Origins of Japanese archaic poetry: Japanese long song (nagauta / chōka)

Abstract

The presented article is devoted, on the one hand, to the general problem of the literary process in an archaic society on the example of the genesis of waka poetry; on the other hand, it directly refers to the archaism of the so-called long song (nagauta or chōka). The article raises the question of the transformation of that pre-aesthetic primitive song into archaic poetry. Describing the possible ways of genesis of the primitive song, the author, agreeing with the principle of accumulation of poetic lines, proposed by Bowra-Konishi, notes the need for a deeper comprehension of the Archaic period of Japanese (Yamato) literature. Stating the necessity to distinguish a primitive song from an archaic one, the author operates with the concept of a developed “aesthetic feeling” as a necessary criterion for the transformation of the primitive song, based on parallelism. Unlike primitive poetry, which performed merely the utilitarian function, archaic poetry started to meet not only ritual, but also aesthetic needs of an ancient human. In addition, the article examines the role of writing as a necessary condition for the death of primitive song and the formation of the canon. In addition, the text presents a critical characteristic of the main body of archaic poetry, including long songs, which are relatively few in number. Based on a sample analysis of the presented texts (poetic fragments from Kojiki, Nihonshoki, long songs from Man’yōshū and Naniwaza-uta from mokkan tablets), the author provides a classification-periodization of the genesis of the archaic form of nagauta/chōka (a narrative chronicle speech-stressing long song, a non-narrative non-epic long song, and a long song created by a specific author and having a developed system of imagery. Emphasizing the chronicles’ long song, its structural heterogeneity, the author builds a hypothesis of its genesis opposite to the accumulative principle of Bowra-Konishi, consisting in the principle of reductionism from the long epic form of a primitive song. The limit of this reduction is justified by the aesthetic “capacity” of the poetic form in the transitional period of the non-written method of versification. Keywords: nagauta (long song), archaic poetry, non-book culture, literary canon, reductionism, literary process.

Keywords

• nagauta (long song)
• archaic poetry
• non-book culture
• literary canon
• reductionism
• literary process