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Contents
Editorial ............................................................................ Shisan: Mercilessly Crushed / ............................. A solo shisan by Sosui (Nobuyuki Yuasa) Essay: Bashs Cricket Sequence as English Literature by Chris Drake ....................................................................... Kasen: five 36-verse poems ............................................... Essay: Early Haikai Linked Verse by H. Mack Horton Publisher Darlington Richards South Africa and Ireland www.darlingtonrichards.com Editors Moira Richards Norman Darlington Design and layout Norman Darlington Moira Richards Interior artwork Mark Windsor (pages 6 and 66) To purchase further copies, go to www.darlingtonrichards.com/jrr Printed on three continents using print-on-demand technology Address all correspondence to rengarenku@gmail.com ISSN 22205691 Triparshva: three 22-verse poems .................................... Essay: Humor with Heart: Comic linked verse and the ushin tradition by Jeremy Robinson .......................................... Imachi: two 18-verse poems ............................................. Essay: Competing Demands: Critical approaches to communality, aesthetics, and competition in medieval linked verse gatherings by Molly Vallor ......................................... Essay: On Backlink: Seizing the renku moment by John E. Carley ................................................................................. Nijin: two 20-verse poems .............................................. Essay: Minimum Conditions for a piece of linked verse to qualify as Renku by John E. Carley .................................. Jnich: three 12-verse poems ......................................... Essay: Kyka Match Along the Tkaid: A Translation of Ueda Akinaris Kaid kyka awase with Critical Introduction by Dylan McGee .......................................... Essay: Renga and Renshi: Linked Poems, Linked Traditions by Charles Tomlinson ..................................................... Renshi: Departing Swallows (extract) ................................. Essay: Renshi: Writing without a centre. A translator's note to the 2010 Kumamoto renshi session by Jeffrey Angles ........ Renshi: Connecting through the Voice: The Kumamoto renshi Results of the 2011 Journal of Renga & Renku Shisan Contest with commentary from the judge, Eiko Yachimoto ................................................................ Shisan: 28 twelve-verse poems .......................................... including the winners of the 2011 JRR Shisan contest, the runners-up, and four poems deserving Honorable Mention Essay: Shisan the Anatomy of a Renku Sequence by John E. Carley ............................................................................ Shisan: The Dolphin Circles ................................................... Book Notes: Renga: A chain of poems, Saints of Hysteria: A Half-Century of Collaborative American Poetry, Crossing State Lines: An American Renga ......................................... Bibliography of renga and renku .................................... The JRR Crossword .......................................................... Contributors and Acknowledgements ........................
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JRR2

February 2012

| Journal of Renga & Renku Editorial

The second issue of Journal of Renga & Renku and weve had trouble keeping it to a manageable size. At 267 pages its more than 50% bigger than JRR1, despite us holding a few pieces over for the next issue. We hope youll savour the many hours of reading, poetry and learning from our contributors as did we were very grateful for all the offers of content we receive; the publication depends on the generosity of our contributors. A BIG thank you, all! JRR2 goes to press at the same time Japan marks the first anniversary of its tragic 2011 tsunami and earthquake and, in solidarity, we open the issue with Nobuyuki Yuasas moving commemorative shisan composed in Japanese and English. The next sixty pages are an extensively annotated translation of a Bash school kasen. Chris Drakes as English Literature approach proves the accomplished translators assertion that Reading and dialoging with [Bashs] poems is an intensely physical as well as mental experience. Set aside a couple of hours to truly immerse yourself in Dr Drakes trip into the past. Were very happy Mack Horton, professor of Premodern Japanese Literature & Culture, was able to follow his JRR1 introduction to haikai with a second essay. Here, he traces the genres pre-Bash (Sengoku period) roots and shares some occasionally rather racy examples. Further on, assistant professor of Japanese language and literature at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, Jeremy Robinson, discusses the extent to which the success of haikai derives from spontaneity, wit and the pleasure of recognition. And Molly Vallor, PhD candidate in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Stanford University, explores that most fraught, most rewarding aspect of writing renku balancing the competing demands of communality and poetic dexterity. Another JRR1 contributor, John Carley, returns with two short and as always, pithy nuts n bolts pieces on the composition of renku poems. Later in the issue youll find him in way more expansive mode with his very useful annotated explication of a shisan led by Eiko Yachimoto in 2002. Although not strictly renku, Dylan McGee, who teaches early modern Japanese literature and culture at Nagoya University in Japan, was easily able to convince us of the charm of his translation of a 200-yearold kasen sequence of kyka stanzas. They are indeed, as he avers, evocative depictions of famous sites along the major road between Kyoto and Edo, its representations of the joys and hardships of travel and provocative instances of wordplay. We thought to spend a little more time exploring not-quite-renga/renku and were able to acquire reprint rights to a piece in which Charles Tomlinson reflects on his now-famous 1969 collaboration with Octavio Paz. Jeffrey Angles is associate professor of Japanese and translation at Western Michigan University and we negotiated rights too, to reprint some renshi work hes done with poets in Japan.

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February 2012

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The essays are interleaved with poetry, and weve included contemporary work in all the most popular forms, including the little-known imachi which is fast becoming a favourite with some poets. Weve poems written in a selection of languages too Italian, German, Russian, French and Dutch. And, of course, weve a huge batch of shisan selected mainly from entries to the 2011 JRR shisan contest and what an overwhelming response there was to that! Fifty-two shisan that Eiko Yachimoto1 lived with for weeks before delivering her very engaged and comprehensive appreciation of the work. Thank you again, Eiko! A few book notes, a listing of more than 100 renga- and renku-related articles and books to add to the bibliography of 70+ items we compiled for JRR1, Normans renku crossword puzzle (answers on the Darlington Richards website) and last, but by no means least, introductions to those who contributed to the second issue of Journal of Renga & Renku. Again, our Journal would have very little between the covers were it not for you all and we are deeply appreciative of your support. Happy reading! Moira Richards Norman Darlington

Eiko requests us to announce:

Wind Arrow 2: Shisan Anthology can be purchased from bottle rockets press (bottlerocketspress.com US$10 plus postage). The publisher, AIR (Association for International Renku), donates a portion of proceeds to Japan's tsunami victims. JRR2 February 2012