Five-line poem - Gogonshi

A general term for classical Chinese poetry, consisting of five syllables per line. Five-line lines can already be found partially in the four-line "Book of Songs" and the three- and six-line "Chu Ci," but the first poems consisting entirely of five lines were written in the "Yingshi" poems by Ban Gu (32-92) of the Later Han dynasty. Traditionally, it was believed that the poem recited by Li Ling and Su Wu of the Western Han dynasty (around 100 BCE) was the first five-line poem, but today this is considered a forgery. From the middle of the Western Han dynasty, five-line poems began to appear in folk songs, and it seems that literati began to use them at the beginning of the Later Han dynasty. Some theories trace its origins to the Book of Songs or Ci Chu, but the more widely accepted theory is that new five-syllable songs arose as a result of the stimulation of the influx of foreign music that became popular around the time of Emperor Wu of the Former Han.

It was not until the appearance of the "Nineteen Ancient Poems" in the middle of the Later Han Dynasty (2nd century) that five-character poetry was able to move beyond the realm of literary pastimes and take shape in earnest. These 19 poems, left by unknown poets, are of extremely high quality and have had a great influence on later generations as they laid the foundations for five-character poetry. During the Jian'an period (196-220) at the end of the Later Han Dynasty, many poets, including Cao Cao and his son Cao Zhi of Wei, ushered in the era of five-character poetry, and the following 350 years of the Six Dynasties period saw the heyday of five-character poetry. While four-character poetry is heavy and monotonous in expression, five-character poetry is more suited to expressing more complex emotions in a more fluid manner, and it also added a degree of sophistication to rhetoric. Seven-character poetry emerged at the end of the Six Dynasties, and when it entered the Tang Dynasty and came to rival five-character poetry, five characters began to be characterized by a more elegant style, in contrast to the gorgeous style of seven characters. In the middle of the Tang Dynasty, after the 8th century, when the forms of modern and ancient style poetry of regulated verse and quatrain were established, five characters and seven characters were both divided into two styles, and the five-character quatrain and seven-character quatrain, five-character regulated verse and seven-character regulated verse, five-character ancient poem and seven-character ancient poem were established and passed down to later generations.

[Tadahisa Ishikawa]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

一句が5字、つまり5シラブルの句からできている中国古典詩の総称。四言を基調とする『詩経(しきょう)』、三・六言の『楚辞(そじ)』のなかにも、すでに部分的に五言の句はみられるが、全体が五言の句からなる詩は、後漢(ごかん)の班固(はんこ)（32―92）の「詠史(えいし)詩」あたりが初めである。従来は、前漢の李陵(りりょう)と蘇武(そぶ)の唱和した詩（前100ころ）が五言の始めと伝えられていたが、今日ではこれは偽作とされる。前漢のなかば過ぎから、民間の歌謡に五言の形をとるものが現れており、後漢の初めになって、文人が手がけるようになったものであろう。その発生の源を『詩経』や『楚辞』に求める説もあるが、前漢武帝ごろから盛んになった外来音楽の流入の刺激によって、新たな5シラブルの歌がおこったとする説が有力である。

　文人の手すさびの域を脱して、本格的な五言詩の形成をみるのは、後漢なかば過ぎ（2世紀）の「古詩十九首」の出現を待たねばならない。無名の詩人たちの残したこの19首の詩は、きわめて優れたものであり、五言詩の基を開いたものとして、後世に与えた影響は多大である。後漢末の建安年間（196～220）には、魏(ぎ)の曹操(そうそう)・曹植(そうしょく)父子を中心に多くの詩人が五言詩の時代の幕を開け、以後の六朝(りくちょう)時代350年は五言詩の全盛期となった。五言詩は、四言詩が表現が重々しく、淡々とした味わいであるのに対し、より複雑な感情をより流動的に歌うのに適し、修辞の面でも洗練の度を加えていった。六朝末に七言詩がおこり、やがて唐に入って五言詩と肩を並べるようになると、七言の華麗な趣(おもむき)に対し、五言は典雅な趣を特色とするようになる。唐のなかば、8世紀以後、律詩・絶句の近体詩と古体詩の形式が定まると、五言と七言とはともにそれぞれの形式を二分する形で、五言絶句・七言絶句、五言律詩・七言律詩、五言古詩・七言古詩の各体が固定し、後世へと受け継がれていった。

［石川忠久］

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