Knowledge base · Part XIX — Discourse and the Grammar of Oral Literature · this topic as a network
151. The Sakehe Refrain, Verse Meter, and the Structure of Sung Verse
How do the sakehe refrain and metrical structure organize Hokkaido Ainu sung verse?
The sung/recited/spoken distinction
How does Hokkaido Ainu distinguish sung, recited, and spoken oral genres?
The sakehe: morphology and the fixed-melody criterion
What is the morphological form and prosodic distinction of the sakehe refrain?
Each kamuy yukar contains a fixed refrain (sakehe) which is associated with a non-linguistic utterance or song of a certain god. (Bugaeva 2008) Divine epics are composed in verses of four or five syllables per line sung to a fixed melody and characterized by refrains called sakehe or saha inserted into the narration. (Endō 2022: 10.2) Heroic epics, unlike divine epics, contain no sakehe refrains. (Endō 2022: 10.2) In kamuy yukar (divine songs), the refrain (sakehe) is indicated by capital letters. (Nakagawa 2024: 18) The most prominent formal feature of kamuy yukar is the refrain (sakehe or saha), which is unique to each story and repeated while embedding lines of the main narrative text between tokens. (Nakagawa 2024: 556) In lyric songs (yaysama), refrains such as yaysamanena, ayororope, and horennahore are basically composed of five syllables. (Nakagawa 2024: 571) The sakehe refrain in kamuy yukar does not itself conform to the metrical syllable-count principles of sung verse. (Nakagawa 2024: 575) Sakehe vary in length from a single syllable (such as he) to as many as 23 syllables. (Nakagawa 2024: 582) Sakehe often fall outside the general metrical principles of Ainu verse, frequently consisting of 3 syllables or exceeding 5 syllables. (Nakagawa 2024: 582) The prefix-like element han- of unknown meaning frequently attaches to the beginning of sakehe when the protagonist is a bird or small animal. (Nakagawa 2024: 583) The swordfish divine song is sung with the sakehe 'tusunapanu' in the Saru dialect, with 'tussayturi tussaymatu' in the Horobetsu dialect, and with 'nisso' or 'atoyutto' in the Chitose dialect. (Nakagawa 2024: 584) In addition to regular refrains, divine songs feature 'secondary sakehe', which are story-specific phrases embedded into the main text itself and are often grammatically anomalous. (Nakagawa 2024: 584) Filler phrases can be formed by the patterns ki wa ne ~ and ne wa ne ~, where the slot is filled by conjunctive particles such as yak, yakne, yakun, ciki, or kusu. (Nakagawa 2024: 609) In filler phrases with ki wa ne ~, a verb phrase most often precedes ki. (Nakagawa 2024: 609) In filler phrases with ne wa ne ~, a noun phrase most often precedes it. (Nakagawa 2024: 610) n n kato is the refrain of the kamuy yukar of the owl god. (Satō 2008: 286)
Melody: fixed per story in kamuy yukar, personal in yukar
How does melody differ between kamuy yukar and yukar in Hokkaido Ainu?
In kamuy yukar, a distinct melody accompanies each individual tale, in contrast to heroic epics. (Nakagawa 2024: 556) Unlike kamuy yukar, the melody of heroic epics is specific to the reciter rather than to the individual tale, though a single reciter may command multiple tunes and switch between them during recitation. (Nakagawa 2024: 557) The noun sa denotes a melody or tune in Ainu oral literature. (Nakagawa 2024: 575)
Function of the sakehe: the protagonist-index debate
What is the function of the sakehe refrain in Hokkaido Ainu sung verse?
The refrain (sakehe) in divine epics usually provides rhythm and does not necessarily have a meaning. (Bugaeva 2022: 20.2) Refrains (sakehe) occur in four positional varieties relative to the main text line: line-initial, line-final, forming an independent line, or a combination of an independent line and a partial line-initial or line-final element. (Nakagawa 2024: 579) Kamuy yukar with line-initial sakehe are very numerous. (Nakagawa 2024: 579) Line-final sakehe are sometimes short (one or two syllables) and form a single intonational/melodic unit with the line text totaling four or five syllables, such that the text cannot be sung without the sakehe. (Nakagawa 2024: 579) In kamuy yukar where the sakehe forms an independent line, the insertion points are not fixed in advance and vary depending on the narrator's mood and narrative rhythm. (Nakagawa 2024: 580) Patterns of repeating sakehe include repeating every line, occasionally inserting it at arbitrary points, and alternating two different sakehe every other line. (Nakagawa 2024: 581) Line-final sakehe are mostly repeated on every line, whereas relatively long sakehe are typically inserted occasionally without fixed positions. (Nakagawa 2024: 581) Alternating two different sakehe every other line is quite a rare pattern. (Nakagawa 2024: 581) Chiri (1954a) organizes the meanings of sakehe into four categories: the innate singing voice of the protagonist god, characteristic actions or qualities of the god, ad-hoc actions or scenes in the narrative, and calls or shouts. (reported in Nakagawa 2024: 582) In some kamuy yukar, such as the sparrow god song, the sakehe changes mid-performance as the narrator changes. (Nakagawa 2024: 583) The refrain (sákehe) of god songs (kamuyyukar) is usually a meaningless catchphrase repeated in principle after every line of the main text, varying from song to song and hinting at the identity of the protagonist. (Satō 2008: 260) Although heroic epics are generally considered not to have a refrain, the phrase eyororpe is sometimes repeated at the very beginning. (Satō 2008: 260)
Verse metre: two analytical systems
How is verse metre organized in Hokkaido Ainu sung verse?
