Ritual, Aesthetics, and Handwriting: Collaborative Poetry in Contemporary Japan

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Japanese linked poetry (renga), a form of collaborative poetry, emerges in a ritual setting, whereby several members of a group alternately contribute verses to what then results in a greater common poetic work. The written recording of the verses is part of the ritual process of emergence, and moreover, after the ritual often more copies are produced, some of which are then being dedicated as a votive offering (hônô) to a shrine or a temple. Renga was practiced in Japan for more than half a millennium. The modernization from the middle of the 19th century onwards lead to a rupture of the tradition, with probably one exception. In the 1980s, revival movements began to take shape. As a result of their activities, renga is being practiced again all over Japan. Neither the circles that have been formed in the course of these revival movements nor their written products have hitherto been dealt with in research. The aim of this project is to investigate this “invented tradition” (which is always made transparent as such by its members), its practices and selfpositioning against the background of the literary, material and performative aspects of the tradition. This seems especially rewarding, as in contemporary renga a co-existence of traditional handwritten recording with modern communication media can be observed. The project will explore the function of handwritten, printed and digital products and thereby also contribute to the understanding of the persistence of handwriting in a modern society.