This kind of Japanese poetry is for China. The earliest poems in Japan were written in Chinese characters, some with meanings and some with sounds. On this basis, poems with Japanese characteristics came into being. Because Japan is called the Yamato nation and has written poems to sing, it is called chorus.
Chorus includes Long song, short songs, short songs, Legato songs, etc.
With the passage of time, more and more people write short songs, and now they account for an absolute majority. Because of this, although people still call it chorus, it mainly refers to short songs. Singers also refer to people who are mainly short songs. Wakayama is a traditional Japanese eight-part poem with five sentences and 31 syllables, and its format is 57577. It began in the 6th and 7th centuries, and the first harmony song was written in 757 AD according to the earliest Japanese poetry collection "Ye Wan Collection".
The chorus was influenced by China's five-character quatrains and seven-character poems, so the short song "57577" appeared. The company commander's songs all end with "57577". In addition to short songs, there are shorter haiku in Japan, which is also in the format of eight-part poem, with only 17 words.
In addition to short songs and haiku, there is also an amorphous free poem in Japan called modern poetry. The defect of stereotyped poetry is that it is not easy to fully express a person's complex psychology. Therefore, some singers broke the stereotype of poetry and engaged in the creation of modern poetry. Due to this defect, eight-part poem tends to die out in the world. Compared with the world trend, Japan is not easy to break old rules and customs. Such as haiku, there are now more than10 million people engaged in haiku creation. Haiku is characterized by few words, fast arrival, and a brainwave that can be written in an instant.
Japanese people like writing poems very much, and there are more than one million song lovers alone. Most of them are amateurs, including workers, farmers, businessmen and housewives. There are only twenty professional singers. Hege is a rich culture. With the improvement of people's living standards and the increasing leisure time, people need rich mental gymnastics. It is estimated that the number of people engaged in harmony songs will increase.
As a unique form of Japanese literature, Wakayama has left an unusually beautiful landscape in history. Based on harmony, pillow characters and shun characters [1] are used, and the tone is solemn and beautiful. There are short songs (5.7.5.7.7), Long song (5.7.5.7, ... 7.7), and The Song of the First Turn (5.7.5.7.5), which embodies the complex Japanese spiritual culture.
For a long time, many people, including the author, have a wrong understanding of the chorus: they think that it is only the product of the arrogance and extravagance of officials and nobles, and it is a decadent voice that only knows how to make love to the romantic. But in fact, there is nothing wrong with the literary genre itself, the difference is only how to use it. And with the in-depth understanding of it, you will find that there are many works that are the most emotional, some of which are sounds of nature, which can be compared with Tang poetry and Song poetry!
The Origin of Harmony Songs-Ji Myth
The origin of the harmony song is very long. It is generally believed that it was formed with the legends of Ji Ji, namely "Gu Shi Ji" and Japanese "Ji Shu", and it has the characteristics of repeated sentences, idioms and other folk songs passed down from mouth to mouth. The content is mostly legends and carols, with obvious religious color, which can almost be said to be a spell or spiritual belief.
It was not until Shu Ming ascended the throne in 629 AD, the so-called Ye Wan century, that the chorus gradually separated from legends, ballads and curses and established the style of lyric poetry. The style of the song has also developed from a narrative ballad with uncertain sentences and sounds to a stereotyped sentence with rhythmic beauty. But the influence of the curse song lasted for a long time afterwards. For example, the following song:
The emperor did not prepare a sacred bow, and the queen mother offered a royal song, looking at the sky; JUNSHOU is as long as the world.
This is a mantra song written by the Empress Dowager when the Emperor of Heaven was ill. Look up at the sky and pray for a long life. His piety is manifested not only in his simple and affectionate words, but also in his solemn and beautiful tone. It completely inherited the traditional myth that Tiansun was an emperor from high heaven and low land, and his descendants, the great king, still lived a long and fruitful life. There are not many works handed down during this period, and the chronological records are unreliable, so they are not listed as representative singers.
Second, rapid development-persimmon itself and the early days of Ye Wan.
Ye Wan is called Ye Wan Collection, and it is also called Song San Collection with ancient and modern collections and new and ancient collections. The earliest existing chorus song collection contains more than 4,500 works from 629 to 759. This 130 year is the golden age of chorus development, and it is also called Ye Wan century in the history of literature.
