10 Japanese Poetic Forms
There’s more to Japanese poetry than haiku and tanka. Learn 10 Japanese poetic forms, how to write them, and examples from this post by Robert Lee Brewer.
I've been covering poetic forms on this blog for nearly 10 years now. To celebrate, I've collected 10 Japanese poetic forms below.
While poetry in general is known for concision of language, there's little argument that Japanese forms take concision to extremes. Click on each link to learn how.
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Play with poetic forms!
Poetic forms are fun poetic games, and this digital guide collects more than 100 poetic forms, including more established poetic forms (like sestinas and sonnets) and newer invented forms (like golden shovels and fibs).
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10 Japanese Poetic Forms
- Dodoitsu. 4-liner.
- Gogyohka. Variation of the tanka.
- Haibun. Prose + haiku.
- Haiku. 3-line nature juxtaposition.
- Katauta. 3-line question.
- Mondo. Question-response-nature poem.
- Sedoka. 2-stanza question and response.
- Senryu. What many poets write when they think they're writing haiku.
- Somonka. Love letter tankas.
- Tanka. 5-liner.
Check these forms out, try them for fun, and let me know which is your favorite in the comments below. Or let me know of Japanese forms I still have yet to cover (like the renga).
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
