Maeku - (previous verse) In renga, tsukeai, and maekuzuke, the preceding stanza, to which another must be added; the first of a pair of stanzas.

Maekuzuke - (joining to a previous verse) A game based on renga, in which one party gives a stanza (maeku) to which another adds a linking stanza (tsukeku); a linked pair resulting from the game, a forerunner of senry.

Mankuawase - (collection of myriad verses) An anthology of tsukeku selected and published as the result of a maekuzuke contest.

Mon - (pattern) In renga, a relatively impressive stanza that stands out against the ground stanzas. See ji. Also a Samurai family heraldic emblem.

Mono no aware - (the touchingness of things). See aware.

Mushin - (without heart) Of renga, frivolous, that is, unconcerned with the classical ideal of beauty in appropriate subject matter and diction, but featuring humour and unconventional language. (Other meanings in other contexts.) See ushin.

Nagauta - (long poem) See chka.

Nioi - (scent, smell) See kaori.

On - (sound) In poetry, the smallest metrical unit, represented by a single written phonetic character. Abbreviation for onji.

Onji - (sound symbol) A character in the Japanese phonetic syllabary; hence, a technical term for the smallest metrical unit in Japanese poetry equivalent to mora in Latin prosody (not simply a syllable, as it is usually translated).

Renga - (linked poem) A poem of alternating stanzas of nominally five-seven-five and seven-seven onji, usually composed by two or more poets, and developing texture by shifting among several traditional topics without narrative progression. Typical renga run to 36, 50, 100, 1000 or more stanzas.

Rensaku - (linked work) Of haiku and tanka sequences, a longer work composed of individual haiku or tanka which function as stanzas of the whole, and are not independent. See gunsaku.

Rens - (linked ideas) In renga and haiku, the association of images from one stanza to another, or within a verse.

Renku - (linked verse) Originally, linked verse in Chinese; now a modern term for renga, especially the haikai-no-renga of Basho and later poets.

Sabi - (patina/loneliness) Beauty with a sense of loneliness in time, akin to, but deeper than, nostalgia.

Sedka - (repeat head poem) A traditional verse form with metrically identical stanzas, usually katauta, found mainly in the Manyoshu. Sometimes composed as question and answer by two parties, and so a forerunner of renga.

Seikatsu - (livelihood, life) In the season-word list, a category including human activity, such as farming, working, playing.

Senry or Senyru - (river willow) A comic, humorous or satiric poem dealing with human affairs, usually written in the same form as haiku. Derived from the name of a popular selector of maekuzuke.

Shibumi - (astringency) The beauty of subdued, rather than vibrant, images; Classical, rather than Romantic, in taste.

Shikishi - (square paper) A square sheet of heavy paper for writing and painting, often used for a short poem.

Shinku - (close verse) In renga, a close relationship between two succeeding stanzas. See soku.

Shiori - (bending, withering) In haikai and haiku, sympathy mixed with ambiguity; used of verses with delicate, almost pathetic images.

Shf - (abbreviation for Basho style poems) In haikai and haiku, in the refined style of Basho, rather than the coarser, earlier styles.

Shokubutsu (plants) In a season-word list, a category including plants, flowers, trees, fruits, etc.

Shufu - correct style.

Soku - (distant verse) In renga, a distant relationship between two succeeding stanzas. See shinku.

Sono mama - (as it is) In haikai and haiku, presenting a thing or event just as it is, without flourishes or emotionalism.

Tanka - (short poem) A lyric poem with the typical form five-seven-five-seven-seven onji (see ji-amari). In many ways equivalent to the sonnet in the West, the tanka was the primary genre of Japanese poetry from Manyoshu times through about the fourteenth century, and still flourishes. Now also called waka or uta. Tanka focuses on the essence of one static event, image or mood.

Tanrenga - (short linked poem) A modern term for ancient tanka composed by two authors, formerly called renga, to distinguish them from the longer renga of later times.

Tanzaku - (tanka sheet) A narrow strip of paper on which a tanka or haiku may be written.

Tenja - critic of haiku poetry.

Tenmon - (astronomy) In a season-word list, a category including sky phenomena, stars, the sun, precipitation, snow, sleet etc.

Tsukeai - (joining together) In renga, the linking of one stanza to another; hence, a pair of linked stanzas.

Tsukeku - (joined verse) In renga, tsukeai, and maekuzuke, the second of a pair of linked stanzas.

Ukiyo - (floating world) Originally, a Buddhist term indicating the ephemeral nature of life; later, a name for the entertainment quarters of large cities.

Ushin - (with heart) Of renga, sincere, that is, concerned with the classical ideal of beauty, employing only classical diction, etc. See mushin.

Uta, or -ka or -ga in compounds - (song, poem) Generic term for traditional poetry in Japanese, excluding all forms of foreign verse; now uta is practically synonymous with tanka.

Uta-awase - (poem competition) In the tradition of the old Japanese court, the pretext for a party, at which participants composed tanka on assigned dai. Results were judged, and usually prizes given. Mushin renga began as a sort of game for the participants, once the serious business of composing and judging tanka was done.

Utsuri - (reflection) In renga, a relationship between stanzas in which there is a sense of movement or transference between them; there may also be some visual harmony between the images.

Wabi - (loneliness, poverty) Beauty with a sense of asceticism; austere beauty.

Waka - (Japanese poem) Traditional poetry in Japanese language and style, particularly those varieties found in the Manyoshu. Today, virtually synonymous with tanka.

Wakiku - (side verse) In renga, the second stanza.

Ygen - (mystery) Elegance, mystery, depth. (Several whole volumes in Japanese are devoted to this word, particularly in relation to the noh drama).