John Carley’s recently-designed four-verse renku format is represented by 60 poems, wherein Carley collaborates with well-known haikai poets, Hortensia Anderson, Lorin Ford, Carole MacRury, Sandra Simpson, William Sorlien and Sheila Windsor, and also introduces the form.

“I have always been impressed by John Carley’s knowledge of Japanese linked verse… It is my sincere hope that this new form of linked verse will take root.” -Nobuyuki Yuasa, Professor Emeritus, Hiroshima University, and translator of Basho’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches (Penguin Classics, 1966).

“the Little Book of Yotsumonos opens up a world of poetic possibility, sourced by the old, both the Chinese and Japanese poetic traditions, yet fresh and original… I suspect few will be able to read this book without wanting to try and compose a yotsumono themselves.” -Sonja Arntzen, Emeritus Professor of East Asian Studies, University of Toronto, and translator of The Kagero Diary and Ikkyu and the Crazy Cloud Anthology.

Preview: http://darlingtonrichards.com/lboy_preview
Purchase: http://darlingtonrichards.com/lboy_buy

1. published early 2013

2. available in hardcopy only

3. available for secure online purchase using Paypal

We’re looking for a variety of content along the lines of:

1. academic/polemic articles on any aspects of the genre

2. translations of old renga and renku

3. news of renku groups and happenings

4. book articles/reviews

5. letters responding to the contents of previous issues, or on any relevant topic

6. and of course, a showcase of current examples of the genre:

a) in English

b) in any other language, accompanied by an English translation

c) previously published or not (just let us have details of prior publication so we can acknowledge properly)

d) simultaneous offers are fine too, again provided you advise us immediately of acceptance, for purposes of acknowledgement

e) in any of the standard forms: kasen, triparshva, nijûin, jûnichô, shisan, rokku, hyakuin, imachi, yotsumono, etc.

f) in any explorations of the above forms in terms of experimentation with one-line, zip, 5/7/5 or other fixed counts, and even rhyme

g) solo and group work

h) with (preferably) or without notes/reflections on the poem/process from sabaki or renju or both

i) Please include the following text in all poetry submissions: “I hereby confirm that I have obtained consent from all of the participating poets to offer this poem for publication by JRR”

7. We are also holding a contest, the winning poem to appear in JRR3; click here for details: http://darlingtonrichards.com/contest

8. We’re open to discussing content ideas we’ve not covered above, so please write

9. All communications will be acknowledged within two weeks

10. Closing date for sending content: October 1, 2012

11. We are regretfully unable to pay contributors for content at this stage

To gain an idea of the sort of content that interests the editors, leaf through the previews of our previous issues (or, better still, buy them) at http://www.darlingtonrichards.com/jrr

Please send all contributions and other communications to RengaRenku@gmail.com (RengaRenku AT gmail DOT com)

We look forward to hearing from you.

Norman Darlington
Moira Richards
Journal of Renga & Renku
http://darlingtonrichards.com/jrr-cfc

Entry fee: None

Deadline: 1 October 2012

Prizes

1. The winning poem will be published, together with a detailed critique, in the 2013 issue of Journal of Renga & Renku. All entries will be considered as content for inclusion in the journal.

2. A small (and yet to be selected) prize will be sent by way of congratulation to the sabaki or one designated participant of the winning poem.

Details

1. Only renku in the kasen form are eligible for this contest

2. There is no limit on the number of entries you may send

3. Previously published kasen are also eligible for the contest

4. Kasen that include verses written by the contest judge or editors of JRR, or led by them, are NOT eligible for this contest

Entry procedure

The leader or sabaki of the poem is designated the contest entrant and should do the following:

1. Send a clean copy of the poem (stripped of initials, schema notes, renju’s names etc.) as a Word (or RTF) document attachment to RengaRenku@gmail.com (RengaRenku AT gmail DOT com)

2. Mark the subject line: Kasen contest/name of poem/name of sabaki, e.g. Kasen contest/October’s Moon/Moira Richards

3. In the body of the email, paste the following text:

I hereby confirm that I have obtained consent from all of the participating poets to enter this poem in the 2012 JRR Renku Contest, and to offer it for publication by JRR.

4. There is no need to list the names or number of poets who contributed to the poem. We’ll contact you later for this information if we decide to publish.

Judging criteria

Dr Drake will look for:

1. Evidence of serious literary intent and imaginative daring.

2. Evidence of familiarity with renku and with the kasen form. Sites such as renkureckoner.co.uk are good places for review or for gaining basic knowledge, and translations of traditional kasen as well as EL kasen are recommended.

3. Success in achieving multivalent linking. Above all, verses must work as 1) a single verse and also as a new, transformed verse in relation to 2) the previous verse and 3) the following verse. Readers need be able to concretely feel the way identical words have different nuances or mean different things in relation to different verses.

4. Success in using moon, blossom, seasonal, love, and other non-seasonal verses to create an overall sequence rhythm and tone. Variations for standard images will be accepted. The moon, for example, may be replaced by other celestial objects if the change is stated in a note.

5. Success in creating an introduction in verses 1-6, full-bodied, dynamic development in 7–30, and a smooth, quick return to the material world in 31-36.

