Issue 5 – June 2026 – Editorial

Kyōka: does Quail Eggs publish them?

After getting a question from a reader I decided to add kyōka to the list of forms published in Quail Eggs. I am happy to publish them, in fact a few of the poems already published in Quail Eggs are what I would tend to personally regard as kyōka or, at least, kyōka-like tanka.

I don't want to pin kyōka down to a definition, or put labels on poems, but I think it's only fair to let you know my thinking on the subject in case you are interested in submitting some.

Japanese kyōka - mad or wild poems - were originally a reaction against the rigidly structured traditional tanka (waka) poetry of Edo period Japan and the limits put on what were considered appropriate subjects for poetry at that time. A lot of the kyōka of this period were rude and crude, deliberately contrasting with, or parodying, the formal elegance and refinement of waka. 

Those of us writing now don't have the same need to push back against rigid poetic formality, and tanka these days are not limited in terms of range of subjects, they can and do include urban life, humanity and human foibles, funny or tragic subjects, social commentary and more. So is there still a need for kyōka? Is it now reduced to being just another name for comedic tanka? Are there funny tanka that are still tanka and not kyōka?

What seems to me to distinguish kyōka from tanka is not humour exactly but something that humour is one way of doing. It seems to me that the most distinctive thing about kyōka is that they usually have a target that they want to poke at, draw attention to or deflate. In order to do that they can be satirical, irreverent, surreal or hyperbolic, they can use things like puns and parody. Kyōka has an opinion, while not being polemical about it. Some have a similar energy to a court jester, the Fool who dares to speak truth to power, often sharp but in a light-footed, playful way. The best kyōka are more than simply comic verse, they can use a range of methods to make their point, including, but not limited to, humour.

If kyōka is poetry with a target, what would our targets be? They could include: authorities, institutions, technology, cultural trends, poetic clichés, false profundity, falseness or fakery generally, hypocrisy, vanity, or our own inflated pretensions. 

If you are interested in writing what might be considered kyōka, I'm interested in reading it and possibly publishing it. No need for labels, but I think a few kyōka-spirited poems add to the lively mix of different styles that appear here.

Alison Williams  - Editor

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