G - Gogyōka: Green Pheasant

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The Gogyōka is a modern invention of the Japanese poet Enta Kusakabe (born 1938) and only has two simple rules.

It is five lines long.

Each line is one phrase.

  Green Pheasant (referred to as Pheasant until the 1920s when publishers used Green Pheasant in import titles), original painting by Sakai Hoitsu, print c. 1923-1925. This belonged to my paternal grandmother who may have purchased it at Gump's in San Francisco, which was a major importer of Japanese art and woodblock prints. There is a bit more to it along the left, but it had been folded for decades to fit an inappropriate frame. 

My green pheasant scratches in the yard.

His claws disturb an ant’s next.

Seeing me, he approaches.

I scatter barley.

I toss mustard greens.


©2026 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  


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