Rhythmical Strategies in Shimazaki Toson's Wakana shu, and a Comparison with the Man'yoshu

Abstract

The seven-five rhythm of the poems in Shimazaki Toson's Wakana shu (Young Leaves; A Collection of Poetry, 1897) has been considered in recent years as a mere classical cadence from the pre-modern era. However, the audience at the time appreciated the poetical value of the phrasing for its capacity to offer variation and compact structure. Toson in fact consciously made efforts to create pleasurable cadences and to avoid monotony, and he searched for the right phrasing to convey complex ideas in a unified way. In addition to the seven-five rhythms, he learned from the Man'yoshu a number of techniques, such as omission of particles and auxiliary verbs, word formation, and couplets that pair mornings and evenings. Besides those features, he also made a number of creative efforts to express a sense of wonderment, and to fashion new metaphors to govern the poetic tone. The reason Toson relied especially on the Man'yoshu was because it was the only poetry collection that included a large number of long poems, and also because he found in them the expressions of people's unadulterated emotions.