6. A kasen is long enough to create its own world. If successful, it affects the way a reader returns to and experiences his or her own daily world.

7. Traditional monotheme kasen on a single topic (blossoms, love, Amida Buddha, etc.) will be accepted, though monotony must be avoided.

8. Both group and solo (dokugin) kasen will be accepted. Solo kasen should show evidence of the writer’s ability to hear otherness in her or his own voices.

Contest judge

Chris Drake will judge this contest and introduces himself here:

“I was born in Tennessee in the U.S. in 1947. I got a PhD in Japanese literature from Harvard and taught Japanese literature and comparative literature at Atomi University in Japan for nearly three decades before retiring. My classes included renku appreciation and writing for Japanese students. I’ve published annotated translations of both kasen and hundred-verse hyakuin by Japanese haikai poets of the 17th, 18th, and 20th centuries, including a translation of a kasen by Bashō and his followers in JRR2. I’m now completing an annotated translation of Saikaku’s 1675 solo thousand-verse haikai requiem for his wife. I write renku both in English and in Japanese and have participated in several kasen sequences in Japanese judged by the late Higashi Meiga (Akimasa).”

Why a one-form renku contest?

Every JRR contest will feature a different form of the genre, in order to

a) promote appreciation of the distinctive features of the various forms of the genre and how they can be employed to different ends in the writing of poems, and

b) encourage poets to explore more fully the possibilities of one form, and to appreciate what others do with it.

The Kasen

The name Kasen means ‘Poetic Immortals’ and refers to the Chinese and Japanese practice of creating ideal groups of thirty six artistic forbears. Prior to the establishment of the Basho school formalised linked verse was generally written as one hundred or fifty verse sequences. By the time of Basho’s death the majority of haikai sequences were Kasen.

Though he is known as the father of haiku the Kasen renku and haibun [mixed poetry and prose] were Matsuo Basho’s preferred vehicles for expression. It therefore comes as no surprise that the Kasen is rather good.

Seasons recur. [The major seasons of spring and autumn] may appear for up to five verses in a row. There are two spring blossom verses. There are three moon verses, two of which are generally autumn. Love appears as a fixed topic twice, potentially for an extended run. The structure of the Kasen clearly demonstrates that fine writing has more to do with periodicity and interlocking cycles, with tonal control, evolution and recontextualisation.

Without clear vision and leadership the twelve verses of a development side can rapidly become amorphous. The Kasen too takes time to complete. But the Kasen was and remains essential to the development of all aspects of excellence in renku. A person who limits themselves always to the shorter contemporary forms is unlikely to develop the highest level of artistry that the genre permits.
—John Carley, Renku Reckoner

Want to learn more about renku and kasen?

1. Lots of great reading matter, including information about the kasen form, from John Carley here:

http://www.renkureckoner.co.uk/

and excellent material from the late Bill Higginson here:

http://www.2hweb.net/haikai/renku

2. Lots of space to learn, write and meet other renku enthusiasts at The Renku Group here:

http://renkugroup.proboards.com/

–

Moira Richards
Norman Darlington
Darlington Richards Press

http://darlingtonrichards.com/

The Little Book of Yotsumonos
by John E. Carley with six other poets

Carley is well known for his ground-breaking and ongoing work in the practice and understanding of renga/renku outside of Japan. He has made valuable and topical contributions to current and previous issues of Journal of Renga & Renku as well as to various internet journals, and his Renku Reckoner website is a well-thumbed resource for poets working in the genre.

Darlington Richards Press

http://www.darlingtonrichards.com

Darlington Richards Press is delighted to announce that Journal of Renga & Renku, Issue 2, is now available

http://www.darlingtonrichards.com/index.php/journal-of-renga-renku/products-page/

278 pages of Poetry, Essays, Translations and Commentaries – that’s almost 100 pages more than our last issue – Issue 2 of Journal of Renga & Renku is on sale now. Just $19.95 for the first month before we revert to the cover price of $25.

This issue includes:

Academic essays from Chris Drake, H. Mack Horton, John Carley, Jeremy Robinson, Charles Tomlinson, Dylan McGee, Jeffrey Angles and Molly Vallor.

A solo shisan by Nobuyuki Yuasa that marks the anniversary of the devastating tsunami and earthquake that struck Japan one year ago.

47 poems including 30 shisan, and the results and judge’s commentary of the 2011 JRR renku contest adjudged by Eiko
Yachimoto, in which four poems placed, four received Honourable Mentions, and ten more were critiqued/appreciated in part.

And much more…

PREVIEW the Table of Contents and Editorial here:

http://www.darlingtonrichards.com/index.php/journal-of-renga-renku/preview-issue-2/

PURCHASE JRR2 here:

http://www.darlingtonrichards.com/index.php/journal-of-renga-renku/products-page/

“Public officials should not valorize domestic violence

The lead article in the Cape Times, Manny vs Floyd in City? (Cape Times, January 13), refers to the event as a “dream fight” for the Cape Town Stadium. The article lauds the two boxers, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquia Friday as “the world’s top two glamour fighters” and Grant Pascoe, Mayco member for Cape Town tourism, events and marketing, is quoted as remarking:…”

letter in full here…