Meiji Rhythm: Auditory Effects and Tradition vs. Modernity in Late Nineteenth Century Verse

This study, which grew out of a 2009 presentation at the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs, examines possible alignments between choices of lineation in Japanese poetry of the Meiji period (1868-1912) and various political and social ideologies of the time. It argues that the choice of arrangements of lines into patterns of either 5-7 or 7-5 morae typically associated the former with advocacy of adaptation of the classical chōka genre while the latter tended to be associated with more "progressive" values and was employed in shintaishi and songs that drew stylistic inspiration from the imayō genre.