Imachi

Waiting for the Moon

Shunjin and Seijo Okamoto

 

There are no formal divisions in the Imachi
hokku au au [mn] sp sp [bl] su [mn] wi
wakiku au [mn] au [mn] sp [bl] sp [bl] su [mn] wi
daisan au [mn] au sp [bl] sp ns ns
4 short ns ns ns ns ns ns
5 long ns ns ns ns ns au
6 short ns suwi ns wi sp au [mn]
7 long su suwi lv wisu [mn] ns sp bl au [mn]
8 short su lv ns lv wisu [mn] ns sp ns
9 long ns lv ns lv ns ns ns ns lv
10 short ns ns ns lv au ns lv ns lv
11 long sp wisu ns lv au mn ns lv ns lv
12 short sp [bl] wisu mn suwi lv au wi lv su
13 long sp [bl] ns suwi ns wi su mn
14 short ns ns ns ns lv ns ns
15 long ns ns ns ns lv ns ns
16 short wins sp au su lv au sp
17 long wimn sp bl au mn su au mn sp bl
ageku nswi sp au ns au sp

 

Notes

The Imachi is a single sheet poem; there is no formal jo-ha-kyu movement although the poem should exhibit a varying dynamic.

Hokku, wakiku, daisan and ageku are treated in a conventional manner although the performative functions of hokku and wakiku may be absent, and a non-season ageku is possible.

Moon and blossom appear in association with their traditional season - autumn and spring respectively. Moon also generally appears a second time in association with winter or summer. With appropriate rebalancing this second moon verse may be omitted.

Two or Three love verses appear en bloc generally in the central region of the poem. Where there are three love verses they may reflect the convention that the first is call-for-love (koi no yobidashi) and the last end-of-love (koi banare).

wins - the default choice is winter, where non-season is chosen ageku will be winter.
nswi - the default choice is non-season, ageku will only be winter if #16 is non-season.
suwi - adjacent pairs take the same season - whichever pair is selected first the alternate pair will be selected later in the poem.
wisu - adjacent pairs take the same season - whichever pair is selected first the alternate pair will be selected later in the poem.


ns - non season position.
bl - blossom position.
[bl] - blossom position, the choice is either/or of an adjacent pair.
mn - moon position.
[mn] - moon position, the choice is either/or of an adjacent pair.
lv - love position (approximate) - love verses appear en bloc