Hohonnōkai

The **Hohonnōkai** [五百波桥, literally 'Five Hundred Waves Breaking'] is the oldest existing collection of classical Kantonese poetry, or *uegatami*. The anthology is one of the most revered of Kanton's poetry compilations. It was most likely published between 830-860 AD. It is yet unknown who exactly wrote and published the book, although it is believed that a group of scholars or established poets worked together to create it. This is owed to the clear and distinct differences in prose style, rhyme scheme and subject matter which was unusual for the time. Some historians have even put forward the notion that as many as five hundred writers may have been involved, thus explaining the title.

The Hohonnōkai contains more than 4,000 poems, and is divided into three main genres: *jōhan*, spoken poetry for work and traveling; *shōhan*, poetry concerning love, faith and matters of the heart, and *seihan*, poetry of the masses or the 'common experience'. Within these genres there are hundreds of different themes and concepts explored, with everything from public executions, to childhood, to drinking parties, love and sexual desire are discussed with surprising openness. Not one of the poems has an author's name attributed to it.

## Name

The literal translation of the characters making up the title *Hohonnōkai* is 'five hundred waves breaking'. The principal interpretations of this name, according to the 20th century scholar Yamizake Ryōdai, are:

* A book that explores human emotion and experience;
* A book written by five hundred poets [e.g. waves], and;
* A collection of poems which are as timeless as the waves in the ocean.

Those who interpret the character 波 [*nō*] as 'emotion' argue that this word was commonly used in ancient Kanton as a kind of euphemism for strong and powerful feelings. Old poets likened the cycle of waves crashing on the shore to the cycle of the human heart as it experiences ups and downs, peaks and troughs, throughout one's life. In fact, there are many examples of this metaphor being used within the book itself.

Supporters of the second interpretation raise the point that the term 玄元 [nōke, 'mysterious hand'] was a Chisō period term for 'poet'. In a literal sense, 玄元 probably refers to the way that good poets are able to strangely manipulate the hearts and minds of the reader with only their hand, e.g. as it writes with a brush or pen. However, the first character in this compound, 玄, is synonymous with the word 波 - they both read as *nō*. Therefore, it is easy to see how the title could be a play on words.

Supporters of the third theory argue that the title expresses the intention that the work will remain resonant for eternity, just as the ebb and flow of the ocean waves is an eternal force. This is further supported by the fact that in ancient times, 五百界 [*hohon-kai*] was a metaphor for eternity, although it literally meant 'five hundred years' - and of course, 界 is synonymous with the last character in the book's title, 桥. If the title is changed to read 五百玄界 [hohonnōkai], it could be loosely translated as 'poets who live forever', or 'eternal poets'.

It has also been suggested that the title is a combination of all of these interpretations, which would make it a stroke of pure genius.