Beginnings and Endings
the special characteristics of some verses
2010 revision

A renku sequence is constructed by alternating a long verse with a short verse, with a long, etc. The vast majority of renku sequences contain even numbers of stanzas. Sequences start with a long verse and therefore finish with a short verse. In Japanese the generic name for a long verse is chouku. A short verse is a tanku. These names are often used in English-language texts dealing with renku. The element 'ku' reoccurs in so many words as it means 'verse' or 'phrase'.

Elsewhere in Renku Reckoner the article An Overview of Link & Shift details how the basic generative mechanism of renku is considered to operate within any trio of consecutive verses. Unsurprisingly therefore generic names also exist for the constituent parts of such a trio: the added verse is the tsukeku; the preceding verse is the maeku; and the last-but-one or leap-over verse is the uchikoshi.

As well as these generic terms, specific names are also given to a number of verses which, because of their position in a sequence, display particular characteristics. In English-language texts these high profile verses have always been accorded their Japanese names.

The hokku is the first verse of a renku sequence; it is the font from which all else springs. The hokku is expected to mark the season in which composition takes place. Almost invariably it will treat a concrete subject; rather than being a work of pure imagination it will deal with some aspect of actuality in a manner similar to the principle of 'shasei' advanced by Masaoka Shiki.

In the historic literature the hokku frequently also codes a greeting to the assembled company, comments on the circumstances of composition, or expresses a hope for the outcome of the renku session itself. This practice is still followed in very formal composition, for instance where a poem is composed to mark a particular occasion, though such performative sentiments tend to be more indirectly expressed in contemporary work than in that of earlier periods.

Composition of the hokku is always considered an honour, one which traditionally would be reserved for the most practiced poet present or offered as a mark of respect to a noted guest. The pressure to 'perform' under such circumstances led to the convention that hokku candidates might in fact be composed before the event. Occasionally a hokku will be lifted from the prior work of an acknowledged master - normally of an earlier epoch - a practice called wakiokuri.

The hokku is generally written as a cut verse, employing the techniques of juxtaposition and combination known in Japanese as toriawase. This essentially bipartite structure is articulated or intensified by a cutting word (kireji). Even where the hokku is written as a single-topic verse, employing unified syntax, the intention is that is should be capable of appreciation as an entirely independent poem. In that it is potentially stand-alone, the hokku is therefore the direct precursor of the haiku, from which it is essentially indistinguishable.

In many types of renku sequence, notably the Kasen and associated patterns, the opening movement, the preface (jo), is subject to certain tonal and topical restrictions. However the status of the hokku is such that it is exempt from all prohibitions and may address any mood or material it wishes. So pre-eminent is the hokku that many schools of thought disbar any topic or key word present in the verse from repetition at any point later in the sequence.

Particularly in the context of longer or more traditional renku the relationship between hokku and wakiku is often compared to that of the upper and lower sections of a tanka (kami-no-ku, shimo-no-ku) where the two parts combine to yield a single stanza. Such sentiments are rather equivocal. Even where the relationship between hokku and wakiku is described in terms of a tan-renga the similarities should not be exaggerated. Both a tanka and a tan-renga 'resolve'; the function of the second section of either is to complete the poem. Wakiku, by contrast, offers close support to the hokku but it does not aim to provide any form of finality. It remains open to the possibility of a third verse.

In the historic literature, and in very formal contemporary circumstances, whilst the hokku is the preserve of the honoured guest, the wakiku is written by the person hosting the composition.

The word daisan means 'third topic'. Daisan is the third verse. Renku theorists point out that daisan is the first 'true' verse of a renku series in that it is the first which has both a preceding verse to which it must link (the wakiku) and a leap-over verse from which it must shift (the hokku). Any person unfamiliar with these concepts is advised to read the article 'An Overview of Link & Shift' elsewhere in Renku Reckoner.

Whereas hokku and wakiku might present as something of a single unit, the function of daisan is to 'break away'. It is here that the sequence begins to unfold. Linkage between daisan and wakiku will be more open than that between wakiku and hokku whilst tone, setting and narrative perspective can all be expected to differ markedly from the initial pair. The task facing the poet is to achieve a suitably tangential impetus without fracturing the sequence.

