Sōmon (poetry)
''Sōmon'' (相聞, "mutual exchanges of love poetry"), or ''sōmon-ka'' (相聞歌), is, along with ''zōka'' (miscellaneous poems) and ''banka (poetry), banka'' (elegies), one of the three main categories (三大部立 ''sandai butate'') of poems included in the ''Man'yōshū'', an eighth-century Japanese ''waka (poetry), waka'' anthology. Etymology The word 相聞 (Standard Chinese, modern Mandarin pronunciation ''xiāngwén'') appears in Chinese works, and its original meaning is "communication of feelings to each other". Unlike ''zōka'' and ''banka'', the term ''sōmon'' does not originate in the categorization used by the compiler of the ''Wen Xuan'', and was simply a word used to describe everyday communication. Meaning In books 11 and 12 of the ''Man'yōshū'', these poems are also called ''sōmon-ōrai-ka'' (相聞往来歌),. It is a general term for poems that express personal feelings experienced in everyday human interactions. The majority of these are love poems e ...
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