Topics & Themes

A Japanese woman composing waka poetry on a moonlit veranda

Waka: The 31-Syllable Poetry That Resonates with the Japanese Heart

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Waka, at the Heart of Japanese Poetic Tradition

In Japan, there are ancient anthologies of poetry, like the Man’yoshu, Kokin Wakashu, and Shin Kokin Wakashu, written nearly a thousand years ago.
Before we dive into these collections, it’s essential to understand what waka is, so let’s explore it by comparing it to the Western sonnet.

Waka might just be a foundational element of Japan’s high-context culture and communication.
Understanding it can help you better understand how Japanese people communicate.

Table of Contents

In Japan’s rich literary history, waka isn’t just a poetic form; it’s a mirror reflecting the spirit of the times and the human heart.
Just as Western poetry evolved from grand epics and dramas, with Shakespeare later capturing love, beauty, and impermanence in his sonnets, Japanese aristocrats entrusted their feelings and emotions to waka.
Both poetic forms share a creative impulse: to capture universal human emotions within a specific cultural framework.
The sonnet builds an introspective world within its strict 14-line structure, while waka condenses immeasurable depth and emotion into a short, 31-syllable form (5-7-5-7-7).
This comparison shows that waka is not just a classical genre but a universal art form that transcends time and space.

2. What Exactly is Waka?

Waka is a traditional Japanese poetic form consisting of 31 syllables, arranged in a 5-7-5-7-7 structure.
This is the most common form, often called tanka (“short poem”) today.
Historically, the term “waka” also included longer forms, but over time, it became synonymous with the 31-syllable tanka.

The term “waka” was created to differentiate it from Kanshi, or Chinese poetry, which was introduced to Japan.
This wasn’t just about classifying a poetic form; it was a conscious effort to establish a unique Japanese cultural identity by distinguishing literature written in the native Japanese language (yamato-uta) from Chinese culture.
Even in the Man’yoshu from the Nara period, the terms waka and washi appear, showing that Japanese writers were well aware of the uniqueness of their own language.

While waka is the classical term, the 5-7-5-7-7 form is often called tanka in modern times.
Modern tanka is less restrictive, allowing for the use of Chinese loanwords and foreign words, making it more expressive.
It’s important to understand waka as a classical term and tanka as the modern form of the 31-syllable poem.

3. Historical Context: A Universal Language of Love from the Imperial Court

The history of waka begins with the Man’yoshu, Japan’s oldest poetry collection (compiled between the late 7th and late 8th centuries).
This era featured various poetic forms and expressed raw, powerful emotions about nature, travel, and public ceremonies.
However, waka became a central part of court life during the Heian period (794-1185).

During this time, while Chinese poetry dominated official settings, a uniquely Japanese culture flourished.
Waka became an essential part of private aristocratic life, especially as a form of communication between lovers.
For Heian nobles, composing waka wasn’t just a hobby; it was a sophisticated way to write a “love letter,” a vital tool for expressing feelings, gratitude, or seasonal greetings.
The development of hiragana, a phonetic script simplified from Chinese characters, also helped waka’s popularity.
Hiragana was easier to write, making it the primary script for women to compose letters, stories, and waka.
This allowed for the delicate expression of personal feelings and was crucial to the rise of unique Japanese literary genres like The Tale of Genji and waka itself.

Key to waka’s history are the Imperial Anthologies.
The first of these, the Kokin Wakashu (905), compiled by Ki no Tsurayuki, standardized the form of waka and established an elegant, intellectual style that became the norm for centuries.
Later, the famous poet Fujiwara no Teika selected 100 masterpieces for the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each).
This anthology distilled the history of waka, showing that these poems were considered not just records, but timeless works of art.

Major Waka Anthologies

Anthology Name	Era of Compilation	Key Characteristics
Man’yoshu	Nara period (late 7th-late 8th century)	Japan’s oldest collection, including diverse forms. The style is rustic and powerful.
Kokin Wakashu	Heian period (905)	The first imperial anthology. Established an elegant style that became the standard for waka.
Ogura Hyakunin Isshu	Kamakura period	An anthology of 100 masterpieces selected by Fujiwara no Teika, preserving classical waka norms for future generations.

