Rhythm in Japanese Fixed-Form Verse : Five and Seven Moras (Special Issue Dedicated to Professor Michio Fujisawa)

Japaneese fixed-form verse including haiku, senryu, and tanka, are widely regarded as being composed of 5-7-5 or 5-7-5-7-7 syllables. ignoring the pause placed immediately after the fifth or seventh syllable or, more precisely, mora. This article examines the rhythm of what have been usually regarded as "five" or "seven" moras in Japanese short fixed-form poetry. These poems are not written with five or seven syllables but with a sound space or a temporal space of eight moras in mind. This is because the Japanese language, which is a pitch accent, responds to the long-short duration of sounds rather than the strong-weak stress relation of sounds to cultivate a sense of rhythm. To examine this, the author discusses the effect of the Japanese view of nature and the universe, including breathing, walking, working and dancing, in creating the sense of rhythm in the Japanese language.10KJ00004274635論文Articledepartmental bulletin pape