Descriptive song - Jokei-ka

Japanese: 叙景歌 - じょけいか

A term used to classify waka poetry based on its nature. Poems that express natural scenery objectively without any subjectivity. Thus, along with epic poetry, it refers to poems with a concept that is in opposition to lyric poetry, but waka poetry should essentially be seen as a type of lyric poetry, and even in expressions that exclude subjectivity, the natural scenery itself is often considered to be a symbolic expression of the author's feelings, making it difficult to find purely descriptive poetry. In short, this classification does not reflect the essence of waka poetry, and the concept remains ambiguous. However, it cannot be denied that interest in natural scenery has developed in Japan since the time of the Manyoshu, and that it has deepened in later generations, resulting in the creation of many poems with strong descriptive elements, and these can conveniently be called descriptive poetry.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

和歌を性格上から分類した用語。自然の風物を主観を交えず客観的に表現した歌。したがって叙事詩などとともに抒情詩と対立する概念の歌をいうが，和歌は本来抒情詩の一種と見るべきものであり，主観を排した表現であっても自然の風物そのものが作者の感情の象徴的表現となっていると考えられる場合が多く，純粋な叙景歌は求めにくい。要は和歌の本質に即した分類とは言えず，概念にもあいまいさが残る。しかし，日本では自然の景観への関心が《万葉集》時代から発達し，後世ますます深化して叙景的要素の濃い歌が多く作られているのも否定できず，それらを便宜叙景歌と呼ぶこともできよう。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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