Exercises: Yotsumono
hokku, wakiku, daisan and ageku
2010 revision

Comments

Yotsumono reflects some aspects of the Chinese Jueju which is believed to have influenced the emergence of linked verse in Japan.

Known in Japanese as the Zekku, this ancient verse form comprises four short phrases or verses. The first, kiku, gives the setting of the poem. The second, shokku, amplifies the head verse whilst the third, tenku, turns away from the opening pair, the resultant juxtaposition revealing the unstated essence of the poem. A resolution to the tension generated by this break-and-turn is provided by the fourth verse, kekku, which provides closure to the whole, a quality described as 'the determination' (ketsu).

Yotsumono equates these functions to those of hokku, wakiku, daisan and ageku. Unlike the Zekku, the Yotsumono is however dialogic, being written typically between an alternating pair of voices. It is also avowedly anti-thematic although, as is noted below, a skillfully written poem will seem otherwise.

There are no tonal or topical exclusions in the Yotsumono. The poem should be swift moving. All types of uniformity are to be avoided. It may follow the more formal contemporary renku conventions regarding the seasons and their associated fixed topics, or adopt the freer approach typical of the Junicho and Rokku. Alternatively a Yotsumono may embrace the concept of seasonless mukigo, or choose to disregard these concerns altogether. Where formal kigo are used, or other emblematic key words and topics such as haikmakura, these should not alternate, appearing either consecutively, or with a two verse separation i.e.in the first and last positions.

The Yotsumono requires the same absolute intolerance of uchikoshi no kirai (reversion to the last but one) that characterises the Rokku. This includes register, grammar and syntax as well as content. Further, Yotsumono extends these strictures to the relationship between hokku and ageku excepting those cases where ageku incorporates deliberate echoes of the hokku or wakiku for specific expressive purposes.

Whilst avoiding all contrivance and versification, great emphasis is placed on the poetics of utterance; the minor tropes which are automatically disbarred from much English-language haiku may be used sparingly. As with the Chinese and Japanese source poems, it is particularly important to achieve balanced and proportional cadences both within verses and between verses.

At no stage during the preparation or composition of a Yotsumono should participants discuss their aims, intentions or predispositions in respect of either the poem as a whole, the meaning of a particular verse, or the semantic aspects of inter-verse linkage. All critical analysis is to be welcomed. But in the case of the Yotsumono this should only ever occur after the poem has been completed, and the text signed off as definitive by the participants.

The purpose of this injunction is to ensure that the Yotsumono satisfies a minimum condition for renku: that it be non-thematic. It is an intriguing paradox of the form that a skillful determination, at ageku, will generate a post-facto semantic coherence across the span of the four verses that gives the impression of a conscious and preexisting purpose, of an ineluctability of flow.