, or,[1] is a Japanese form of popular collaborative linked verse poetry. It is a development of the older Japanese poetic tradition of ushin renga, or orthodox collaborative linked verse. At renku gatherings participating poets take turns providing alternating verses of 17 and 14 morae. Initially haikai no renga distinguished itself through vulgarity and coarseness of wit, before growing into a legitimate artistic tradition, and eventually giving birth to the haiku form of Japanese poetry. The term renku gained currency after 1904, when Kyoshi Takahama started to use it.
The oldest known collection of haikai linked verse appears in the first imperial anthology of renga, the Tsukubashū (1356–57).[2]
Traditional renga was a group activity in which each participant displayed his wit by spontaneously composing a verse in response to the verse that came before; the more interesting the relationship between the two verses the more impressive the poet’s ability. The links between verses could range from vulgar to artistic, but as renga was taken up by skilled poets and developed into a set form, the vulgarity of its early days came to be ignored.
Haikai no renga, in response to the stale set forms that preceded it, embraced this vulgar attitude and was typified by contempt for traditional poetic and cultural ideas, and by the rough, uncultured language that it used. The haikai spirit, as it came to be called, embraced the natural humor that came from the combination of disparate elements. To that end haikai poets would often combine elements of traditional poems with new ones they created. A well-known example of this early attitude is the opening couplet, possibly by Yamazaki Sōkan (1464–1552), from his Inutsukubashū (犬筑波集, "Mongrel Renga Collection").
He was given the following prompt:
to which he responded:
This poem clearly derives its humor from shock value. Never before in recorded Japanese culture had anyone dared to talk of the goddess of spring in such a manner.[3] Taking an ostensibly traditional and poetic prompt and injecting vulgar humor while maintaining the connection of the damp hems and the spring mists was exactly the sort of thing that early haikai poets were known for.
A comparable, though less evolved, tradition of 'linked verse' (lián jù, written with the same characters as 'renku') evolved in Qin-dynasty China,[4] and it has been argued that this Chinese form influenced Japanese renga during its formative period.[5]
Below is a list of the formats most commonly used in writing renku
| Name of format | Number of stanzas | Number of kaishi (writing sheets) | Number of sides | Originator | Date of origin | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kasen (poetic geniuses) | 36 | 2 | 4 | unknown | 1423 | |
| Han-kasen (half-kasen) | 18 | 1 | 2 | unknown | 17th century |