Kakyō Hyōshiki

Kakyō Hyōshiki (歌経標式^?) is a text on Japanese poetics written by Fujiwara no Hamanari. One volume in length, it "is the oldest extant piece of poetic criticism in the Japanese canon".

The text was commissioned by Emperor Kōnin and completed in 772.

The common title today is Kakyō Hyōshiki and is in reference to Chinese Book of Songs (Japanese Shikyō). However, chronologically the name does not fit, and some manuscripts do not include this title at all. Alternative titles include Uta no Shiki (歌式^?), which is likely to have been the original title, as well as Hamanari Shiki (浜成式^?) based on the compiler's name.

The main focus of the text is an attempt to apply phonetic rules of Chinese poetry to Japanese poetry. As the two languages are fundamentally different, the application is forced and unnatural.

The text defines seven types of kahei (歌病^?), literally "poetic sicknesses" which are rhetoric faults that should be avoided when composing poetry.

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