Ainu verse is fundamentally based on a constraint on the number of syllables per line, where a line is a melodic unit in chanting. (Nakagawa 2024: 563) Wordplay genres (kotobaasobi) in Ainu encompass diverse forms, and while some adhere strictly to the metrical principle of verse, many do not conform to metrical constraints, so the genre as a whole cannot generally be classified as verse. (Nakagawa 2024: 568) Formal recitation genres (tonaegoto) delivered primarily by men in formal settings—such as ritual prayers, funeral orations, formal greetings, and dispute negotiations (caranke)—are basically composed in verse conforming to the 4- or 5-syllable metrical principle, often accompanied by a fixed melodic cadence. (Nakagawa 2024: 568) Incantations or charms (omajinai), unlike formal ceremonial recitations, are recited in various everyday contexts by both men and women, and generally lack strict metrical constraints, matching the metrical principle in some instances but not in others. (Nakagawa 2024: 570) When a verse line exceeds metrical norms and has six or more syllables, it is delivered either by compressing the syllables into the regular number of beats or by increasing the number of beats. (Nakagawa 2024: 611) Multiple patterns among cross-linguistic types of meter exist in Ainu poetry and are used differentially by one and the same reciter. (Okuda 2022: 11.5)
Syllable-count orientation
How does syllable-count meter work in Hokkaido Ainu verse?
Heroic epics and divine songs (kamuy yukar) are chanted using five syllables per line as their basic metrical unit. (Satō 2008: 264; reported in Endō 2022: 10.4) In verse recitation, the verb ki 'do' can be inserted between predicates or particles as an expletive technique to adjust the syllable count. (reported in Endō 2022: 10.4, Okuda 2022: 11.2) In verse, expletive ki is inserted purely to add a syllable and satisfy metrical syllable-count requirements without semantic or grammatical necessity. (Nakagawa 2024: 375, 606) In verse, vowels of prefixes that elide in spoken speech may be retained without elision to adjust the syllable count. (reported in Endō 2022: 10.4) In verse, a line-final syllable may be left unpronounced as a technique to adjust the syllable count. (reported in Endō 2022: 10.4) With usa 'various', the use of the possessive form seems largely related to syllable-count adjustment in verse, and the nouns taking it are quite limited. (proposed in Nakagawa 2024: 232) In verse, the double affiliative-marked form a=yupihi utarihi occurs with the meaning 'my elder brothers', treated as an exceptional case related to metrical principles. (Nakagawa 2024: 383) In verse, kur is inserted without semantic or grammatical effect on the word as a whole in order to form a 5- or 4-syllable line. (Nakagawa 2024: 485) The kor in yaykokutkoryupu kane is an expletive thought to be inserted to adjust the line meter to 4/4 syllables. (Nakagawa 2024: 485) Tamura (1973) proposed that Ainu song is fundamentally based on five syllables per line. (reported in Nakagawa 2024: 563) Nakagawa (1997) proposed that Ainu verse is based on four or five syllables per line, with five syllables being more fundamental. (reported in Nakagawa 2024: 563) In the syllable-count-oriented verse style, lines are not constrained to begin with an initial-accented word, and words with an open first syllable and second-syllable accent occur at a higher rate. (reported in Nakagawa 2024: 563) In Saru Ainu, kamuy yukar (divine songs) frequently use 4-syllable lines, whereas yaykatekar (lyric songs) rarely have 4-syllable lines and expand inherently 4-syllable conventional phrases to 5 syllables using the expletive u. (reported in Nakagawa 2024: 564) The basic metrical principle of Ainu verse is to formulate each line in 4 or 5 syllables. (Nakagawa 2024: 564) In Ainu verse, when a line would otherwise contain 6 or more syllables, two or more syllables are compressed into one beat under certain constraints, and when a line would contain 3 or fewer syllables, expletives or other techniques are used to adjust it to 4 or 5 syllables. (Nakagawa 2024: 564) In the loanword stem tondaro, the syllable sequence ton-da is counted as two syllables in Ainu verse meter rather than three moras as in Japanese. (Nakagawa 2024: 573) In kamuy yukar (divine songs), the main body excluding the sakehe refrain is sung in lines governed by the metrical principles of four or five syllables. (Nakagawa 2024: 574) The expletive u is added to the beginning of a verse line to increase the line length by one syllable. (Nakagawa 2024: 605) The expletive ki can be repeated consecutively