As mentioned earlier, in this period, harmony songs were separated from folk songs and developed into lyric poems, which were finally promoted by persimmon himself, who was revered as a saint by later generations. His greatest contribution is to express the chorus in words. So that the original word-of-mouth works can be fixed, and can be created, scrutinized and appreciated in learning. Since then, chorus has become a real literary genre, getting rid of the vulgarity of oral ballads and gradually becoming profound literary and ideological. Because of persimmon's epoch-making role in the development of harmony songs, the Ye Wan century before him was called the pre-Ye Wan period, and later it was called the post-Ye Wan period.
Persimmon is also the most outstanding singer in this period. Brilliant, grand in conception, vigorous and dignified in singing, and good at combining narrative and lyric. Due to the gradual formation of the national system in this period, such as the transformation of the national system into a new one, the completion of Fujiwara's capital, the compilation of Dabao laws and regulations, and the arrangement of disciplinary myths, the singer's national consciousness and monarch consciousness began to awaken, and his works were mostly elegies to praise the country and mourn the royal family, often with a magnificent momentum based on myths. For example, the following two songs:
Anti-Song: "Japan is a treasure island, and the God of Language: Blessed by the gods, may you be safe."
When the Japanese Prince Ronggong went to the funeral, the courtiers in the persimmon garden wrote a song: "At the beginning of heaven and earth, there were 8.8 million gods on the eternal Tianhe River ... This country of weeping and Mizuho was the extreme soil of heaven and earth and was handed over to the Jade Emperor. ..... Since the rock gate in the sky was opened, God has ascended to heaven! ……"
Limited to space, you can only choose the last long song. To be fair, the persimmon version of the chorus has great momentum, but it is not perfect. The reason why later generations give such a high evaluation is what is the most outstanding singer, ensemble Mahayana, reaching the realm of dzogchen and so on. Probably because he was patriotic, and secondly because he deified the emperor, which happened to be used by later militarists. From the former Ye Wan period to the end of Nara's move to the capital in 7 10, the singers of the same period, such as Haig Longzhi, Prince Otsu and Chihuang, all had similar styles to persimmon books, and truly artistic singers would not appear until the late Ye Wan.
The Gate of Sanshan Persimmon —— The Real Golden Age
In the late period of Ye Wan, Hege was obviously influenced by China's poems and Chinese, and its spiritual artistry made a qualitative leap! The word "Gate of Mountain Persimmon" comes from the Chinese preface of the song "Gate of Mountain Persimmon" written by Noguchi, the editor of Ye Wan Collection. He didn't reach the gate of Mountain Persimmon when he was young, so he lost interest in cutting songs and made a slip of the tongue. (Translation: I didn't go to the persimmon gate when I was a child, so choosing songs and words now is inevitably miscellaneous and vulgar. Author's Publishing House: Japanese thieves learn everything well, and classical Chinese is more difficult to understand than what China people wrote! )
In my opinion, "Mountain" and "Persimmon" are the highest examples of harmony song creation. Persimmon is the persimmon itself mentioned above, so don't say it; Mountain is awesome, referring to two great singers who reached their peak in Ye Wan's later period: natural singer Akishi Yamabe and world love singer Yoshiyoshi Yamashita. I used to call them Li Bai and Du Fu among singers.
Junshu Yamabe is good at describing natural scenery, with elegant brushwork and tang style. For example:
Can't sing folk songs, sing short songs.
Guangdong, since the beginning of heaven and earth, has stood tall.
Fuji is in Suruga, and worships Yue to cover the sky.
White clouds are frozen in the lost passage, and the sun and the moon are hazy.
Snow dance at four o'clock, regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter.
The majestic Mount Fuji is immortal, and the legends from generation to generation are endless.
Anti-song
Out of the field, the silver light sprinkled the blue sky.
Mount Fuji is high and snowy.
The above is what the author did when he looked up at Mount Fuji (the endless mountain). Although both works describe the heroic posture of Mount Fuji in concise and concise language, their expressions are quite different. The former eulogized the sublimity, majesty and solemnity of Mount Fuji by describing natural phenomena such as the sun, the moon, clouds and snow. The latter painted the snow-capped and misty Mount Fuji purely and objectively, clearly, aesthetically and dynamically. These two songs are the most famous masterpieces of Yamabe, and they are immortal masterpieces in literary works praising Mount Fuji in previous dynasties! However, it is the following two articles that fully demonstrate the style of Yamabe songs:
Two anti-songs
Between Yoshino and Xiangshan, the towering trees are as high as 1000 miles.
Birds are singing in the branches, and the noise goes into the clouds.
