Mountain-Home is an online community for the discussion and composition of modern waka.

Classical waka is the native poetry of Japan. For a thousand years, waka was the heart song of the Japanese people. Its spirituality was shaped by the twin currents of Buddhism and Taoism. Its rhythms flowed with the changing season.

Today, this aesthetic is not bounded by language or geography. Modern waka looks to the best of the Court tradition for example of form and spirit, and to our own experience for authenticity of expression.

Just as classical waka came to be defined by the uta, or "short poem," modern waka is primarily expressed in the five-line form familiar to readers of contemporary tanka. Modern waka features a grammatical "pivot" similar to that of classical poetry.

At Mountain-Home, we embrace the full range of styles developed during the classical period. But we confess a particular fondness for the understated refinement of Saigyo and the other poets of the Shin-Kokinshu era. Our school takes its name from the Sanka-Shu, the largest collection of Saigyo's work.

Keywords: WAKA, TANKA, HAIKU, HOKKU, JAPAN, POETRY, NATURE, BUDDHISM, TAOISM, SHINTO, MEDITATION