Zuihitsu: a Difficult Genre to Define
by Kimberley Allen McNamara
April is National Poetry Month. Today’s post on the last Friday in April will focus on the form of writing that may be considered poetic; the form is known as Zuihitsu.
Translated from Japanese, Zuihitsu means “following the brush.” In the true sense, the writing form does indeed mimic the flow of a brush upon paper, seemingly haphazard twists and turns of words and lines. There are no set rules, and the form can become an essay, a poem, a list, a journal, or a combination of those mentioned above. Zuihitsu can be “essay-like” and “poem-like.” As poet Kimiko Hahn has stated, “there is no Western equivalent.”
“I like to think of zuihitsu as a fungus,” says Kimiko Hahn in an interview with New York poet Laurie Sheck for BOMB magazine, “not plant or animal, but a species unto itself. The Japanese view it as a distinct genre although its elements are difficult to pin down.” (poetryschool.com)
A Zuihitsu piece of writing creates the illusion of being unplanned and erratic, but in the nonchalance of the form lies the form’s true craft. When a brush is put to the canvas or paper, the trail left is often purposeful. Even in a “doodle,” there is design. This is true with Zuihitsu as well as the doodle or sketch. Often the unplanned gives the aura of intent even if that intent is seemingly slow in the reveal.
The first known practitioner of Zuihitsu and attributed credit for the form was Sei Shōnagon. Sei Shōnagon was a medieval courtier who herself admitted that her seminal book in the genre, The Pillow Book, was filled with “all manner of odd things,” including “things that delight, or that people find impressive, including poems as well as things such as trees, plants, birds, insects and so forth.” (The Margins, aaww.org)
I first learned of Zuihitsu from poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s IG post citing a recent contribution to the AAWW.org blog, The Margins. The post: 随筆 | Zuihitsu Twenty-one writers interpret the genre By The Asian American Writers’ Workshop.
I encourage everyone to follow the link to this insightful and fantastic post. To read these interpretations is the only way to understand Zuihitsu or begin to understand. Read them all; they are a feast for the poetic soul.
There may be no western equivalent in terms of genre for Zuihitsu. Still, there is an echo of Zuihitsu in the essays of Aimee Nezhukumatahil’s World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks and Other Astonishments, Kate Lebo’s Book of Difficult Fruit: Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly (with recipes) , the novel Chemistry by Weike Wang, and in the flash fictions of Kathy Fish (see Rodney & Chelsea by Fish). These essays, journal entries, and fiction may attempt to embrace Zuihitsu or follow Zuihitsu from a distance.
And yes, the art of a doodle or a lazy sketch may not be a complete comparison (a flow of the brush upon the page). The art practice of zentangle appears to overlap with Zuihitsu’s tendency toward pattern/structure repetition and sometimes abandonment of said pattern/structure, with its consecutive flow of pen to paper.
Explore The Margins post of Zuihitsu. You will not be disappointed. And then try to create your own interpretation. If you’re stuck, begin with a list, a trick to get you writing. For example, a coat of paint, a coat of wool, a coat of many colors, a coat of darkness, etc.