The beach is crystal clear, with catalpa bungeana forest planted on it.
Thousands of birds are singing in the dead of night.
The last song praised Yoshino's morning, starting from the place names of Yoshino and Xiangshan, gradually focusing on giant trees, birds and branches, and finally focusing on the crowing of mountain streams, which accurately grasped the impression of the morning and showed a bright and energetic artistic conception. The latter one depicts the night scene of Yoshinokawa. Midnight is quiet, everything is silent. The floodplain, rocks, running water and catalpa bungeana trees are all bathed in the bright moonlight, and the streams are gurgling. Suddenly, thousands of birds began to chirp in the night sky, making it quieter. The author ingeniously appeals to auditory vision, which makes people feel that they can hear its voice and see its scenery. Such a beautiful sentence is natural, and the subtlety is nothing more than Tang poetry and Song poetry!
If the poem describing the scenery of red people on the hillside is the sound of nature, then the poem remembering the world on the mountain is the swan song of life. Most of the songs on the mountain are about poverty, children and pity. He once sent envoys of the Tang Dynasty to China, absorbed Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and served as a local official to understand the sufferings of the lower classes. The songs are extremely profound and sensitive, actively reflecting the hardships of life and criticizing the aristocratic society. The author vomited blood and dedicated himself, and copied the masterpiece Song of Poverty Questioning in full text!
Poverty quiz songs and short songs
Rainy night, cold sleet day.
This is a cold winter.
It's right to accompany wine with coarse salt. It's bad to talk about heating.
My nose chills frequently, and I bow my head and cough repeatedly.
Twisting a moustache with empty eyes is hard to resist the cold at night.
Cover me with linen and put on my rags.
Although I have everything, I can't stand the cold tonight.
Poorer than me, listen to me and ask some questions.
The wife and children are in tears, and the parents are hungry and cold.
In this tragic time, why celebrate the New Year?
Although the world is vast, it is difficult for me to be alone.
Although the sun and the moon are bright, are you shining beside me?
Is it all over the world, or am I alone?
God gave birth to me occasionally, and I am not idle in farming.
Wearing a cotton coat, all kinds of stripes are draped over the shoulders.
Ragged clothes like seaweed, how to keep out the cold.
The low house is sloping, and the rice shop sleeps in the wetland.
Wife and children crouched at their feet, and parents snuggled up to them.
The whole family, big and small, sobbed and sighed.
There are no fireworks on the stove, and cobwebs are hung on the pot.
I have been hungry for many days, and I can't remember three meals.
The voice is as thin as silk and as soft as cotton.
It never rains but it pours.
The dragon was angry and shouted in front of the house.
Come with a cane and ask for land tax money.
The world is like this, how can I be fired in my life?
Anti-song
Remembering suffering and humiliating the world.
I hate flightless birds and want to fly without wings.
So straightforward, don't you need to explain? On a windy and sleet night, the poor are too cold to resist. Put yourself in others' shoes. How can people who are poorer than me live? Later, the poorer people replied, ask the sky first, the earth first, the sun first, and the moon first. Why not leave me alone and take this photo? ! Although I worked hard, I was still in rags, unable to keep out the cold, and my family was tired for several days. At this time, Li Chang was aggressive and demanded land tax. In this case, people can't help but say that the world is like this. How did you get fired in this life? Lament. Anti-Song is both an answer and a summary. Although the world is unfair and there is nothing we can do, we have to endure tears and accept our fate ... We hate birds that can't fly and want to fly without wings, leaving only infinite sadness and helplessness. This song can be said to be the Japanese version of Shihaoguan+Autumn Wind Singing in the Shanzhai. It is narrative, rational and prose. Yi Liang on the mountain deserves to be called Lao Du among singers! It's time for Shi Guangyuan and other ministers who didn't know the pot was made of iron to read it. This is the truly excellent chorus, which will last forever!
It's really a swan song, because Shan died three years after writing this song, and there are no important works here. In the following decades, the works of Ye Wan singers flourished, but most of them followed the practice of persimmon and Yamabe, and no longer had the spirit and talent of Yamabe. At the same time, besides Ershan, there were other singers, such as Escort, Gao Qiao Worm, Horiyo Noyaka and so on. Finally, at the end of Nara, with the compilation of Ye Wan's Collected Works, the unprecedented Ye Wan century finally ended. History and chorus have entered a new era-others think it is unprecedented prosperity, but I think it is a peaceful period of extreme decline.