Ritual, Aesthetics, and Handwriting

Collaborative Poetry in Contemporary Japan

2020–2023

FNT04

Part of manuscript culture in Japanese linked verse is the display of the selected verses *(ku no haridashi)* on paper strips or *tanzaku*. The ones depicted here are from a poetry session in Yamaguchi, 2018. Photo: Heidi Buck-Albulet.

Japanese linked poetry (renga) is an art that is practiced in groups. The poems emerge in a ritual setting, whereby the participants alternately contribute verses to what then results in a collective poetic work. The writing down of the verses is part of the ritual process of emergence, but additional copies might be made afterwards. Manuscripts also serve as votive offerings (hônô) at temples and shrines. Renga was practiced for more than seven hundred years – or even a millennium if we include its earliest forms. Japan’s modernization from the middle of the 19th century onwards interrupted the tradition, with probably one exception. In the 1980s, revival movements began to take shape and, resulting from their activities, renga is being practiced again all over Japan. The circles that have been formed in the course of these revival movements have not been studied yet, and neither have their written products. The aim of this project is to investigate this ‘invented tradition’ (which is always made transparent as such by its members), its practices and self-positioning against the background of the literary, material and performative aspects of the tradition. This seems especially rewarding, as it can be observed that in contemporary renga traditional, handwritten recording practices co-exist with the use of new communication media and technologies. The project explores the function of handwritten, printed and digital products in renga and thus contributes to our understanding of the persistent role of handwriting in a modern society.

People

Project lead: Jörg B. Quenzer

Research Associate: Heidi Buck-Albulet