Database: Renga

The practice of renga had become popular by the end of the 14th century. Renga generally highlighted the aesthetics of the place, the seasons, and nature. Originally it was a game among aristocrats and ladies-in-waiting, or even highly cultured courtesans known as shirabyōshi. Yet, gradually, renga contests moved out of the narrow world of the court.

Many people knew the practice of renga; however, that does not mean everyone participated in these gatherings. Generally, creating a renga required a minimum of connivance with the other members of the assembly, but not always. An arbiter (himself a poet well-versed in the genre) validated, or not, the proposals made to continue the chain. A participant could prepare a waka poem (not a renga) in honor of the person organizing the ceremony, but it was better to improvise. It was both a ritual and a game. It was something oral, but very quickly the arbiters began to write down the results of these contests, and we have, as a result, collections of renga poems. The first of these collections was compiled by a court noble, Nijō Yoshimoto, in 1356.

In the 16th century cultured people, not only court nobles but also some lords or bourgeois (Rikyū was the son of a salt merchant), knew Chinese poetry and Japanese waka poetry and memorized certain poems. Renga, which by definition could be very long, may not have been memorized because renga are about 100 linked poems, with a record of 1000!

Poetry held a significant importance in ancient Japanese society. In fact, there is a form of improvisation in renga that made it a spontaneous poetic genre between the 14th and 16th centuries, although the rules quickly became overwhelming and eventually killed the genre.