A well-known Japanese poet was asked how to write a Chinese poem.
“Usually, a Chinese poem consists of four lines,” he explained. - The first line contains the initial phase, the second - the continuation of this phase, the third turns away from it and begins a new phase, the fourth combines all three.
A popular Japanese song illustrates this:
Two daughters of a silk merchant lived in Kyoto.
The eldest was 20, the youngest 18.
A soldier can kill with a sword,
And these girls - with their own eyes.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru