- Kakyō Hyōshiki
is a text on Japanese poetics written by
Fujiwara no Hamanari . One volume in length, it "is the oldest extant piece of poetic criticism in the Japanese canon"Rabinovitch, page 471] .Development
The text was commissioned by
Emperor Kōnin and completed in772 .Title
The common title today is "Kakyō Hyōshiki" and is in reference to Chinese Book of Songs (Japanese "Shikyō"). However, chronologically the name does not fit, and some manuscripts do not include this title at all. Alternative titles include nihongo|"Uta no Shiki"|歌式|, which is likely to have been the original title, as well as nihongo|Hamanari Shiki|浜成式| based on the compiler's name.
Contents
The main focus of the text is an attempt to apply phonetic rules of
Chinese poetry toJapanese poetry . As the two languages are fundamentally different, the application is forced and unnatural.The text defines seven types of nihongo|"kahei"|歌病|, literally "poetic sicknesses" which are rhetoric faults that should be avoided when composing poetry.
*nihongo|"tōbi"|頭尾|: the last character of the first and last verses are the same
*nihongo|"kyōbi"|胸尾|: the last character of the first verse is the same as the third or sixth character of the second verse
*nihongo|"yōbi"|腰尾|: the last character of the other verses is homophonous with the last character of the third verse
*nihongo|"enshi"|黶子|: the last character of the the third verse is used in the other verses
*nihongo|"yūfū"|遊風|: the second and final syllables in a single verse are the same
*nihongo|"dōseiin"|同声韻|: the final character of the third and fifth verses are the same
*nihongo|"henshin"|偏身|: with the exception of the final syllable of the third verse, when two or more homophones are used consecuativelyThe text also defines three types of poetic forms:
*nihongo|"kyūin"|求韻|: chōka and tanka
*nihongo|"satai"|査体|: irregular
*nihongo|zattei"|雑体|: mixedHamanari quotes 34 poems to illustrate the above points. Many of these poems are not found in poetry collections of the time such as
Man'yōshū . These poems are quite valuable to historical linguists as they are written inMan'yōgana , a script which preserves a historical phonological distinction known asJōdai Tokushu Kanazukai that was soon lost afterwards.Notes
References
* cite book
last = Kubota
first = Jun
title = Iwanami Nihon Koten Bungaku Jiten
publisher = Iwanami Shoten
date = 2007
location =
pages =
language = Japanese
id = ISBN 978-4-00-080310-6
* cite book
last = Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten Henshū Iinkai
title = Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten
publisher = Iwanami Shoten
date = 1986
location =
pages =
language = Japanese
id = ISBN 4-00-080067-1
* cite journal
last = Rabinovitch
first = Judith
year = 1991
month = December
title = Wasp Waists and Monkey Tails: A Study and Translation of Hamanari's Uta no Shiki (The Code of Poetry, 772), Also Known as Kakyō Hyōshiki (A Formulary for Verse Based on The Canons of Poetry)
journal = Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
volume = 51
issue = 2
pages = 471–560
language = English
doi = 10.2307/2719287
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