Discussion

Poetry and Art

Poetry and art have both existed for thousands of years. The oldest known poem is the 4,000 year old Sumerian epic, Gilgamesh, which among other things has an account of the Biblical flood that predates the Old Testament. Paintings have been around far longer; at least as far back as the 44,000 year old cave paintings in the Maros-Pankep karst in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The combination of the two in a single composition, however, has been a more recent development.

An early Western example of poetry and art combined is in a book of poems by Robert Blake (1757 - 1827). The first phase of his Songs of Innocence and of Experience was published in 1789. The completed version came out in 1794. Each of the poems in the book was accompanied with lavish pictures painted by Blake himself. One of the pages is shown below.

The combination of poetry and art has long been around in Japan, too. One famous example that predates Blake's work is a hand scroll (e-maki) of cranes and calligraphy painted early in Edo Period (1603 - 1858) by the team of Tawaraya Sōtatsu (1570 – 1640) and Hon’ami Kōetsu (1558–1637). Sōtatsu, an early founder of the Rinpa school of art, did the painting with gold and silver and Kōetsu did the calligraphy. The scroll is an anthology of waka poetry from the Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry collection (1113), the most famous of whom was Kakinomoto Hitomaro (c.653–655 – c. 707–710).

Here are details of three segments of the scroll. The first is segment C.

Next is segment G

Last is segment M.

All 19 segments of the full scroll can be seen at this Kyōto National Museum (Links to an external site.)

web page. Read the scroll from right to left. The full scroll can be thought of being like an animated picture of a flock of cranes starting on the ground, taking off above the clouds, soaring over the ocean at one point, and finally alighting on the ground again.

Japanese Poetry

Waka poetry was mentioned above. The term refers to common forms of classical Japanese poetry. Certain rules apply to each form. The rules will be summarized below, but for comparison purposes, consider the Western sonnet.

The sonnet form seems to have been created by 13th century court poets and was brought to perfection by the Italian poet, Petrarch (1304 - 1374). One common rule about sonnets is that they all have 14 lines, and most are written in iambic pentameter (ten syllables per line divided into 5 feet, each foot consisting of two syllables with the emphasis on the second syllable). Within the 14 lines, variations may occur. The favorite organization used by Petrarch was to divide his sonnets into two sections; the first consisting of eight lines and the second of six lines. The last syllables of the first eight lines followed a abbaabba rhyming pattern. The next six lines varied between cdecde, cdccdc, or cdedce.

The Shakespearean sonnet is divided into three quatrains (4-line stanzas), and one couplet (2 rhyming lines). Its rhyming pattern is abab, cdcd, efef, and gg.

Japanese poetry isn't concerned with rhyming, but it is very much about the number of syllables per line. The primary thing that distinguishes one form of Japanese poetry from another is the number of syllables each line has. Tanka was for long the most common form of poetry. It had 5 lines of poetry with 5 syllables on the first line followed by 7 then 5 then 7 and then another 7-syllables; i.e. a 57577 pattern. Bussokusekika was like tanka poetry except that it had a sixth line of 7 syllables; i.e. 575777. The longest form of Japanese poetry was Chōka. It had an alternating 57 57 57 57 ... pattern for an arbitrary number of lines and always ended on a 7-syllable line. Numerous chōka appear prominently in Man'yōshū, Japan's oldest extant collection of waka poetry composed sometime after 759 AD. Sedōka had a 577 577 pattern and was often used for "dialogue poetry" or an exchange between lovers. There are several other types of classic Japanese poetry.

The popularity of these forms faded and the names gradually fell out of use. They were eventually all collectively referred to as waka, The name distinguishes Japanese poetry from Chinese poetry. (The Wa in waka was an early name for Japan.)

Haiku and Haiga

Early in the 17th century, a new form of poetry became popular, Renku or haikai no renga. It was a form of linked poetry. At renku gatherings, participating poets took turns providing alternating verses. The opening verse of renku (called hokku) evolved into haiku. Haiku has a 575 syllable pattern. Another distinguishing characteristic is that except for some early versions, all haiku makes some reference to the seasons (kigo), no matter how subtle. Haiku that doesn't follow the rules is called senryū. Haiku is still popular today and has taken hold as an accepted form of Western poetry, though the similarity between Japanese and Western haiku is pretty loose.

Matsuo Bashō (1644 - 1694) was the most famous poet of the Edo Period. He was widely recognized for his mastery of haikai no renga and has since been recognized as the world's greatest master of haiku. He wrote about 1,000 of them. The most famous collection of haiku in Japan is Bashō's The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

The 1693 painting below is from a hanging scroll painted by Morikawa Kyoriku (1656 - 1715). It depicts Bashō and a companion on pilgrimage.

The following painting of Bashō is by Katsushika Hokusai (1760 - 1849).

One of Bashō's most famous haiku is shown below.

You can feel that wind cutting right through you.

Frogs

Though there is no frog in my demonstration painting, but I provide a sketches of some in the next unit. Nonetheless, here is some information about frogs.

There are about 7,300 frog species around the world with the heaviest concentration being in tropical rainforests. Toads are part of the frog family; the distinction is informal and not part of the official taxonomy. Most frogs lay their eggs in water. When the eggs hatch, tadpoles emerge. Tadpoles have tails and internal gills. Eventually they lose their tails and emerge as adults. Some species lay their eggs on dry land and bypass the tadpole stage. Adult frogs live in fresh water and on dry land; some species are adapted for living underground or in trees.

Frogs vary considerably in size. The largest frog species is the Goliath frog of Africa that can be up to 13 inches across. The smallest frog can sit comfortably on your thumbnail with room to spare.

Some of the most colorful frogs can be the most deadly. Some exude oils on their skin that are highly toxic to humans.