multiple times in verse to compensate for missing syllables. (Nakagawa 2024: 607) The expletives ip- and ep- appear only before the personal affixes a= and an= in verse to increase the syllable count by one. (Nakagawa 2024: 608) In the lower reaches of the Saru River, the expletive form ep- is frequently used before personal prefixes. (Nakagawa 2024: 608) In verse, elements may be added to an expression that could otherwise consist of a single conjunctive particle or ne/ki plus a conjunctive particle in order to fit metrical principles, termed 'filler phrases' (充填句). (proposed in Nakagawa 2024: 608) The filler phrase anakki korka 'although' adds the three-syllable element anakki to the two-syllable conjunctive particle korka to form a five-syllable line. (Nakagawa 2024: 609) In filler phrases, anakki is almost always followed by korka, though yakkay or awa occasionally occur after it. (Nakagawa 2024: 609) In Chitose kamuy yukar chant delivered in three beats, four-syllable lines put two syllables into the first beat, while five-syllable lines place their first syllable on the off-beat of the third beat of the preceding line. (Nakagawa 2024: 611) When a line has six or more syllables in a three-beat verse meter, the extra syllables are packed into the first beat while the second and third beats each receive one syllable. (Nakagawa 2024: 612) When accommodating a large number of syllables, verse may transition to a recitativo-like delivery without a strict beat, before returning to the regular rhythm on the final two beats. (Nakagawa 2024: 612) The uncontracted form of the person marker ku- is employed in verse as a technique to adjust the number of syllables in a line. (reported in Okuda 2022: 11.2) The vowel /u/ may be added at the beginning of lines when reciting verse in order to adjust syllable counts. (reported in Okuda 2022: 11.2)
Accent-orientation metre
How does accent-orientation meter work in Hokkaido Ainu verse?
Ainu oral verse employs an accent-oriented meter that arranges the placement of pitch accent within a verse line. (Okuda 2022: 11.1, 11.4) In the accent-oriented verse style, each line has a strong tendency to begin with a word that has initial-syllable accent (either a closed first syllable or an exceptionally accented open first syllable). (reported in Nakagawa 2024: 563) In verse recited by multiple speakers of the Hokkaido Saru dialect, there exists an accent-orientation meter that arranges the placement of accent within a line of verse. (Okuda 2022: 11.3) In Saru dialect divine epic poetry, the vast majority of four-syllable lines place the accent on the first syllable of the line. (Okuda 2022: 11.3) Divine epic poems from the Chitose area exhibit the same accent-oriented meter found in performers from the Saru region. (Okuda 2022: 11.4) In the Chitose divine epic poem Wawo kamuy, 56 out of 62 four-syllable lines, as well as all two- and three-syllable lines, have the accent placed on the first syllable of the line. (Okuda 2022: 11.4) In the Chitose divine epic poem Apehucikamuy, 71 out of 79 four-syllable lines have the accent placed on the first syllable of the line. (Okuda 2022: 11.4) In Shirasawa Nabe's Chitose divine epic performances, four-syllable lines make up 27 to 36 percent of all lines, and the vast majority have the accent placed on the first syllable. (Okuda 2022: 11.4) In actual performances of Chitose divine epics, the accent throughout the line is placed within a fixed rhythmic range on either the first or second syllable. (Okuda 2022: 11.4)
Genre distribution and the debate
How are the two metrical systems distributed across Hokkaido Ainu genres?
Okuda analyzes verse narration in Saru and Chitose into two types: 'syllable-count-oriented' (based on five syllables per line) and 'accent-oriented' (based on four syllables per line). (reported in Nakagawa 2024: 563) In sitting songs and dancing songs, line length is not constrained by a fixed syllable count. (Nakagawa 2024: 573) In a single oral performance of the heroic epic Tumi suykere wenpe suykere recited by Hatozawa Wateke, both syllable-count-orientation and accent-orientation meters appear, differentiated according to the musical rhythm. (Okuda 2022: 11.5) Accent orientation may have been a metrical technique original to Ainu, whereas syllable count orientation was acquired through contact with the meter of Japanese. (proposed in Okuda 2022: 11.5)
Alliteration and rhyme
How are alliteration and rhyme used in Hokkaido Ainu poetry?
Deliberate and obligatory alliteration and end rhyme do not exist as versification techniques in Ainu poetry. (Nakagawa 2024: 563, Okuda 2022: 11.2)