[1] He admired the Latin poets Horace and Ovid, but was also an enthusiast for his own West Frisian memmetaal, or mother tongue.

In his early works Japiks portrayed the life of rural Friesland, and was characterised by excessive alliteration.

[6][1] Japiks's Frisian songs were contrafacta to well-known tunes by composers such as Goudimel, Bourgeois, and Pierre Guédron.

The house in which Gysbert Japiks was born, was bought in 1979 by his descendants Arjen Holkema and Trijntje Holkema-Slot and turned into a museum.

The museum was opened 25 September 1997 by Aad Nuis, State Secretary of Education, Culture and Science.