Utamakura

Utamakura ( Japanese歌 枕), literally "Uta pillow" in Japanese or in a figurative sense "poem pillow", is a rhetorical concept of Japanese poetry .

translation

" Uta " refers to a poem in the Japanese waka tradition. " Makura " literally means "pillow". In the literary tradition of the waka, the word alludes to makurakotoba (Japanese 枕 詞). This term refers to a word that contains an allusion to another object. The allusion remains incomprehensible, however, if the reference to the Uta makura is unknown. In another context, "Makura" also means the source, opening or occasion of a conversation.

meaning

The term refers to a place or a list of places that are traditionally admired for their particular beauty, scenic charm, or in memory of a person or event. Traditionally, poems are written on this Utamakura, poets travel from "poem place" to "poem place". As a list of places to "wander" in succession to the great poets, the term has acquired a mocking, old-fashioned meaning.

Utamakura are often places that had a special meaning for the Japanese imperial family :

• Shinto shrines , Buddhist shrines
• Sites of historical events
• Places that arouse associations through a play on words .

An example of a Utamakura is the Machikaneyama . The name of this mountain literally means "mountain that waits a long time". In Japanese poetry, this mountain is associated with the expectation of the moon rising.

In the middle Heian period it became fashionable to allude to ancient poems; Place names in these traditional poems often became Utamakura. In the late Heian period, the poet monk Noin compiled the Utamakura in the " Utamakura nayose " (reference work of the Uta makura).

Utamakura in Haikai poetry

Utamakura were also used in renga and haikai no renga , the classic precursors of haiku poetry. In a renga, the first line should contain a seasonal term ( kigo ) in each hokku (a 5-7-5 syllable verse). The Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō , on the other hand, held that a verse in which a Uta makura occurs should not contain any allusion to the season so that the images would not become too confusing. Matsuo Basho is also the author of the most famous collection of poems on Uta makura, the Oku no Hosomichi .