SOURCE: Sato, Hiroaki. “From Format Composition of Tanka to the Creation of the Renga Form.” Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese 21, no. 2 (November 1987): 149-64.

In the following essay, Sato traces Teika's contribution to the tradition of composing long sequences of tanka (or waka) poetry, the forerunner of the later renga form.

In the following argument, the tanka, “short song,” is a 5/7/5/7/7/syllable poetic form, which came into being during the seventh century at the latest and has remained in use ever since. Early on it became the predominant verseform for court poets. English translators usually regard the tanka as a five-line poem because it consists of five syllabic units but Japanese poets and scholars take it to be a one-line poem.

The renga, “linked song,” is the group-oriented verseform which came into being as a result of the tendency of the tanka to break up into...