Caterini :: Reading and Writing Poetry in the Style of Kokin Wakashu

Lesson Title: Reading and Writing Poetry in the Style of Kokin Wakashu – “Kokinshu”

Lesson Overview: Younger students are often introduced to Japanese poetry through the study of Haiku – a three-line, 17 syllable poem. The Kokinshu style is called waka and it is more complicated, using a 5-7-5-7-7 syllabication. The poems often include metaphor, personification or simile.

Waka also often have a two part grammatical structure. The beginning of the poem may be a question or a phrase; the last lines relate to or elaborate on the first phrase, or may answer the question posed in the first phrase.

Waka are often (but not always) about nature and the seasons. Therefore, ideally, this lesson could include a brief field trip to a park, a garden, or a similar outdoor location. In Washington Episcopal School the 8th graders go to an island in the Chesapeake Bay. Therefore, their poems will be based on that outdoor experience. However, such an extended field trip is not always feasible.

Grade Level/Content Focus: English classes grades 7-9

Time Period: Two or Three 45-minute periods

Standards: English Core Learning Goals – E-I and E-2

Objectives:

Students will read and analyze selected poems from the Kokinshu (an 11th century
Japanese poetry anthology.
Students will identify subject of each poem, its grammatical structure, the syllabication,
and any metaphor, simile or personification in the poem.
Students will write one poem in the Kokinshu style, using metaphor and the 5-7-5-7-7 syllabication as noted in selected poems.

Vocabulary:

Kokin Wakashu – an anthology of 1100 poems from the 12th century
Kokinshu – colloquial abbreviation of Kokin Wakashu
Waka – the form of poem most often found in Kokin Wakashu

Resources:

Books:
Laurel Rasplica Rokk; Mary Catherine Henkenius; Tsurayuki Ki, Princeton, N.J.; Princeton University Press, © l\1984. ISBN: 0691065934

F. Caterini – Washington Episcopal School – Kokinshu – page 1

Lesson Plan: Kokinshu

Student Worksheets: Samples of poems selected from the “Kokinshu” – attached

Background: This lesson plan was developed to focus students’ attention on the use of visual imagery through metaphor in poetry. Washington Episcopal School students take a 3-day trip to the Chesapeake Bay each fall, and they have always written poetry as a part
of that experience. However, this lesson will enable them to concentrate on one image or idea. In addition, they will have to work with language in order to follow the set pattern.

This lesson could also include a field trip to a park, a garden, or any suitable outdoor location. The objective is to have them observe nature and then express their ideas in poetry.

Lesson Development:

Motivation:Viewing of Japanese art projected from the Internet gallery.
Modeling: Analysis of Kokinshu poems
Guided Practice: class generation of metaphors
Independent Practice: Students make up own metaphors.
Assessment: Students write own poems
Closure – Poems are displayed in classroom or in hallways

Vocabulary:
personification, metaphor, simile
Review syllabication

Give students examples of each of these poetic devices. Ask them to come up with their own examples. Have them share these with the rest of the class. Then ask them to think of examples that have to do with nature: winter, spring, summer, the sun, the moon, the stars, the sea. Write these on the board.

Procedure:

Give out pages of poems from the Kokinshu.
Ask them to count the syllables in English.
Ask: Why don’t these syllables follow the pattern?
Then ask them to try to read the Japanese aloud. Do these syllables follow the pattern?
- It is clear that the Japanese does, even if we can’t pronounce it correctly.
Discuss the difficulties of translation.
- i.e. double meanings difficult to translate
- a stressed language is different from an unstressed language
- allusions to places, rivers, towns not easily understood

Analyze the poems:

What is the poetic device the writer uses? What comparisons are made?
What is the grammatical structure of each poem?
Ask them to think of their favorite season and then concentrate on one element of that season. I.e. winter – snow - then have them “brainstorm” possible examples of metaphor and simile that use personification.

Assignment:
Based on their observations of nature during the next class period when they take a walk, or as a homework assignment, or as a result of a field trip, students will write their own Kokinshu poems.

If possible, they will illustrate it with an original sketch or a photograph they have taken, or an illustration or photograph from a magazine.

Assessment:
Students will be assessed on the completed poem. Does it contain a metaphor? Does the grammatical structure make sense? Is it the correct syllabication?

Extensions: Ideally, the lesson should include a showing of Japanese season paintings from scrolls, screens, vases, boxes. These can be downloaded from the Internet and then projected on a white board if a computer projector is available. Even more effective, would be a visit to the Freer or Sakkler to introduce them to elements of Japanese art.

KKS III:139 SUMMER (BOWNAS80)

I smell the smell	SATSUKI MATSU
Of the orange-flowers	HANATACHIBANA NO
That wait till May to bloom.	KA WO KAGEBA
And I picture a friend's sleeve	MUKASHI NO HITO NO
A friend I knew so well.	SODE NO KA ZO SURU.

KKS VII:343 CONGRATULATION AND PRAISE(BOWNAS 80)

May our friend endure	KIMI GA YO GA
A thousand, eight thousand ages:	CHIYO NI YACHIYO NI
Till the smallest pebble grows	SAZARE ISHI NO
To a boulder etched with moss.	IWAO TO NARITE
	KOKE NO MUSU MADE.

KKS XVIII:933 MISCELLANEOUS (BOWNAS 80)

In this world is there	YO NO NAKA WA
One thing constant?	NANI KA TSUNE NARU
Yesterday's depths	ASUKAGAWA
In Asuka River	KINOO NO FUCHI ZO
Today are but shallows.	KYOO NO SE NI KKS

KKS V: 250 FALL (BUNYA YASUHIDE) (BOWNAS 85)

The grass and trees	KUSA MO KI MO
Change their colors;	IRO KAWAREDOMO
But to the wave-blooms	WATATSUMI NO
On the broad sea-plain	NAMI NO HANA NI ZO
There comes no autumn.	AKI NAKARIKERU.

KKS I: 42 SPRING (KI NO TSURAYUKI) (BOWNAS 82)

Now, I cannot tell	HITO WA ISA
What my old friend is thinking:	KOKORO MO SHIRAZU
But the petals of the plum	FURUSATO WA
In this place I used to know	HANA ZO MUKASHI NO
Keep their old fragrance.	KA NI NIOI KERU.

WINTER (KI NO TSURAYUKI) (BOWNAS 83)

When I went to visit	OMOIKANE
The girl I love so much	IMOGARI YUKEBA
The river blew so cold	FUYU NO YO NO
That winter night,	KAWAKAZE SAMUMI
That the plovers were crying.	CHIDORI NAKU NARI.

All translations contained in this section were drawn from the following two standard texts (see references for the section on The Tales of Ise:

Keene, Donald ed. Anthology of Japanese Literature
Bownas, Geoffrey et.al. The Penquin Book of Japanese Verse

by, F. Caterini – Washington Episcopal School