Renku is a tradition of so-called linked poetry, which originated in Japan. It can be identified as an independent tradition from around the beginning of the sixteenth century. Renku was a stylistic variant of an older, and more serious, kind of linked poetry, called renga. Originally, renku was called haikai no renga, or just haikai. Since ancient times, the word haikai had been used to describe poetry of various forms that was comic, disobedient to rules, and did not fit into any established category, but from the sixteenth century it became closely associated with this kind of linked poetry that was written in an unorthodox style. The term renku, which is more …
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Citation: Jonsson, Herbert. "Renku Linked Poetry". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 February 2019 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19529, accessed 27 November 2024.]