4. Themes and Aesthetics: Fleeting Beauty and Mono no Aware

The world of waka isn’t just about its form; it’s steeped in unique Japanese philosophical and aesthetic concepts. Its main theme is the depiction of the four seasons.
Scenes of nature like cherry blossoms in spring or autumn leaves aren’t just a backdrop; they’re a mirror reflecting human emotions.
The essence of waka is to express life’s joys, sorrows, and impermanence through the ever-changing natural world.

At the heart of waka is the concept of impermanence (mujokan). Rooted in Buddhist thought, this is the truth that everything is in constant flux and nothing lasts forever.
Waka embodies this through images of falling cherry blossoms or fading autumn leaves.
To truly appreciate the temporary nature of beauty and feel a deep emotional connection to its fragility is a core theme.

Closely tied to this is the aesthetic concept of “mono no aware.”
Discovered by the Edo period scholar Motoori Norinaga, it describes the profound, bittersweet emotion one feels when sensing the impermanence of things.
It’s not just “sadness,” but a broad range of feelings – joy, love, and nostalgia – that arise when we confront the fleeting nature of the world.
Waka is an art form that tries to capture these fleeting emotions within its 31 syllables, getting to the very essence of life.

Waka’s expression of love is also rooted in this aesthetic.
Heian aristocrats considered it rude to express emotions directly, so they used waka to convey feelings indirectly and allusively.
This unique Japanese language sensibility – where poets entrusted their feelings to natural objects or seasonal scenes, expecting the recipient to grasp their true meaning – is a key characteristic of waka.

Key Aesthetic Concepts in Waka

Aesthetic	English Translation	Role in Waka
Mono no aware	The pathos of things	A deep emotion felt in response to nature and life’s impermanence. A human and aesthetic reaction to the truth of impermanence.
Mujokan	Sense of impermanence	A Buddhist worldview where all things are in flux. The root of waka’s appreciation for fleeting beauty.

5. A Dialogue with Western Poetry

Comparing waka to Western poetry helps us understand its unique aesthetics.
Take a Shakespearean sonnet: its 14-line structure, strict meter (iambic pentameter), and rhyme scheme allow for a narrative and logical progression, often using vivid metaphors to clearly express emotion.
While the sonnet values logic and narrative, waka’s aesthetic is one of allusion and intuition.

Waka condenses the core of an emotion into its very short form, leaving the reader with a profound sense of lingering feeling and room for imagination.
While Western poetry often uses an explicit metaphor – “love is like a storm” – waka simply describes the storm itself, letting its intensity, instability, and eventual calm convey the emotion without a direct statement.
This aligns with the preface of the Kokin Wakashu, which states that waka “expresses the feelings of the heart through things seen and heard.”

Waka expresses mono no aware by superimposing emotions onto natural scenes.
Here, nature isn’t just a metaphor; it’s a vessel for emotion itself.
Waka offers a blend of human perception and the physical world, inviting the reader to connect with their own experiences.

Waka vs. Sonnet

Characteristic	Waka	Sonnet
Form	31 syllables (5-7-5-7-7)	14 lines with a rhyme scheme
Main Aesthetic	Allusion, brevity, intuition	Meter, narrative, logic
Relationship with Nature	Heart and nature are directly connected; emotion is embedded in nature.	Nature is often used as a metaphor or allegory.
Expression of Emotion	Indirect and suggestive.	Explicit and narrative.

6. A Famous Waka and the Art of Translation

The beauty of waka is best understood through its specific works.
Let’s look at a famous poem by Ono no Komachi and its translation to see the intricacy and challenge of capturing its meaning.

