is Man'yōshū no. 802, which is of a pattern 5-7 5-7 5-7 5-7-7. It was composed by Yamanoue no Okura in the Nara period and runs:
The chōka above is followed by an envoi in tanka form, also written by Okura:
[English translation by Edwin Cranston]
In the early Heian period (at the beginning of the 10th century), chōka was seldom written and tanka became the main form of waka.
Official source
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