renga (redirected from Renku)

renga

Japanese linked-verse poetry in which two or more poets supply alternating sections of a poem. The form began with the composition of a traditional five-line poem (tanka) by two people. A popular pastime from ancient times, even in remote rural areas, it developed fully in the 15th century. Composition spread to court poets, who drew up “codes” to establish renga as an art. An example of renga is the melancholy Minase sangin hyakuin (1488), composed by Iio Sogi, Shohaku, and Socho. Later the initial verse (hokku) of a renga developed into the haiku form.