Ono no Komachi’s Waka (from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu)

Hana no iro wa / Utsurinikeri na / Itazura ni / Waga mi yo ni furu / Nagame seshi ma ni

This poem has two layers of meaning.
The first is about the beauty of the cherry blossoms fading away in vain.
The second is about the poet’s own beauty, which has also faded away in vain while she was lost in love and thought.
This is made possible by a pivot word (kakekotoba), where “furu” means both “to fall” (like rain) and “to pass” (like time), and “nagame” means both “long rain” and “gazing” or “being lost in thought.”

Attempts at English Translation

A literal translation attempts to stay faithful to the original words:

“The flower’s hue has faded away / While senselessly / My body passes through the world / While I gazed at the long rain.”

This translation struggles to capture the dual meanings of the pivot words.

An interpretive translation, however, focuses on conveying the deeper emotion and dual meaning:

“I have loved in vain, and now my beauty fades / like these cherry blossoms paling in the long rains of spring / that I gaze upon alone.”

This version clearly connects the fading of the cherry blossoms to the fading of the poet’s own beauty, using a different rhetorical approach to capture the essence of the original poem.
These translation attempts show how delicate and culturally specific the nuances of waka are.

7. Waka in Modern Times

Waka isn’t a relic of the past. It continues to thrive in its modern form, tanka, and is beloved by many.
A prominent example is the Imperial New Year’s Poetry Reading, an annual ceremony where the Emperor presides over the reading of tanka submitted by the public, showing how this classical form endures as a national event.

However, modern tanka has also evolved in a more popular, liberal direction.
The emergence of poets like Machi Tawara, whose collection Salad Anniversary brought colloquial language into tanka, has made it a more accessible art form.
Today’s poets write about social struggles, daily joys, and humor, reaching a new generation of readers.

Intriguingly, tanka has found a perfect home on modern media like Twitter (now X). The character limit of social media platforms has a surprising affinity with the 5-7-5-7-7 structure.
This digital environment has turned waka, once an aristocratic art, into a modern form of short-form poetry that anyone can participate in.
The increasing number of young people submitting poems to tanka contests is a clear sign that this tradition isn’t just nostalgia; it’s deeply connected to contemporary sensibilities.

8. How to Appreciate Waka

You can do more than just read waka to appreciate its beauty.
You can immerse yourself in its world to gain a deeper understanding.

1. Visit the historical locations
Visiting the places where waka were written can be an amazing experience.
In Kyoto, the Sagano-Arashiyama Museum of Culture is dedicated to the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu and even has 100 poem stones in a nearby park.
You can also visit Wakayama’s “Waka no Ura” (Waka Bay), a scenic spot loved by Man’yoshu poets, and experience the same landscape that inspired them centuries ago.

2. Try composing your own
The best way to understand waka is to write one yourself.
Composing a 31-syllable poem about your own feelings is the first step to a deeper appreciation.
It can also be a fun challenge to try this in English. You can also try translating or rewriting a classic waka in your own words.

3. Feel the seasons in your daily life
At its core, waka is about a sensitive connection to nature’s changes.
Simply paying attention to the seasons or a fleeting moment that catches your eye – the color of the sky after the rain, the sound of leaves rustling in the wind, a beautiful sunset – can cultivate the same sensibility as the ancient poets.

9. Conclusion: Waka, a Mirror to the Japanese Heart

Waka is more than a literary form. It’s a testament to Japan’s cultural identity, a distinct art form created in response to Chinese poetic tradition.
Its brief, 31-syllable structure nurtured a unique aesthetic: a sense of impermanence and a deep appreciation for the fleeting beauty of life, known as mono no aware.

This art form connects nature and the human heart directly, without relying on explicit metaphor or narrative, leaving the reader with a powerful, lingering impression.
Waka has evolved over centuries and continues to live on as modern tanka, blossoming on the digital soil of social media.

Waka is a mirror to the Japanese heart, a living cultural heritage that connects nature, people, and the past with the present.
To experience it is to glimpse the feelings of people from over a thousand years ago and to confront your own heart.

So, what kind of waka would you compose?