In Japanese renku prosody daisan is expected to end with a verb taking the 'te' conjugation or, less frequently, 'ran'. The former imparts an ongoing, unfinished, sense to the moment of the verse not dissimilar to the use of the present progressive in English. The latter casts the content as being both assumptive and conditional. Whilst it is far from clear that any such formal stipulation is desirable for English-language renku, it is certainly true that, whereas the wakiku offers a degree of closure, both sense and syntax of daisan are expected to open outwards - to be both germinal and unfinished, suggestive of multiple possibilities.

Like hokku and wakiku, daisan is considered a prestigious verse position, one for which those poets not already featured in hokku or wakiku might be expected to compete.

The closing verse of a renku sequence is the ageku, a name which implies not just an ending but also the fulfillment of anticipation; the sense therefore is not so much one of 'final' but rather that of 'finally' or 'at last'.

In classical renku the ageku always follows spring blossom and therefore takes the same season. However in recent variants spring blossom may be located elsewhere in a sequence, or be entirely absent, and ageku may take any season, or none.

Whatever the seasonal aspect, ageku may be expected to discharge a performative function similar to that of the more conventional type of hokku - but this time combining elements of salutation and augury for the future. Even where this performative subtext is absent, ageku is expected to generate a sense of summary and completion - not just in respect of the closing movement or section of the poem, but of the piece as a whole.

In order to have the freedom to meet these requirements the ageku is largely exempted from the more rigorous demands and conventions that condition both content and execution of other verses of the sequence. Indeed it is even possible for ageku to return to some aspect of the content and/or prosody of the hokku itself in order to generate suggestions of circularity or synchronicity - a practice which is otherwise generally condemned.

The composition of the ageku is, like that of the hokku, a special honour. The same poet would not be expected to figure in both, an exclusion which generally includes the wakiku, and, where there are more than three poets, may also extend to daisan.

The hokku is the first verse of a renku sequence and ageku is the last. But there are other beginnings and endings within most types of renku sequence.

The concept of 'movements' or 'sides' that characterises the majority of sequences is derived from the number of sheets of paper traditionally used to record a poem. The hundred verse Hyakuin of classical renga required four sheets, eight sides. The first and last sides needed space for head and footnotes, so fewer verses were recorded on them (8/14,14/14,14/14,14/8). Basho's radically shortened Kasen, at thirty six verses, required two sheets only (6/12,12/6).

Clearly the beginning or the ending of a side is a way-marker in any composition, and unsurprisingly there are particular names in Japanese for all the verses which start or conclude a face of a writing sheet. It is important to emphasise that these verse positions are not directly comparable to the hokku and ageku proper - verses on opposing sides of a writing sheet or movement boundary are considered essentially contiguous, the same considerations of cohesion and progression apply as if they were physically adjacent - nonetheless it would be very surprising indeed if poets did not tend to add overtones of 're-launch' to those verses which start a fresh side, or a countervailing shade of 'completion' to those which finish a side.

The particular compositional characteristics of hokku, wakiku, daisan and ageku are respected in most types of renku sequence, with the caveat that the social formalities regarding verse allocation outlined above are largely limited to ceremonial composition.

Very short renku sequences, notably the twelve verse Junicho, encourage a tendency to focus on hokku and ageku whilst paying less regard to wakiku and daisan - the tangential pressures, albeit mistakenly, generating a belief that every verse must be a 'break away' verse.

Yet whilst these facets of composition are a source of fascination as one becomes more adept at renku they pale into insignificance beside a consideration so fundamental that it cannot be stated too forcefully.

It has already been noted above that the hokku should be capable of appreciation as an entirely independent verse, that it is to all intents and purposes identical to the later haiku. Crucially though the hokku is the only stanza in a renku sequence which may usefully be considered as 'like a haiku'.

Whereas the hokku generates its resonance internally, typically through a bipartite structure, all other verses in a renku sequence generate their maximum effect due to their position in sequence. For this reason, whilst Japanese renku theory describes the hokku as tateku (stand alone) all other verses are referred to as hiraku (linear or horizontal). This does not mean that they must all employ unbroken syntax, or that they may never show a degree of internal 'turn'. But it does mean that intent and execution are always subordinate to context - an important distinction which is examined in more detail elsewhere on Renku Reckoner under the heading 'Cur or Uncut?'.

The creative tension that exists within a haiku is found between renku stanzas. No matter how expert or accomplished, the author who forgets this is likely to pen a verse that is haikurashii. The term means 'like a haiku'. It is not a compliment.